According to local media reports, two Filipinos who survived Typhoon Rai’s devastation have died from dehydration. Residents in storm-ravaged regions pleaded for water and food, while officials warned of looting in the absence urgent humanitarian assistance.
The death toll from Typhoons Siargao on Tuesday was at least 392
According to the RMN TaclobanThe deaths occurred in Dapa village on Monday, following a severe shortage of clean drinking water. This happened just days after Typhoon Rai struck the area. According to radio station, health authorities stated that the village needed a generator and fuel in order to get clean water.
Rai, which struck the Philippines on Thursday last week, was the strongest typhoon this year. Aid workers in storm-affected regions have reported complete destruction, claiming that the typhoon ripped down homes, schools, and hospitals.
Many areas are still cut off by the storm, which has knocked down power lines and telecommunication lines, limiting relief efforts.
Fely Pedrablanca (the mayor of Tubajon) stated that Tubajon’s food supply was at an all-time low on the island Dinagat.
She suggested that we might run out of fuel in a few days.
We made it to Dinagat today. This is what San Jose looks like right now.
There is destruction everywhere you look.
Heartbreaking. #TyphoonOdettePH pic.twitter.com/dBSDnILGD4
Jamela Alindogan (@jamelaaisha) December 20, 2021
Surigao del Norte in the southern part of Mindanao was photographed with signs begging for financial help to buy food.
According to the provinces disaster mitigation agency, 90-95 percent of homes were damaged or destroyed in some way. Some residents were even homeless.
Bohol Governor Arthur Yap stated that his province was also running out of supplies and that he couldn’t secure rice or other food because his contingency fund was exhausted.
He stated that many of the 1.2million people living in his island province, who were still without power and cell phone service five days after the typhoon hit, had become increasingly desperate.
Yap claimed that the government’s social security department promised to send 35,000 food packets, which is not enough for the province’s 375,000 families. But even those have not yet arrived.
Yap gave a DZBB radio interview in which he thanked President Rodrigo Duterte and thanked him for visiting his province. But, Yap said, “If you don’t send money to feed your people, you should send soldiers, police, because if you don’t, lootings here will break out.”
Yap stated that there have been some instances of looting of small merchandise shops.
He said that the situation is currently under control, but could worsen if people, particularly in hard-hit islands municipalities, become more desperate. He stated that people can’t withdraw money from banks if they don’t have power or cellphones. Long queues have also been created by fuel and water shortages.
However, the national police stated that widespread looting is not a problem in the typhoon ravaged areas and that they are ready to deal with any lawlessness.
Duterte, meanwhile, has committed to releasing approximately 2 billion Philippine Pesos ($40m), in funds to typhoon affected provinces to aid in recovery efforts. Duterte also deployed thousands upon thousands of military, fire, and coastguard personnel to aid in rescue efforts and recovery efforts to hard hit areas.
Although emergency crews claimed they were working to restore electricity to 227 cities and towns by Monday, power was restored only in 21 of these areas.
Cellphone connectivity has been restored in at most 106 of the more than 130 cities, and civil aviation agency says all local airports have reopened, with the exception of two.
Typhoon Rai produced sustained winds of 195km (121 miles per hour) with gusts of up 270 kph (161 mph) at its worst before blowing out into South China Sea on Friday. Nearly a million people were affected by the typhoon. More than 400,000 had to be evacuated to shelters as the storm approached.
Many have returned home, but some have lost their homes completely or require major repairs. Due to lack of food and water, some have had to temporarily relocate to other cities to live with family members.
The Philippines has not asked for international aid, but Japan announced that it was sending power generators to help with the recovery process. China, however, stated it was providing rice and food packs of 20,000.
The Philippines is subject to about 20 tropical storms or typhoons per year. It also lies along the seismically active Pacific Ring of Fire area, where earthquakes can occur and volcanic eruptions often occur. This makes the Southeast Asian nation of over 100 million people one of most disaster-prone in the world.
