Death toll, missing people tally climb in Philippines cyclone

By Riyaz ul Khaliq

ISTANBUL (AA) – The death toll and the number of missing persons from tropical storm Megi that hit the Philippines last week have risen to 224 and 147, respectively, authorities said on Thursday.

Philippines National Disaster Management Agency said most of the deaths were reported from the Eastern Visayas region where 202 people died due to the storm.

Some 147 people still remain missing while eight others were reported injured after the storm, the Filipino daily Inquirer reported.

Megi, known locally as Agaton, is this year's first cyclone to hit the Philippines, an archipelago nation of thousands of islands.

Nearly 2.1 million people in 2,400 districts have been adversely affected or displaced since the storm made landfall last week, bringing heavy rainfall and triggering floods and landslides.

Around 760 houses have been destroyed and more than 10,500 partially damaged in eight regions, including Bicol, Western Visayas, Central Visayas, Eastern Visayas, Northern Mindanao, and Bangsamoro.

The government has set up 450 evacuation centers in the affected regions.

These areas have seen agricultural and infrastructural damage worth millions of dollars, with Western Visayas witnessing the worst crop damage.