The devastation wrought by typhoon “Odette” to human lives has started to have a clear picture as more ground reports started to reach the Philippine National Police (PNP) when its communication lines were restored starting Sunday, Dec. 19.

Based on the latest data of the PNP from the reports filed by police units in areas affected by “Odette”, the death toll already reached 375 as of 6 p.m. on Monday, Dec. 20.

Central Visayas has the most number of reported fatalities with 170, followed by the CARAGA region with 167. A total of 24 individuals were reported to have died in Western Visayas, seven in Northern Mindanao, six in Eastern Visayas and one from Zamboanga region.

On the other hand, a total of 56 individuals were reported missing, 47 of them are from Central Visayas, eight in CARAGA region and one in Eastern Visayas. A total of 500 people were also reported injured.

The PNP death toll is way higher than the fatality figure of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management (NDRRMC) with 54 reported deaths only four of them were confirmed to be typhoon-related.

PNP spokesperson Col. Rhoderick Alba said the fatality figure is still for validation.

Field reports have started to flood the PNP headquarters at Camp Crame when the Information Technology experts from the police were able to restore the communication lines in areas affected by “Odette” on Sunday.

Based on the latest PNP data, the number of individuals still staying in various evacuation centers were 99,568 from some 30,000 families. Most of them lost their homes to the typhoon while some could not still go home due to flooding.

Most of the evacuees are from Central Visayas, CARAGA region and Western Visayas.

Source:
courtesy of MANILA BULLETIN

by Aaron Recuenco

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