The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) has placed the death toll caused by tropical depression “Usman” to 75 in MIMAROPA (Mindoro, Marinduque, Romblon and Palawan) in Regions 5 (Bicol), and 8 (Eastern Visayas).
Office of Civil Defense (OCD) director for operations and NDRRMC spokesman Edgar Posadas, said of the 75 reported deaths as of Tuesday morning, 59 came from the Bicol Region, 13 from Eastern Visayas and three in MIMAROPA and elsewhere.
Most of the deaths were caused by drowning and landslide.
Posadas said at least 17 persons were also reported missing in the same regions while 12 individuals from Bicol and MIMAROPA were reported injured.
However, Posadas said the NDRRMC through the Management of the Dead and the Missing (MDM) Cluster led by the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), is still validating the reported 75 fatalities.
“Casualties are still subject for validation and verification,” he said.
Meanwhile,NDRRMC executive director and Office of Civil Defense (OCD) Administrator Undersecretary Ricardo Jalad, said an estimated R242,29,035.72 worth of damages to agriculture was recorded in the Bicol Region.
Jalad said most of the damages inflicted in the agriculture sector in Albay, Camarines Sur, Camarines Norte, Sorsogon, Catanduanes and Masbate are for Crops (rice and corn) and High Value and Commercial Crops (HVCC).
Jalad, at the same time, said that a total of 30,469 families or 128,982 persons from 321 barangays in CALABARZON (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, Quezon), MIMAROPA, Bicol and Eastern Visayas were affected by TD Usman.
Of the families affected, 3,619 families or 14,144 persons are being served inside 112 evacuation centers and 128 families or 580 outside of it. (Francis Wakefield)