THE death toll from the floodings triggered by the southwest monsoon enhanced by Typhoon Carina (international name: Gaemi) has climbed to 16, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) reported on Saturday.
The NDRRMC said six of the fatalities have yet to be validated, while five were from Calabarzon and four from Region 9 (Zamboanga Peninsula).
It added that nearly a million families, or 3,360,339 persons, were affected by the combined effects of torrential monsoon rains, Typhoon Butchoy and Typhoon Carina.
Government data said 251,166 persons, or 64,520 families, stayed in evacuation centers, while 886,311 individuals, or 212,751 families, were housed in temporary shelters.
A total of 153 houses were totally destroyed, while 456 sustained partial damage. The cost of property damage amounted to P2,661,100.
Damage to agriculture has reached P168,677,999; irrigation facilities, P6,560,000; and infrastructure, P1,298,974.
NDRRMC said that 1,244 families composed of 3,747 individuals were pre-emptively evacuated in the Ilocos Region, Mimaropa, Western Visayas, Zamboanga Peninsula, Davao Region, Caraga and the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR).
The government has so far extended P61,338,767 in assistance to victims in regions Cagayan Valley, Western Visayas, Central Visayas, Northern Mindanao, Soccsksargen, Calabarzon, Mimaropa, Caraga and CAR, the NDRRMC said.
NDRRMC said that 29 cities and municipalities were under a state of calamity, including 23 in Calabarzon, three in Mimaropa, one in Davao and two in Soccsksargen.
Cotabato, Oriental Mindoro and Pampanga were the hardest-hit provinces, with P164 million in combined damage to agriculture.
Total damage to the farm sector in seven regions has reached P251 million.
Pangasinan reported more than P8 million worth of damage in agriculture and P91 million in infrastructures.
Forty-six villages in seven towns, as well as a city, were flooded.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Saturday ordered the Department of Health to address mental and physical health challenges faced by persons displaced by the calamity.
Health Secretary Teodoro Herbosa told the President that the calamity had taken its toll on farmers and fisherfolk whose livelihoods were destroyed by the typhoon-enhanced monsoon.
"We have health workers in all the evacuation centers who will augment the local. The governors' priority is health," Herbosa said.
"Sometimes it is the stress of the effect on their livelihood, so we'll send psychological first aid," he added.
Meanwhile, the Chinese Embassy in Manila, in cooperation with the Philippine Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry Inc., has sent aid to flood victims.
Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines Huang Xilian said 3,500 relief packages valued at over P3.5 million pesos were sent to areas affected by the calamity.
With reports from JAVIER JOE ISMAEL
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