Yolanda death toll hits 5,786

MANILA, Philippines - Exactly a month ago after Super Typhoon Yolanda ripped through the country, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) is still busy counting the dead left by the monster storm.

As of yesterday, the NDRRMC’s death toll was  at 5,786, with most of the victims from Tacloban City, as well as in Palo and Tanauan towns. Most of the dead remained unidentified.

In Tacloban City alone, the NDRRMC has already counted 2,183 dead persons, minus the bodies being recovered daily offshore and underneath the pile of storm debris.

Also included in the NDRRMC list of fatalities are 1,089 bodies retrieved in Palo and 1,282 more in the neighboring town of Tanauan.

The disaster agency also reported that 1,779 persons are still missing while the monster storm resulted in the injuries to 26,233 people from 12,118 devastated villages in 44 provinces, 580 towns and 57 cities in Central, Eastern and Western Visayas, Caraga region, Bicol region and Southern Tagalog’s Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon) and Mimaropa  (Marinduque, Mindoro, Romblon and Palawan) regions.

The estimated cost of damage has been placed at P35.2 billion – P18.2 billion in infrastructure and P17 billion in agriculture, excluding the actual costs of 599,121 destroyed houses and 612,979 damaged homes.

The monster storm made landfall over Guiuan, Eastern Samar at around 4:40 a.m. last Nov. 8, bringing the first-class town to the ground before heading to Leyte, roaring through Tolosa town by 7 a.m. and then to Daanbantayan in Cebu. – With Evelyn Macairan