Philippines: Super Typhoon ‘Rai’ Wreaks Havoc. Kills 21 People, Displaces 3,00,000 Residents
Spokesman for the National Disaster Agency, Mark Timbal said that more than 18,000 military, police and coast guard would join the search and rescue efforts in the regions worst affected.
New Delhi: Officials from Philippines said on Saturday that “alarming” reports of destruction came out from Philippines islands that bore the brunt of super typhoon Rai this year. According to AFP, around 21 people were killed in the strongest typhoon. As the super typhoon hit the southern and central regions of the country, more than 3,00,000 people left their homes and beachfront resorts to seek shelter at some safe space.
The super typhoon Rai snapped communication and electricity in many areas and uprooted concrete power poles and ripped off roofs.
Alberto Bocanegra, head of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies in the Philippines, told AFP, “This is indeed one of the most powerful storms that has hit the Philippines in the month of December in the last decade." Bocanegra added that the information and pictures that they were receiving were “very alarming.”
Spokesman for the National Disaster Agency, Mark Timbal said that more than 18,000 military, police and coast guard would join the search and rescue efforts in the regions worst affected.
The area worst affected by the storm was a popular tourist island of Siargao where the storm gathered winds up to 195 kilometers per hour and hit as the super typhoon. “There has been severe damage on Siargao island and the northern tip of the southern island of Mindanao,” Timbal said. The Siargao island has 1,00,000 residents which swelled up with surfers and holiday makers visiting the island.
The storm wreaked so much havoc on the island that the residents of Dinagat island, near the Siargao Island were “trying to repair their houses because even our evacuation centres were torn down,” said Nilo Demerey, Dinagat Vice Governor.
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