INTERNATIONAL: The death toll from Typhoon Rai that lashed the Philippines last week has climbed to 375, a police report said on Monday, adding that 56 more remain missing.
The report has mentioned deaths caused by the 15th and the most destructive typhoon to hit the Southeast Asian country this year occurred in Central Visayas and the Caraga region on the north-eastern Mindanao island.
Bohol, one of the hardest-hit areas in the central Philippines by Typhoon Rai, confirmed 94 deaths on Monday, according to Bohol Governor Arthur Yap, and at least 18 more are still missing.
The typhoon still poses a serious threat to the normal lives of the people in the affected areas.
"I am calling the national government, the local government, to please make all efforts faster, as soon as possible. Siargao is badly hit, and the people need your help, we are lacking out of foods, we lack water, and the gasoline price is getting high. Some of the markets are hoarding water, and there are so many local tourists stranded, just wanting to go back to their provinces," said local resident Antonio.
The country's disaster-response agency has said the typhoon has affected close to 1 million people and displaced 442,424 residents.
\It said the initial estimate of damage to agriculture is 2.4 million U.S. dollars as well as 4.5 million U.S. dollars to infrastructure.
The Philippine Civil Aviation Administration stated on Monday that due to the impact of Rai, Surigao Airport and Siargao Airport in Surigao del Norte Province of the Philippines are closed. It is expected that all commercial flights to and from the two airports before February 2022 will be cancelled.
At present, the two airports are still in a state of power outages and communication signal interruption, and the airport can only communicate with the outside world through satellite phone equipment. There is no timetable for when the commercial operations of the two airports will resume.
On Thursday afternoon, the typhoon first slammed into Siargao Island off the eastern coast on Mindanao island in the southern Philippines.
Rai has lashed the Philippines for three days, causing floods and landslides and leaving a trail of destruction in the central and southern Philippines regions, including some areas on the main Luzon island.
