At least 10 people have died and two are still missing after heavy rains and flooding have hit the eastern and southern Philippines since Monday, the country’s natural disaster prevention center said Thursday.
In the most recent update, the center also indicated that more than eight thousand people had to leave their homes to take refuge in different reception centers.
Heavy rains and flooding affected more than 430,000 people in various parts of the Philippines, the center said.
The most affected areas are the island of Samar, where two people died, and the island of Mindanao, in the east and south of the archipelago, where the rains caused flooding and landslides.
The Philippine weather agency said Thursday that rains are expected to continue through the weekend in Mindanao and much of the central Visayas, making a tropical storm unlikely.
Hit by between 15 and 20 typhoons and tropical cyclones each year, the Philippines is among the nations most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change.
Experts from international organizations pointed to the poor state of the infrastructure and the precariousness of housing as one of the main factors in the high number of deaths from natural disasters in the country.
During the Christmas holidays, floods and landslides in the Philippines caused 49 deaths, forced 51,400 people to flee their homes, and affected a total of around 500,000 Filipinos.
Damage to agriculture and infrastructure was estimated at about $25 million (23.3 million euros), according to the Philippine Natural Disaster Prevention Center.
Source: TSF
