At least 30 dead, 14 missing due to tropical storm in Philippines
Bangkok, Oct 14 (EFE).- At least 30 people have died in the Philippines and 14 remain missing due to a strong tropical storm passing through the north of the archipelago, the national disaster agency reported on Thursday.
Tropical storm Kompasu, known as Maring in the Philippines, crossed the northern tip of the island of Luzon on Monday night and is already outside the Philippine territory, west of the Chinese province of Hainan and heading north of Vietnam.
The highest number of deaths has been recorded in the Ilocos Sur region (14), followed by Benguet (9) and Palawan (4).
Most of the victims were trapped under landslides or swept away by strong currents, the National Disaster Risk Reduction & Management Council said in its report on Thursday.
Almost 200,000 people have been affected by the storm, out of which about 15,000 have been evacuated from their homes, according to the latest official figures.
Some 325 houses have been damaged, while 212 stretches of road and 31 bridges have been damaged with blackouts and power outages recorded in 110 villages.
The authorities have estimated damage to infrastructure and the primary sector at more than 1.15 billion Philippine pesos ($20 million).
An average of 20 typhoons hit the Philippines each year, where the most destructive one known till date was Haiyan, which hit the islands of Samar and Leyte in November 2013, killing some 7,000 people and leaving 200,000 families homeless.
The Philippines is one of the countries most vulnerable to climate change due to natural disasters.
It also sits on the so-called “Pacific Ring of Fire,” an area that accounts for about 90 percent of the planet’s seismic and volcanic activity. EFE
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