NDCC tally: 98 dead, 115 missing, 66 hurt

MANILA, Philippines – The National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC) said that at least 98 people had reportedly died due to typhoon “Frank" as of Monday noon. In its latest advisory, the NDCC quoted the Health Department as reporting that only 63 of the 98 reported deaths have so far been confirmed through a body count. Also, the report said that 66 others have been injured while 115 more were still missing in a total of 10 regions including Western and Eastern Visayas, Central Luzon, Northern Mindanao, and the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) among others. The NDCC report excluded the incident involving the capsizing of the MV Princess of the Stars off Romblon over the weekend. The Philippine National Red Cross had earlier placed the death toll at 229. The NDCC report said that of the 155,564 damaged houses, 53,706 were totally wrecked while 109,837 were partially destroyed. In Leyte alone, damages to infrastructure and agriculture were pegged at P888.55 million. An estimated 16.774 metric tons of agricultural products have been destroyed after the typhoon ravaged some 224,441 hectares of agricultural lands in Western and Esatern Visayas. Meanwhile, damage to school buildings were placed at P52 million, the report added. A combined financial assistance of P9.6 million coming from various government agencies, local governments and non-government organizations has already been allotted for affected families of the typhoon. - Mark Merueñas, GMANews.TV