Informing humanitarians worldwide 24/7 — a service provided by UN OCHA

Philippines

Philippines: Typhoons and Floods - Emergency Appeal n° MDRPH020

Attachments

The situation

The Philippines are recouping from the combined effects of Typhoon Melor (local name Nona), Tropical Depression Twenty Three (local name Onyok) and monsoon rains enhanced by the two tropical systems. As a result of the weather disturbances, which followed back-to-back within a week, there are significant humanitarian needs spanning the three main islands – Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao.

14 December: Typhoon Melor made an initial landfall in Batag Island,
Northern Samar and then tracked across southern Luzon, making five other landfalls before exiting to the sea west of the Philippines on 16 December. At its peak, Melor packed maximum sustained winds of 150 kilometres per hour (kph) and gusts of up to 185 kph, and brought heavy to intense rainfall within its 300 km diameter.

16 December: Information bulletin no.1 issued.

17 December: The President of the Philippines declared a state of national calamity following the devastation caused by Melor.

18 December: As Melor dissipated, a new tropical system – Tropical Depression Twenty Three – entered the Philippine area of responsibility (PAR) and made landfall over the municipality of Manay in Davao Oriental province, eastern Mindanao. It weakened into a low pressure area (LPA) after landfall but continued to bring rains, including in areas that were recovering from the effects of Melor. Information bulletin no.2 issued.

19 December: Reports indicate that almost the entire of Philippines was experiencing rains, with flooding and landslides – some of them deadly – reported in some provinces.

22 December: Emergency Appeal launched for CHF 3.7 million to provide assistance to 45,000 people.

Impact of Typhoon Melor

  • In anticipation of Melor, 165,554 families (742,991 people) were pre-emptively evacuated across five regions. As of 21 December, only 17,100 families (around 79,000 people) remain in 283 evacuation centres.

  • 41 confirmed deaths and over 199,850 houses damaged – 55,400 of them totally. Most damage to houses have been in the provinces of Oriental Mindoro Northern Samar and Sorsogon.

  • 99 classrooms either partially or completely damaged and 35 health facilities damaged.

  • Estimated cost of damage to agriculture and infrastructure amounts PHP 4.9 billion (USD 105 million), with loses in agriculture estimated at PHP 2.8 billion (USD 59 million) - livelihoods heavily impacted.

Impact of Tropical Depression Twenty Three

  • In anticipation of Twenty Three, 1,080 families (4,792 people) in four provinces were evacuated.

  • As of Monday 21 December, all evacuation centres were closed as evacuees had returned to their homes. There has been no casualty reported ported.

The monsoon rains enhanced by the two tropical systems came at a time when a large number of farming communities have been submerged by floods wrought by Melor, with some of the areas also having barely recovered from floods brought by Typhoon Koppu in October. Several reservoirs in Bulacan and Isabela were forced to release water after the incessant rains breached maximum water levels. Bulacan, Cagayan, Isabela, Nueva Ecija and Quezon are among the provinces that most impacted by the rains. Four people were killed in a landslide which buried four houses in Quezon.