| Residents look at the lists of missing relatives displayed near the municipal hall in New Bataan, Compostela province on December 12, 2012 nearly one week after the southern part of the Philippines was hit by Typhoon Bopha. AFP Photo |
The number of people killed by Typhoon Pablo (international codename: Bopha) continues to rise two week after the cyclone lashed in Mindanao and Visayas.
The National Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council on Saturday said that the death toll has climbed to 955, with 2,662 injured and 841 missing. The council pegged damage to agriculture and infrastructure at P17 billion.
About 591, 090 families or 5,782,723 people were affected by the typhoon that also destroyed or damaged 158, 329 houses in nine regions in Visayas and in Mindanao.
Rebuilding areas that devastated by Pablo in Mindanao, especially in Compostela Valley and Davao Oriental provinces, will take a year, a government official said.
Interior Secretary Manuel “Mar” Roxas 2nd said that the government is doing its best to rebuild the towns and villages that were severely affected by the typhoon.
The interior secretary said that they would be coming out with a department order asking local government units not affected by the typhoon to use their calamity funds to assist affected areas.
‘Sendong’ remembered
Meanwhile, Sen. Loren Legarda called on government to enhance its disaster preparedness program as the country remembers the damage wrought by tropical storm Sendong (international codename: Washi) in the cities of Caga-yan de Oro and Iligan in southern Mindanao, exactly a year ago today.
Sendong claimed more than 1,400 lives and displaced thousands of families when it unleashed unprecedented floods in the two cities on December 16, 2011.
Legarda, chairman of the Senate committee on climate change, said that while she recognizes the improvement in the government’s emergency response as shown in Pablo, there is room for improvement in order to achieve zero casualties.
“While we note that this is certainly better, it is not our best. The best is to have zero casualty,” she said.
She added that the traditional ways of preparation may no longer be applicable, since storms, typhoons and even monsoon rains have become stronger, more frequent and hard to predict.
Published : Thursday January 17, 2013 | Category : headlines | Hits:269
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