Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Wednesday declared a state of calamity in more than 20 provinces in four regions due to the heavy rains that have fallen in recent days following the passage of tropical storm ‘Nalgae’ and have already caused at least 141 deaths.
Nalgae’ has hit mainly the south and southwest of the Philippine archipelago, causing major landslides, the main cause of the deaths that have been recorded in recent days.
A state of calamity has been declared in the regions of Calabarzon, Bicol, Bisayas and Bangsamoro to allow local governments to use emergency funds for rescue, recovery, relief and rehabilitation work, as well as to provide basic services to the affected populations.
The declaration will also impose price controls on basic commodities to prevent speculation, reports PhilStar. Marcos Jr.’s decision comes after he disregarded a few days ago the recommendations to decree a state of calamity as soon as possible.
More than 3.1 million people have been affected by ‘Nalgae’, of which almost 900,000 have been forced to leave their homes due to floods and landslides, which in some cases have wiped out entire villages, as in the province of Maguindanao (south), where most of the deaths have been recorded.
Damage to agriculture and infrastructure has been estimated at more than 2.26 billion pesos (39 million euros), according to the national disaster agency.
While ‘Nalgae’ is now gone, the Philippines is bracing for a new storm to move in along the east coast and bring more rain, although forecasters expect this second event, ‘Banyan’, to be downgraded to a tropical depression. The archipelago suffers an average of 20 tropical cyclones each year.
