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Philippines Logs 100 Deaths, P25 Billion Losses From Recent Storms

By Ditas Lopez

Three strong typhoons over the past three weeks have killed more than 100 people in the Philippines and damaged farms and infrastructure worth almost 25 billion pesos ($518.5 million), based on reports from its disaster agency.

A number of provinces north of the capital Manila are still submerged in flood waters after Typhoon Vamco swept across Luzon last week, just weeks after typhoons Goni and Molave hit.

The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Managent Council said it has asked President Rodrigo Duterte to declare a state of calamity in the country’s largest island Luzon, home to 53 million people. The proposal – which will be in addition to an existing state of calamity over the COVID-19 pandemic – allows faster release of calamity funds, the grant of interest-free loans and freezing of prices of basic commodities.

© 2020 Bloomberg L.P.