‘Lawin’ affected almost 1M persons

Nearly one million individuals were affected by super typhoon ‘Lawin’ that struck Northern Luzon on Wednesday last week.

Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Secretary Judy Taguiwalo gave this figure in the press briefing in Malacañang on Monday with Agriculture Secretary Manny Piñol.

She identified Cordillera as the area with the most number of affected families.

At least 992,179 individuals were affected by the typhoon in this region.

“We are still continuing with our relief programs. We are particularly concerned with Kalinga-Apayao and Central Luzon,” she reported.

DSWD has initially distributed P 5,000 to disaster victims.

Government also plans to give emergency shelter assistance to families hit by the typhoon.

Taguiwalo expects the number of affected persons to rise further.

She warned, floodwaters from Cordillera are currently flowing into the rivers of Central Luzon.   

For his part, Piñol estimated that damage to agriculture brought by typhoons Lawin and Karen has reached P 10.2 billion.

Damage to crops and infrastructure in Ilocos Sur alone has been recorded at P 1 billion.

In Isabela, damage to agriculture amounts to about P 1.3 billion.

Apayao has been placed under state of calamity.

Local authorities put the cost of damage to agriculture in this province at P 2 million.