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Philippines: Typhoon Phanfone, Emergency Plan of Action (EPoA) DREF Operation Update n° 2 (MDRPH038)

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Philippines
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IFRC
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A. SITUATION ANALYSIS

Description of the disaster

Typhoon Phanfone (locally named Ursula) made initial landfall on 24 December 2019 at 16:45 in Salcedo, Eastern Samar as a category-2 typhoon. The typhoon travelled across the country in the Visayas region following a similar path to Typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda) in November 2013, making a total of seven landfalls in as many provinces, over two days in Eastern Samar, Leyte, Biliran, Gigantes Islands, Aklan, Antique and Oriental Mindoro. Between 25 to 30 December, 26 municipalities were declared under state of calamity.

According to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) and DSW-DROMIC at the time of writing:

  • a total of 3,296,877 people (approximately 795,449 families) in 3,099 barangays were affected in regions1 V, VI, VII, VIII, CARAGA and MIMAROPA. Approximately 60 per cent2 of those affected were in Region VIII (Eastern Visayas).

  • 57 dead, 369 injured, and six still missing.

  • Families displaced:

    • One family of three people remained in one evacuation centre (EC), while, the cumulative number of people evacuated in ECs since their openings is of 198,399 people (or 47,576 families).

    • 26,442 people (approximately 5,285 families) were still sheltered outside the ECs, with relatives, and host families.

  • Houses damaged:

    • 527,201 houses damaged, including 59,471 totally damaged (destroyed) and 467,730 partially damaged in Regions MIMAROPA, VI, VII and VIII.
  • Damaged infrastructure:

    • 467 schools partially damaged.

    • 32 health facilities partially damaged.

    • 106 public structures damaged of which 84 partially and 22 totally damaged.

    • 72 road sections and four bridges were affected, of which three road sections and three bridges remain impassable.

    • 353 cities/municipalities experienced power outage of which 268 are fully restored, 79 partially and six still for restoration.

Typhoon Phanfone was the 21st tropical cyclone to hit the Philippines in 2019, exceeding the annual average of 20. The typhoon occurred while the authorities and partner organizations were already responding to public health emergencies (measles and polio, MDRPH032 and COVID-19, MDR00005), earthquakes (Mindanao, MDRPH036) and typhoon (Kammuri, MDRPH037). Since the start of 2020, and the eruption of the Taal volcano (MDRPH039) have been added to this list of operations.