Typhoon “Rai” in the Philippines: “It was like the end of the world”

Typhoon “Rai” caused severe damage in the Philippines. How difficult is it only slowly becoming clear: The police are now talking of more than 200 dead, 300,000 people had to flee. Thousands of helpers are in action.

The death toll from Typhoon “Rai” in the Philippines has risen to more than 200. As the police announced, 208 people died in the passage of the most violent hurricane to date this year. However, the number of victims could continue to rise: 52 people were reportedly missing.

Infrastructure damaged

More than 300,000 people have had to flee, many of them unable to return to their homes. At least 239 people were injured, according to police. Numerous roofs flew off houses, electricity pylons toppled and several villages were flooded. In many areas the power supply and the telephone network were paralyzed. Hospitals were also damaged.

One of the hardest hit provinces was Bohol Island. There, the death toll on Monday was 74, according to Governor Arthur Yap. Ten other people died on the Dinagat Islands, local information policy official Jeffrey Crisostomo told AFP.

“I saw how the typhoon devastated the provincial capital piece by piece,” said Crisostomo to the DZBB radio station. “Big tables as heavy as a man flew through the air.” The rescue and clean-up work was in full swing at the weekend: Thousands of emergency services cleared blocked roads with excavators and supplied cut-off areas with drinking water, food and medical aid by ship.

Tourists rescued by airplanes and boats

Serious damage was also caused on the holiday island of Siargao and the northern tip of Mindanao. “Everything flew through the air, it was like the end of the world,” reported the tour guide Raphy Repdos from the island of Siargao, where a particularly large number of surfers and holidaymakers were staying in the run-up to Christmas Luna countless houses were destroyed.On Sunday, tourists were taken from the island by plane and boat.

Head of State Rodrigo Duterte visited some of the hardest hit areas on Saturday and pledged to “raise money” to help the victims. At the same time, he admitted that the government was bankrupt. Reconstruction will be “a long, hard road for the people,” said Alberto Bocanegra, head of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies in the Philippines. In an appeal for donations, the aid organization asked for the equivalent of a good 19 million euros.

End of the typhoon season

“Rai”, called “Odette” by the locals, hit land on Thursday with winds of up to 195 kilometers per hour. The classification as a super typhoon corresponds to a category five hurricane in the United States. Globally, around five storms of this strength usually occur each year. “Rai” hit the Philippines at the end of the typhoon season. Most violent cyclones develop between July and October.

Due to climate change and the resulting rise in sea temperatures, hurricanes are increasing in number and intensity. The worst typhoon so far, “Haiyan”, killed more than 6,300 people in November 2013. More than four million people had to flee.