Manila: The death toll in the Philippines from Typhoon Kalmaegi has risen to 188, with 135 people still missing as the storm moved on to Vietnam, where it has claimed two lives.
According to Anadolu Agency, a total of 96 individuals were injured due to the destruction caused by Kalmaegi, locally referred to as Tino. Diego Mariano, deputy spokesman for the Office of Civil Defense (OCD), provided these figures to the local outlet, the Inquirer.
Cebu City in the Central Visayas region reported 139 fatalities, while the other deaths were recorded across Cebu Province, Negros Occidental, Negros Oriental, Agusan del Sur, Capiz, and Southern Leyte, along with single fatalities in Antique, Iloilo, Guimaras, Bohol, and Leyte.
An official report indicates that approximately 2.3 million people have been affected by the typhoon, with around 398,000 individuals still residing in evacuation centers.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. visited the severely impacted Cebu and Negros areas of the Visayas region on Friday to oversee relief and recovery efforts personally. The President distributed essential supplies, including family food packs, health kits, hygiene kits, and sleeping kits from the Department of Social Welfare and Development, which also provided hot meals to evacuees, as stated in an official release.
Kalmaegi exited the Philippine Area of Responsibility on Thursday, a designated monitoring region in the northwestern Pacific, after making landfall eight times and causing widespread damage across parts of the Visayas and Mindanao regions.
The typhoon damaged over 9,500 homes across the country, with 264 of these being completely destroyed.
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. declared a state of national calamity due to Kalmaegi's impact and in anticipation of another approaching storm, Super Typhoon Fung-wong, locally known as Uwan, expected over the weekend.
This devastation follows a powerful 6.9 magnitude earthquake that struck Cebu on September 30, resulting in significant casualties and displacement.
In Vietnam, five people were killed and seven injured in the central Dak Lak province as Kalmaegi made landfall on Thursday night. The Vietnam News website, citing official reports, detailed the storm's destruction, which included roofs torn off hundreds of houses, flooded roads, uprooted trees and power poles, and widespread power outages. Over 9,000 residents have been evacuated from vulnerable areas.
According to the Provincial Civil Defense Command, by Friday morning, the typhoon had weakened into a tropical depression.
In Thailand, the National Water Command Center issued warnings that starting Saturday, Kalmaegi could bring heavy to very heavy rain to the country's northeastern regions, including Ubon Ratchathani, Sisaket, Surin, Buriram, Amnat Charoen, Yasothon, Roi Et, Maha Sarakham, Kalasin, and Mukdahan.
*Islamuddin Sajid contributed to this story*