Rescue workers carry a body bag containing remains of victims following a landslide at Cisolok district in Sukabumi (Source: Reuters/ANTARA)
Hanoi (VNA) - The death toll fromlandslides and devastating floods in the central Philippines triggered bytropical depression Usman climbed to 85, and 20 people were missing as rescuersslowly reached cut-off communities, officials said on January 2.
The casualties, including young children, were mostly killed when their homescollapsed in landslides after days of heavy rain in several provinces in thecentral Philippines, said Ricardo Jalad, executive director of the nationaldisaster agency.
If the rescue force do not recover themissing or find them dead, the number of deaths will be 105, Jalad said.
Rescuers, including the police and military forces, used heavy-lifting equipmentto clear roads leading to landslide sites and entered flooded communities usingrubber boats.
Usman swept through the central Philippineislands on December 29, brought heavy rain that triggered landslides andflooding in the Bicol and eastern Visayas regions.
Bicol, with a population of 5.8 million, wasthe hardest hit, with 68 killed in intense rains and landslides. Damage toagriculture in Bicol, which produces rice and corn, was estimated at 342million pesos (6.5 million USD).
Philippine officials put three provinces under a“state of calamity” to give them access to emergency funds.
About 20 tropical storms lash the Philippineseach year, killing hundreds of people. The country’s deadliest storm on recordis Super Typhoon Haiyan, which left more than 7,350 people dead or missingacross the central Philippines in November 2013. - VNA
