Highlights
The Government continues to provide relief and assess needs and damages while the low pressure area, which was once Typhoon Koppu, remained in the Philippine Area of Responsibility for the 10th day.
Flooding is subsiding in the provinces of Isabela and Cagayan in Region II while persisting in Region III, particularly in Nueva Ecija, Tarlac, Bulacan and Pampanga as well as Pangasinan in Region I.
Over half a million people have evacuated of which 108,700 people are in 424 evacuation centres.
The Philippines Humanitarian Country Team is providing targeted and limited assistance to the Government upon their request, using resources available in the country.
Situation Overview
The Government continued to provide relief and assess needs and damages while the low pressure area, which was once Typhoon Koppu (known locally as Lando), remained in the Philippine Area of Responsibility for the 10th day. This weather system was estimated at 540 km east northeast of Batanes islands as of 23 October, 4 p.m., according to the national weather bureau.
The number of evacuees reached half a million at 543,100 people (120,600 families) across Regions I, II, III and the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR), according to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC). Of these, 108,700 people (24,000 families) are in 424 evacuation centres, a decrease from the previously reported 112,800 people and 512 evacuation centres. The number of displaced people being assisted outside of evacuation centres increased instead by about 103,800 people due to improved reporting.
The NDRRMC reported 46 confirmed deaths (7 girls, 4 boys, 19 women and 27 men), 82 injured and 5 missing from the storm. There were no recorded casualties in areas that conducted pre-emptive evacuations; nearly 24,000 people (5,400 families) evacuated from the projected path of the typhoon.
Flooding is subsiding in the provinces of Isabela and Cagayan in Region II while persisting in Region III, particularly in Nueva Ecija, Tarlac, Bulacan and Pampanga as well as Pangasinan in Region I. Low-lying Bulacan and Pampanga may see initial flooding subside but rise again as waters from the mountains and upland provinces continue to flow downstream. All of the nine reservoirs in central and northern Luzon reached their respective high water level for the flood season.
The NDRRMC so far reported that 22,900 houses were partially damaged and 3,200 houses destroyed across the affected regions. About 70 per cent of damage to houses were concentrated in Regions I and III, and another 16 per cent in Region IV-A.
The storm destroyed 240 schools and partially damaged 511 schools in Regions I, II, III, IV-A, CAR and Metro Manila. These account for 4.4 per cent of all schools in these regions. Classes remained suspended in parts of Region I, II and CAR on 22 October.
Damage reported to health facilities is minimal to date; three hospitals and a birthing facility in Regions III and IV-A were partially damaged as of 21 October, according to the Department of Health. All of these facilities are functional. The authorities will strengthen disease surveillance particularly in flooded provinces in anticipation of a possible rise in cases of water-borne diseases. The NDRRMC now estimates PhP8.2 million (US$ 176 million) losses in agriculture and another PhP1.1 billion ($25 million) in infrastructure across the affected regions.
According to the preliminary reports of the Department of Agriculture, approximately 383,700 MT of rice was either damaged or lost due to the typhoon, which struck during the harvest season. Of this, at least 65 per cent is in Nueva Ecija.
Power is gradually being restored in Regions I, II, III and CAR. There is still no power across the provinces of Nueva Vizcaya (Region II), Aurora (Region III), Mountain Province (CAR) and in 11 towns in Nueva Ecija, according to NDRRMC. Baguio City (Total population: 318,700 people; 2010 census) in CAR, the urban center of northern Luzon, is experiencing city-wide power outage.
While roads cleared of flooding and landslides in the provinces of Pangasinan, La Union and Ilocos Norte (Region I), Quirino (Region II), and partially cleared in Isabela and Nueva Vizcaya (Region II), 92 road sections and 11 bridges remain not passable. Only 8 passengers and 3 motor boats remain stranded by the rough sea in Region II.
Aurora and Isabela provinces and nine municipalities in six provinces newly declared a state of calamity. This allows local authorities to utilize their calamity fund for relief and recovery programmes.