MANILA, Dec 26, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – A typhoon that swept across remote
villages and popular tourist areas of the central Philippines on Christmas
Day claimed at least 16 lives, authorities said Thursday.
Typhoon Phanfone, with winds of 195 kilometres (120 miles) an hour, tore
roofs off houses and toppled electric posts as it cut across the Philippines
on Wednesday.
With the internet and mobile phone networks still cut off in some badly
damaged areas, a full assessment of Phanfone’s damage was not immediately
possible on Thursday morning.
But at least 16 people had been confirmed killed in villages and towns in
the Visayas, the central third of the Philippines, according to disaster
agency officials.
Phanfone also hit Boracay, Coron and other holiday destinations that are
famed for their white-sand beaches and popular with foreign tourists.
The airport at Kalibo, which services Boracay, was badly damaged,
according to a Korean tourist who was stranded there and provided images to
AFP.
“Roads remain blocked, but some efforts have been made to clear away the
damage. It’s pretty bad,” Jung Byung Joon said via Instagram messenger.
“Everything within 100 meters of the airport looks broken. There are a lot
of frustrated people at the airport as flights have been cancelled.
“Taxis are still running but it’s windy and still raining so no one wants
to leave the airport, including me.”
Though much weaker, Phanfone tracked a similar path as Super Typhoon
Haiyan — the country’s deadliest storm on record which left more than 7,300
people dead or missing in 2013.
“It’s like the younger sibling of Haiyan. It’s less destructive, but it
followed a similar path,” Cindy Ferrer, an information officer at the Western
Visayas region’s disaster officer, told AFP.
Tens of thousands of people in the mostly Catholic nation had been forced
to evacuate their homes on Wednesday, ruining Christmas celebrations.
Many others were not able to return to their families, with ferries and
plane services suspended.
Among those killed Phanfone was a police officer who was electrocuted by a
toppled electric post while patrolling.
The Philippines is the first major landmass facing the Pacific typhoon
belt, and is hit by an average of about 20 major storms a year.
Many of the storms are deadly, and they typically wipe out harvests, homes
and infrastructure, keeping millions of people perennially poor.