Evacuation of residents from flooded areas
“Rai” arrived in the Philippines on Thursday as a typhoon, with winds of 195 km / h. More than 380,000 residents and vacationers fled their homes and beach resorts on islands in the center of the country and in the south.
Typhoon damage
(Photo: Reuters)
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Damage to the storm in Bohol, Philippines. At least 94 were killed on the island
(Photo: AFP)
The strong storm has passed, but many localities are still cut off from electricity and are asking the authorities for urgent assistance – including food supplies. According to the Philippine Red Cross, the storm “tore to shreds” homes, schools and hospitals. The Red Cross reported “total carnage” on the beaches where the storm reached.
Typhoon “Rai” that arrived in the Philippines on Thursday brought heavy rains and strong winds, destroyed agricultural crops and flooded villages. “We are in a very desperate situation,” said Perry Asuncion, a peddler in the town of Surigao on the island of Mindanao in the southern Philippines. He said city residents are begging for food and water.
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In the devastated localities begging for help: “We are in a very desperate situation”
(Photo: AFP)
One of the hardest hit islands is Bohol Island – known for its beaches, Philippine monkeys that live there and its famous “chocolate hills” – which got their oil because in the arid summer months they change color from green to brown. Governor Arthur Yap said at least 94 people had been killed in Bohol. The island reported major damage in the coastal town of Obai, where wooden houses and fishing boats were destroyed in the storm.
Authorities in the Philippines have reported heavy damage in the islands of Syargao, Mindanao and Dinangat. The ruler of the Dinagat Islands, Arlen Bao-ou, likened “Rai” to the typhoon “Haiyan” that raged in the Philippines in 2013 and killed thousands of people: “And catches everything – trees, awnings – and throws them in every direction.”
Many of the victims of the storm were killed as a result of the collapse of trees and buildings, or were damaged by floods and landslides. In light of the storm’s damage, contact with several villages and localities was cut off, and it is estimated that the number of people killed in the storm will increase.
“Rai” arrived in the Philippines at the end of the “typhoon season”: Every year about 20 storms and typhoons hit the country, most of them between July and October. Scientists warn that in light of the climate crisis, typhoons are becoming more common and deadly over the years. The Philippines is considered a country where the effects of climate change are particularly severe.
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