1st typhoon’s toll: 1 child died, 4 missing, over 23,000 families still displaced

STORM Auring, the first typhoon to hit the Philippines this year, left one person dead, two others injured and four still missing as of Wednesday morning, the national disaster management agency reported. Defense Undersecretary Ricardo B. Jalad, the executive director of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC), said the casualty was a six-year-old child who drowned in Claver, Surigao del Norte. “The (four) missing, three of these are fishermen who ventured out to the sea in Bislig,” he said at the briefing Tuesday night in Tandag City, Surigao del Sur where President Rodrigo R. Duterte and several Cabinet members were present. Almost 50,000 families were affected, mainly in the Surigao provinces in the country’s south, when the tropical storm swept through over the weekend. NDRRMC said 23,359 families composed of over 87,000 individuals were still staying in evacuation centers or with relatives as of Feb. 24. Of the 64 flooded areas across the eastern side of the archipelago from Bicol to the Caraga regions, water has yet to subside in 18 areas. NDRRMC recorded 679 affected houses, with 226 totally destroyed and 453 partially damaged. Auring, with international name Dujuan, caused minimal damage to public infrastructure with only Surigao del Norte province reporting a P2.8 million cost on flood control and water facilities. The storm moved slowly over the Philippine sea and weakened into a tropical depression before making landfall over Batag, a small island in central Philippines. Relief operations are ongoing using prepositioned food and non-food items in the regions. Additional supplies were being shipped from the central social welfare office on Wednesday. Department secretaries also assured assistance on emergency employment, agriculture, and for small and medium enterprises.