Visayas floods, landslides: 180,788 families affected

MANILA, Philippines — The number of families affected by flooding and landslides in the Visayas due to continuous heavy rainfall spawned by the shear line and the trough of a low-pressure area (LPA) has ballooned to 180,788 or 721,627 people.

The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) said 14,718 families or 40,454 people remained in 170 evacuation centers.

The NDRRMC clarified earlier reports that there were two fatalities, saying only one death has been validated.

There were no reports of injuries and no missing persons, it said.

At least 904 barangays were affected in Western Visayas and Eastern Visayas.

The NDRRMC said 182 areas remained flooded yesterday. Twenty-one landslides were reported.

At least 103 houses were either damaged or destroyed.

The Department of Social Welfare and Development and concerned local government units have provided food packs, shawls and blankets to affected residents worth P29.2 million.

A state of calamity has been declared in Northern Samar and Jipapad, Eastern Samar, which were hardest hit by flooding and landslides.

The state weather bureau said the shear line and through of the LPA dumped more than a month’s rain in 24 hours in the affected areas.

Meanwhile, the government released P1.24 billion in calamity funds for various disaster relief operations last month.

Data from the Department of Budget and Management showed that releases from the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Fund from January to October have reached P12.208 billion.

The remaining calamity fund this year stands at P10.997 billion.

The total allocation under the 2023 national budget is P23.21 billion.

The Marawi Compensation Board received the bulk of the releases last month at P1 billion.

The remaining P236.2 million was released to the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) for the reconstruction and rehabilitation of various calamity-related projects in Surigao del Norte and Surigao del Sur, which were damaged by Typhoon Odette.

Total releases to the DPWH in the past 10 months stood at P6 billion. — Louise Maureen Simeon