MANILA: The deathtoll from a storm that struck the Philippines shortly after Christmas rose to68 with the number of fatalities expected to climb even higher, civil defenseofficials said yesterday. Fifty-seven people died in the mountainous Bicolregion, southeast of Manila, while 11 were killed in the central island ofSamar, mostly due to landslides and drownings, the officials said. "I amafraid this (death toll) will still go up because there are a lot of areas westill have to clear," said Claudio Yucot, Bicol civil defense director.
The weatherdisturbance locally named "Usman" hit the country on Saturday. Whileit did not have powerful winds it brought heavy rains that caused floods andloosened the soil, triggering landslides in some areas. Many people failed totake necessary precautions because Usman was not strong enough to be rated as atyphoon under the government's storm alert system, Yucot said. "Peoplewere overconfident because they were on (Christmas) vacation mode and there wasno tropical cyclone warning," he told AFP.
Although Usmanhas since moved westward away from the country, many affected areas were stillexperiencing seasonal rains, hampering rescue and recovery efforts, he added.At least 17 people are still missing and more than 40,000 were displacednationwide due to the storm, the civil defense office said. An average of 20typhoons and storms lash the Philippines each year, killing hundreds of peopleand leaving millions in near-perpetual poverty. The most powerful was SuperTyphoon Haiyan which left more than 7,360 people dead or missing across thecentral Philippines in 2013. - AFP