MANILA, Philippines — Rescuers in regions hardest hit by Severe Tropical Storm Kristine raced yesterday to reach people still stranded in areas made inaccessible by flooding, as disaster officials confirmed 81 deaths and almost half a million people displaced.

In the hard-hit Bicol region, residents trapped on the roofs and upper floors of their homes were still awaiting desperately needed assistance, officials said.

“The floods have yet to subside. Calls asking for help are still pouring in here,” regional police director Andre Dizon told AFP.

“We need to rescue them as soon as possible because starvation can be a problem. We’re hearing reports that children are already getting sick.”

In Camarines Sur, food and drinking water were in increasingly short supply as some areas remained completely submerged and difficult to access, he added.

President Marcos visited the area yesterday to inspect the damage before meeting with provincial officials.

The Office of Civil Defense (OCD) and the National Disaster Risk Reduction  Management Council (NDRRMC) said that aside from the 81 confirmed deaths as of yesterday, Kristine also left 66 people injured and 34 still missing.

The OCD and the NDRRMC, however, said the circumstances surrounding the reported deaths were still being validated.

Police have recorded 31 deaths in Bicol alone, mostly due to drowning. The number of confirmed dead in Batangas stood at 51, provincial police chief Jacinto Malinao said yesterday, with at least 22 people missing.

In Batangas, rescuers were using backhoes and shovels to dig through mud as high as 10 feet in a desperate search for the missing in areas hit by landslides.

“We are desperate to find people in safe condition. Deep inside, I am hoping that many of those reported missing are not under the mud and boulders, but simply went somewhere without telling others,” Malinao said.

Kristine’s heavy rains, flooding and landslides have so far affected a total of 986,974 families or 4,207,387 persons in various regions across the country. Of the number, the NDRRMC said 84,295 families or 318,538 persons are staying at 6,452 different evacuation centers in various provinces, particularly in the Bicol Region.

Kristine damaged a total of 8,432 houses in the Ilocos Region, Cagayan Valley, Central Luzon, MIMAROPA, Western Visayas, Eastern Visayas, Zamboanga Peninsula, Northern Mindanao, SOCCSKSARGEN, CARAGA, Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao and the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR).

Damage to agriculture as of yesterday was at P87.5 million in the Bicol Region, MIMAROPA, Eastern Visayas and CAR.

Estimated cost of damage to infrastructure in the Bicol Region, CALABARZON, MIMAROPA, the Bicol Region, Northern Mindanao, SOCCSKSARGEN and CAR was at P203.8 million.

The NDRRMC said more than P120.3 million worth of assistance in the form of both food and non-food items have been provided to affected regions and provinces.

About 20 big storms and typhoons hit the Philippines and its surrounding waters each year, damaging homes and infrastructure and killing dozens of people.

A recent study showed that storms in the Asia-Pacific region are increasingly forming closer to coastlinesn1 bet, intensifying more rapidly and lasting longer over land due to climate change. 

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