The southwest monsoon or “habagat” intensified by tropical cyclones “Crising,” “Dante” and “Emong” has left six people dead, three missing, and prompted four municipalities in Western Visayas to declare a state of calamity, officials said yesterday.
Maria Christina Mayor, spokesperson for the Office of Civil Defense in Western Visayas (OCD-6), said the six deaths are being validated by the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), which leads efforts in managing casualties and missing persons.
“We have six unvalidated deaths, meaning we are still waiting for the result from the DILG to declare whether or not the deaths are related to the typhoons because they lead the management of the dead and missing cluster,” she said in an interview.
The fatalities included two from Guimaras, one in Aklan and Iloilo province, and two from Iloilo City. The three missing persons were from Iloilo and Antique.
Improved weather has led to a drop in evacuation numbers, with only 122 families remaining in 14 centers in Iloilo, mostly due to damaged homes.
Mayor said the inclement weather damaged 898 houses; 103 were destroyed, mostly due to strong waves or landslides.
“Most of the declared damaged houses were in Ajuy, in coastal areas,” she said.
As a whole, the bad weather affected 105,590 families or 392,136 persons.
Meanwhile, four municipalities — one in Iloilo and three in Antique — are under a state of calamity, allowing local governments to access emergency funds and offer calamity loans to employees.
However, Antique, the most affected province, was placed under the state of calamity last week.
“With the severity of the damage to agriculture, infrastructure, and the number of affected families, we expect that there will be more declarations,” she added.
Damage to agriculture was estimated at over P27.86 million, while infrastructure losses reached P175.53 million.
Meanwhile, 3,000 shelter kits or tents from the International Office for Migration, in coordination with the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development, arrived in Negros Occidental and Iloilo, each province receiving 1,500 units.
So far, over P44.69 million in aid has reached nearly 60 percent of the affected families in Western Visayas. (PNA)