THE number of persons affected by the shear line that brought rains and flooding in the Davao and Caraga regions increased to nearly a million yesterday.
Data from the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) showed the affected population in 506 barangays in these regions was at 217,858 families or 975,306 individuals.
The number was 128,069 more compared to the previous day’s figure of 847,237 affected individuals (191,376 families).
The NDRRMC said Davao region had the most affected persons with 199,462 families (908,654 individuals). There were 18,396 families (66,652 individuals) affected in Caraga. Of the affected population, a total of 27,070 (98,138 individuals) have been displaced but the number was down to 151 families or 546 individuals yesterday.
NDRRMC executive director and Office of Civil Defense administrator Ariel Nepomuceno attributed the continuing rise in affected population to delayed reporting from local government units (LGUs).
“The validated reports from the LGUs, especially in Region XI (Davao region), continues to come in. It’s just a lag time (in reporting) from the LGUs to our regional offices,” said Nepomuceno.
He noted that the weather condition in these regions have greatly improved compared to a couple of weeks ago when flooding and landslides were reported.
Nepomuceno said skies in the two regions are cloudy with intermittent rains as of yesterday.
The death toll from the calamity increased to 18 people, from 16, last Friday. The fatalities are all from the Davao region, most of them perished due to landslides.
Ten of 18 fatalities have been “validated” while the eight others are still subject to validation process, the NDRRMC said.
The initial cost of damage to agriculture in the two regions was placed at P78.11 million while the initial cost of damage to infrastructure in the Davao region alone was pegged at PP27.05 million.
