Death toll rises to 7; 37,376 affected by ‘Basyang’ in Caraga

BUTUAN CITY – The number of victims of Tropical Depression “Basyang” swelled to a total of 8,968 families or 37,376 individuals in various parts of Caraga region, the regional monitoring and action center of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD Caraga Region 13) on Wednesday reported.

The death toll caused by Basyang also rose to 7, while 18 others were reported injured in various parts of the region.

Six deaths were caused by landslides while one was caused by drowning.

As per the Municipal Link of Carrascal town (Surigao del Sur), one of those who died was a Pantawid Pamilya beneficiary, Villamora Ombat, 55, and a resident of Barangay Babuyan, Carrascal, Surigao del Sur. She was reportedly killed when the health center where they evacuated to collapsed because of a landslide. She died due to multiple injuries, said DSWD 13 Regional Director MitaChuchi G. Lim, in her Situational Report No. 8 to Undersecretary Hope V. Hervilla, Officer in-Charge of the Disaster Response Assistance Management Bureau (DreAMB).

Eighteen persons earlier reported buried alive due to landslides in Gamotan and Babuyan areas, both in Carrascal town, Surigao del Sur province were already rescued and now currently recuperating of their injuries, four of them critically, in Carrascal Primary Health Care in that same town. The local government of Carrascal through its DRRMC used back hoe and fire trucks from the Bureau of Fire in that town to rescue them.

There is also an ongoing rescue operation in Barangay Calagdaan, Cantilan town, Surigao del Sur, as the area is experiencing flash flood while other barangays affected by flood have already subsided.

A total of 64 totally damaged houses in various parts of the region, some of them were washed out by rampaging flash floods while 275 partially damaged houses as of this reporting time, she said.

A total of 7,579 families or 31,941 individuals who are inside evacuation centers were already served of their immediate needs including family food packs (FFPs), she said.

A huge majority of the affected families are currently sheltered in 149 evacuation centers as intermittent rains from moderate to heavy still affecting different parts of the region, despite the exit of Basyang Tuesday afternoon.

Lim told The Manila Bulletin on Wednesday that the affected families will continue to receive food assistance and their other immediate needs from the government.

“Relief operations went into high gear at different evacuation centers spread all over Caraga region,” the region’s DSWD chief said.