Storm leaves more than 120 dead in the Philippines
Flooding and landslides in the Philippines have killed more than 120 people after Tropical Cyclone Trami tore through the archipelagic Pacific nation, displacing almost one million people across Luzon, the Visayas, and northern Mindanao.
Trami, the deadliest and most destructive storm to hit the Southeast Asian nation this year, made landfall on 24 October and put 6.7 million people at risk across 17 of the country’s 18 regions.
The storm reportedly dumped more than two months of rain in a 48-hour period, with 160 municipalities declaring a state of calamity. Aid organisations say access to food in many areas is still limited due to the landslides and flooding.
The Bicol Region, on the island of Luzon southeast of the capital, Manila, was one of the hardest hit, with at least 38 reported deaths.
Trami is the eleventh storm to hit the country this year, and has already caused an estimated $16.98 million in damages. Losses to the agricultural sector were estimated at an additional $24.5 million.
In a Facebook post, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr called the storm “horrific and one of tremendous loss”, while urging the authorities to exert all their efforts to assist those affected.
“Help is on the way. It will come by land, air, and, even by sea,” Marcos said.
After visiting affected communities, including evacuation centres, in Bula in the Bicol Region on Saturday, Marcos said Manila must find a long-term solution for such extreme flooding which he linked to climate change.
As the storm bore down on Vietnam, authorities in the Philippines were still looking for more than three dozen people missing in the disaster
More than a decade later, authorities are still trying to learn the lessons of Typhoon Haiyan (known locally as Yolanda), which left more than 7,000 people dead and around one million homeless in 2013.
But aid organisations also fear recent anti-terrorism laws are impeding the work of disaster response NGOs in the Philippines. For more, read our July 2024 report here:
How the Philippines is using anti-terrorism laws to freeze disaster NGOs
Several humanitarian NGOs have had their bank accounts frozen with no criminal charges, while others face arbitrary accusations of wrongdoing.
