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NDRRMC: Damage from 'Juan' rises to P8.3-B
Damage to property caused by typhoon "Juan" (international codename "Megi") rose to P8.3 billion Friday night, after disaster management officials received damage reports from Tarlac and Bulacan provinces. In its 8 a.m. Saturday update, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) said the damage includes P8.22 billion in agriculture and P87.67 million in infrastructure. 'The value of losses increased' "The value of losses to agriculture increased from P5.55 billion to P8.22 billion. The amount covers the estimated cost of damaged irrigation facilities and data from two provinces in Central Luzon, namely Tarlac and Bulacan," the agency said. The NDRRMC said the P87.67-million damage to infrastructure includes P83.45 million in damage to bridges and roads, and P4.1 million to schools. On the other hand, the bulk of damage to agriculture was pegged at P6.39 billion to rice and corn; P1.02 billion to irrigation; P660.30 million to high-value commercial crops such as mangoes, bananas, papayas, and vegetables; P140.08 million to fisheries; P10.60 million to livestock; and P5 million to facilities. Of the 18 provinces affected, Pangasinan and Isabela reportedly suffered the biggest losses at P2.33 billion and P1.24 billion respectively. Number of injured goes up to 39 While the death toll remained at 26, the number of injured went up to 39, the latest 12 coming from Pangasinan. Four remained missing. NDRRMC said "Juan" affected 350,408 families or 1,676,442 people in 2,989 villages in 225 towns and 16 cities in 23 provinces. At least 28,159 houses were destroyed and 78,299 damaged. International response The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) sent a team of specialists on health, nutrition, water sanitation and hygiene (WASH), education and child protection to conduct rapid assessment. It brought an initial set of shelter and medical supplies to provide children with temporary school classrooms, and health centres with essential drugs as well as school packs. "Early assessment indicates that 90 per cent of schools in northern Isabela were destroyed, and many school buildings have been damaged in the rest of the province," UNICEF said on the ReliefWeb site on Saturday. According to the team's findings in the areas that they visited, over 691,000 residents (154,171 families) of Isabela province were affected by the typhoon, of these 297,000 are children. In the three coastal towns of Divilacan, Maconacon, and Aplanan, as much as 90 percent of structures were reportedly in ruins. There are about 5,000 families (30,000 individuals of which 12,900 are children) living in these three municipalities. From the initial assessment, UNICEF is preparing to send emergency supplies to the three most affected coastal towns, particularly:
- Education: 18 tents that can serve as temporary classrooms, school packs for elementary and high school children; teachers' packs; early learning packages consisting of educational toys, books; 4 sets of 100-book libraries.
- Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH): hygiene kits, water kits, purification tablets, family packs, and generators to power the water supply systems.
- Health: feeding kits, medicines, Infant and Young Child Feeding in Emergencies tarpaulins, and nutrition in emergencies educational materials.
