The death toll from the strongest typhoon to hit the country this year has climbed above 700 while damage to the agriculture sector reached a staggering P11.23 billion, the government said on Tuesday.

Typhoon Pablo (international codename: Bopha), which unleashed floods and landslides in Mindanao last week, killed at least 714 people, injured 1,906 others and obliterated entire communities, data from the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council showed.

It added that nearly 115,000 houses were destroyed and more than 116,000 people remain in crowded government shelters, where they face months of waiting for new housing to be built.

A total of 890 people remain missing, but officials said that some of them could be among the 257 corpses that have been retrieved by rescuers that remain unidentified and unclaimed by relatives.

The missing also include 313 fishermen who set off from the country’s main tuna processing port of General Santos City, days before Pablo made landfall.

The United Nations launched a $65-million global aid appeal on Monday for the victims of the typhoon, the deadliest natural disaster to hit the Philippines, since Typhoon Sendong (international codename: Washi) killed 1,200 people on Mindanao’s north coast last year.

Among the hardest-hit by Pablo were the towns of Cateel, Boston and Baganga in Davao Oriental and New Bataan, Compostela, Monkayo, Montevista, Mt. Diwata and Nabunturan in Compostela Valley.

On Monday, it was reported that there were 276 dead in Davao Oriental province and 374 in Compostela Valley.

P11.23B damage on agriculture
Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala said that as of Monday, damage to crops ballooned to over P11.23 billion with over 52,572 hectares of agricultural lands affected.

The biggest damage was recorded in the banana sector at P7.362 billion, affecting some 26,437 hectares.

Some 154,446 metric tons of banana crops were lost, the report said.

The corn subsector also suffered losses of about P955.3 million. The coconut industry in major coconut producing provinces hit by the typhoons was also battered, with losses pegged at P766.82 million.

Floods also damaged P407.39 million worth or rice crops.

Damage to high value crops like vegetables and fruits of about P87.1 million.

Meanwhile, losses in the fisheries sector reached P28.7 million, livestock and poultry at P409 million, fisheries infrastructure at P28.7 million, post-harvest equipment at P1.2 million and irrigation facilities P1.16 billion.

Stepped-up operations
The Armed Forces of the Philippines, meanwhile, will undertake a massive search, rescue and retrieval operations to cover every square inch of hard-hit communities where the bodies of missing persons are believed buried under piles of logs and tons of mud.

Maj. Gen. Ariel Bernardo, commander of the 10th Infantry Division, said that they were pouring in more people to comb all disaster areas.

The Eastern Mindanao Command will be at the forefront of the effort, to be supported by troops from nearby areas, the police, civilian geographical forces units, civilian volunteers and other multiplier forces.

Risk Reduction Chief Executive Director Benito Ramos said that authorities were having problems with the unidentified and unclaimed bodies, which he said, were already starting to decompose.

If the bodies will not be claimed in 48 hours, Ramos said that they would have no choice but to bury them in a mass grave.

Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz, on her part, ordered the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration to locate the families of overseas Filipino workers affected by the calamity in parts of Visayas and Mindanao.

Meanwhile, the Philippine Navy has loaded an additional 160 tons of relief goods, including 258 coffins from Pampanga province.

Lt. Col. Omar Tonsay, Navy spokesman, said that the relief goods came from various agencies of government and non-government organizations.

The International Committee of the Red Cross and the Philippine Red Cross were among the non-government or that delivered relief goods to thousands of victims and survivors of the typhoon.

The Red Cross is also dispatching three large freight aircraft carrying an additional 280 tons of relief supplies from its emergency stock house in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Manila Water Co. deployed its Mobile Treatment Plant along with nine personnel to provide safe and potable water to affected residents.

Meanwhile, several government agencies decided on Tuesday to scrap their Christmas party, opting instead to donate their savings to victims of Pablo.

These agencies include the Department of National Defense, the Armed Forces and the Philippine National Police.

Malacañang and the Risk Reduction Management bureau also decided to call off their Christmas parties and donate their party budget to the victims of the typhoon.

WITH REPORTS FROM WILLIAM B. DEPASUPIL, JAMES KONSTANTIN GALVEZ, ANTHONY VARGAS, FATIMA CIELO B. CANCEL, FRANCIS EARL A. CUETO AND JHOANNA PAOLA BALLARAN