Philippine officials revise 'Paeng' death toll down to 45
MANILA, Philippines (Updated, 1:33 p.m.) — The Philippines sharply revised the death toll from Severe Tropical Storm "Paeng" (international name: Nalgae) ravaging the country downward on Saturday, saying only 45 people had been killed — correcting the earlier reported toll of 72.
Civil defense officials acknowledged rescue teams sent to the country's flood-swamped south on Friday had erred in their reporting, leading to some deaths being tallied twice.
LIVE UPDATES: Severe Tropical Storm Paeng
"When we consolidated the reports at 6:00 am today we realised there were only 40 dead, 31 injured and 15 missing," Naguib Sinarimbo, spokesman and civil defense chief for the southern region told AFP.
National civil defense chief Rafaelito Alejandro also confirmed the lower figure at a news conference in Manila, saying 40 bodies were recovered from the disaster in the southern region of Mindanao.
Paeng killed five other people elsewhere in the country, Alejandro added.
An earlier report from the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council pegged the number of deaths at 72, with most of the fatalities coming from the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.
Alejandro told reporters the death toll was reduced after local officials conducted a "validation" of the reports.
The NDRRMC also reported that 33 were injured due to Paeng’s onslaught, while 14 more are missing.
The disaster agency said 184,161 people were affected by Paeng, of which 9,737 are in evacuation centers.
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A total of 280 houses were damaged by Paeng, with 171 partially damaged and 121 totally damaged.
The NDRRMC estimated that Paeng has dealt a total of P54.59 million in damage to agriculture.
In recent years, flash floods with mud and debris from largely deforested mountainsides have been among the deadliest hazards posed by typhoons in the Philippines.
Rescuers are focusing on the village of Kusiong, where dozens of bodies were recovered Friday after the floods hit.
Flooding was also reported in several areas of the central Philippines, though there were no deaths reported there.
The Philippines is hit by an average of 20 major storms each year that kill hundreds of people and keep vast regions in perpetual poverty.
Scientists have warned that such storms, which also kill livestock and destroy key infrastructure, are becoming more powerful as the world gets warmer because of climate change. — Xave Gregorio with AFP
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