By Jenny A. Ng and Paul A. Isla
Reporters
DAMAGE to crops and fisheries caused by supertyphoon Reming has climbed to P376 million as of Saturday, the Department of Agriculture (DA) said.
Besides crop damage, also hit hard were power facilities. Transco’s aviation group said Camarines Sur was the worst hit area with 32 toppled steel towers. A total of 146 steel towers were reported damaged in the affected areas. Around 300 wooden poles in Bicol were also toppled by Reming.
Transco said these figures are apart from the 42 steel towers earlier damaged by Typhoon Milenyo.
Agriculture Undersecretary Jesus Paras said the amount cited in agricultural damage is only partial and that it could still go up in coming days as field personnel complete their survey of areas ravaged by the supertyphoon.
Among all subsectors, the high-value crops subsector sustained the most damage as losses were placed at P135 million, said Paras.
“(Also), based on a partial report by our field officers, about 4,000 hectares of rice lands were damaged, with losses reaching P93.55 million,” he said.
Reming also caused P44.6 million worth of damage to the fisheries subsector and P37 million to the livestock sector. Some P50 million worth of farm infrastructure were also damaged by the typhoon.
Damage to corn crops, Paras said, was minimal although 11,000 hectares of corn crops in the vegetative stage were affected by the typhoon.
“These figures were all from the Bicol provinces. A firmer figure will be announced as soon as we finalize the survey of all affected regions,” he said.
The DA has yet to complete its assessment of the damage to the farm sector caused by the typhoon in Batangas, Mindoro and Marinduque.
While the super typhoon unleashed its fury in the Bicol provinces, it veered away from Metro Manila. The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) had earlier projected that Metro Manila will be directly hit by Reming.
But a high-pressure area over the South China Sea had caused the super typhoon to change course and as a result, it directly hit Mindoro and Batangas.
The National Transmission Corp. said that it has dispatched its line men from North Luzon, the Visayas, and Mindanao to help speed up power restoration works in affected transmission facilities in South Luzon.
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State of calamity
PRESIDENT Arroyo declared a state of national calamity following the effects of the past three strong typhoons including Reming that have so far left at least 310 dead, mostly in Albay.
Glenn Rabonza, executive officer of the National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC), said Arroyo also ordered the release of P1 billion to fund relief and rehabilitation efforts by concerned agencies.
The money would be used to address the effects of Reming and typhoons Milenyo and Paeng. Rabonza, who is also the concurrent Office of the Civil Defense administrator, said the money would be disbursed by the Department of Budget and Management in coordination with the NDCC, which Arroyo chairs, being the acting secretary of national defense.
Paeng battered Ilocos, Cagayan, Central Luzon, Bicol regions and Cordillera Administrative Region from October 27 to 30 leaving 32 dead, 62 injured and 23 missing. It also destroyed P1.2 billion worth of properties.
Milenyo left 213 dead, 660 injured and 48 missing when it hit Bicol region, Central Luzon, Metro Manila, Southern Tagalog, Western, Central and Eastern Visayas and CAR from Sept. 25 to 29. It also left P6.6 billion in damages to properties. Rabonza said that of the 310 deaths so far recorded from Reming, 285 died from mudflows and flooding in Albay. (R. Acosta)
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Tsunami scare
LEGAZPI CITY—Residents here rushed out of their homes at 11:45 a.m. Sunday to seek refuge in higher areas following a text message that a tsunami was hitting the Legazpi poblacion.
The text message turned out to be a false alarm, but many residents, fresh from the trauma suffered from supertyphoon Reming, rushed out of their homes without any belongings.
Mayor Noel Rosal said residents fell victim to the scare due to the absence of communication in Albay, except for a Smart line. He said radio stations are all paralyzed and no landline phones are functioning.
Susan Obani, who rushed out of her house with four of her children, said she and her neighbors heard shouts of “may tsunami, may tsunami” as she saw everyone rushing out of their homes. (M. Ugalde)
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