D. Xainte –
The Philippine National Agency for Natural Disasters had announced it: Typhoon Rai was the most violent of the 15 that hit the archipelago this year. And for good reason: with winds sometimes exceeding 250 km / h when it made landfall, it is part of the super-typhoon category. It is equivalent to a category 5 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson scale.
Accompanied by torrential rains, it first swept over the island of Siargao, in the south-east of the archipelago. On entering the land, the cyclone, known locally as Odette, swept through the provinces of Surigao and the southern part of the Eastern Visayas.
The death toll of 12 is still very partial. But the enormous effort to evacuate the population certainly saved lives. Since Wednesday, December 15, 300,000 people have been sheltered.
Residents who had not been evacuated from the areas crossed stood up in shock in front of a desolate landscape: houses with decapitated tin roofs, trees and electricity pylons torn off, villages inundated. Communication networks did not resist.