More than twenty people and “alarming” destruction: this is the assessment established on Saturday, December 17 by the Philippine authorities following the passage of typhoon Rai. It is the most powerful to hit the country this year.
More than 300,000 people have had to flee their homes since Thursday due to the typhoon that devastated the south and center of the country, according to the National Agency for Natural Disasters of the Philippines.
Rai was called a “super-typhoon” when it made landfall Thursday, on the tourist island of Siargao, accompanied by winds of 195 km / h. As of Friday, the wind speed had dropped to 155 km / h, according to the Philippine Meteorological Agency.
He crossed the northern part of Palawan Island, a popular tourist destination, at the end of the afternoon on Friday, before heading away towards the South China Sea, towards Vietnam.
18,000 police forces deployed
“This is one of the most powerful storms to hit the Philippines in December in the past decade”Alberto Bocanegra, head of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies in the Philippines, told Agence France-Presse (AFP). “The information we receive and the images we receive are very alarming. “
More than 18,000 soldiers, police, coastguard and firefighters will join search and rescue efforts in the most affected regions, told AFP Mark Timbal, spokesman for the national disaster agency. “There was significant damage” in Surigao and Siargao, the areas that suffered the most from the typhoon, said Mr. Timbal.
At least three people have been killed and dozens more injured in Surigao, city mayor Ernesto Matugas told ABS-CBN television station, bringing the total death toll to 21. Bocanegra said warned that the power cuts would affect the water supply, raising concerns about sanitary conditions.
A late typhoon
On the island of Dinagat, where the typhoon killed six people at least, residents “Are trying to repair their houses because even our evacuation centers have been demolished” the vice-governor of this eastern province, Nilo Demerey, told ABS-CBN television channel. “They cannot take refuge elsewhere … everything has been destroyed”, he lamented.
The Philippine Coast Guard shared photos on social media showing widespread destruction around Surigao, with roofs ripped from buildings and wooden structures shattered. Aerial images show vast expanses of rice paddies underwater.
Rai is a particularly late typhoon in the season. Most tropical cyclones in the Pacific Ocean form between July and October. Scientists have long warned that typhoons are getting stronger and stronger as man-made global warming accelerates.
The Philippines, considered one of the countries most vulnerable to global warming, is struck each year by around 20 typhoons which often wreak havoc on homes, crops and infrastructure in already very poor regions. The deadliest cyclone on record in the Philippines is the “Super-typhoon” Haiyan, who left more than 7,300 dead or missing in 2013.