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TROPICAL storm “Cosme” left 12 persons dead, injured nine and
affected over 30,000 people based on the latest report issued by the
National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC).
The Department of Agriculture on Monday also
said that only 65 hectares of lands planted to rice in Pangasinan
were damaged by the typhoon.
Most of the casualties were from the northern
part of Luzon, the region heavily hit by the typhoon, which is
currently on its way out of the country’s area of responsibility
and maintaining a path towards Japan.
Five victims identified as Rosario Luiti, Jessa
Ducusin, Pepito Estacio, Juanita Eserio and Leopoldo Labasan all
died after being hit by galvanized iron sheets swept by strong
winds.
One fatality from the province of Benguet,
identified as Joseph Palala, died after being hit by falling rocks
while a certain Benjamin Admana of Zambales died of heart attack at
the height of the typhoon.
Marilyn Oleverio and Melanie Elardes of Negros
Occidental and Leo Amar of Antique died from drowning.
NDCC reported that all of the injured victims
were from Northern Luzon—five from Baguio City’ two from
Pangasinan and one each from La Union and Zambales.
On its latest update, NDCC recorded a total of
6,780 families or 34,755 persons affected by the storm but only 65
families remained at the evacuation centers.
Some 3,209 houses were destroyed while 5,586
were damaged in Southern Tagalog, Central Luzon, Ilocos region and
Cordillera Administrative Region.
Minimal impact on rice
The Agriculture Rice Action Center headed by
Undersecretary Jesus Emmanuel Paras said the initial summer harvests
from Pangasinan have so far reached 50,090 metric tons.
Pangasinan is one of the top three provinces
expected to deliver the bulk of the projected higher palay harvests
between now and 2010.
In Central Luzon, Agriculture Executive Director
Redentor Gatus said that only less than 10 percent of the remaining
crops for the dry season harvest were damaged by Cosme, because the
region is almost finished harvesting.
Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap said
preliminary reports showed that only 65 hectares were affected in
Pangasinan, which has a total harvest area of 254,122 hectares for
the dry season.
-- Jefferson Antiporda and Ira Karen Apanay
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