Emergency teams rush aid to typhoon victims

dpa Manila Philippine emergency teams on Saturday rushed aid to areas battered by the strongest typhoon to hit the country this year, killing at least 31 p...

dpaManilaPhilippine emergency teams on Saturday rushed aid to areas battered by the strongest typhoon to hit the country this year, killing at least 31 people and displacing more than 330,000.Sixteen of the fatalities were from the central province of Cebu, about 570 kilometres south of Manila, while other areas that reported multiple deaths were the nearby provinces of Bohol and Negros Oriental, the national disaster agency said.Most of the victims died after being hit or crushed by falling trees or collapsing structures, while others drowned in flood waters or were swept away by swollen rivers.Typhoon Rai slammed into the south-eastern island of Siargao on Thursday at peak strength, packing maximum sustained winds of 195 kilometres per hour (kph) and gusts of up to 240 kph.It knocked out power and communication lines, isolating some islands and towns, and leaving about 5 million people without electricity.Reports trickling in from the affected areas showed that Typhoon Rai, locally called Odette, levelled houses made from light materials, ripped off rooftops, and damaged even concrete structures.“We have lost our homes. Walls and roofs were torn and blown off by Odette like paper,” said Governor Arlene Bag-ao of the island province of Dinagat. “We have a dwindling supply of food and water.” “Our landscape in the aftermath is reminiscent if not worse of when Yolanda hit our province,” she added, referring to Super Typhoon Haiyan, the strongest typhoon to ever hit the Philippines, killing 6,300 people in November 2013.Haiyan devastated a wide area in the eastern and central Philippines, and displaced more than 4 million people.Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte conducted an aerial survey of Siargao, Dinagat, Surigao City and Southern Leyte province.Aerial footage showed widespread damage, with many buildings without roofs, houses flattened, trees toppled or left standing without leaves, and debris littered everywhere. Rai moved out of the Philippines after noon, the weather bureau said.It was picking up strength again and was packing maximum sustained winds of 165 kph and gusts of up to 205 kph as it moved over the South China Sea, it added.The Philippine archipelago is hit by an average of 20 tropical cyclones every year.