The Philippine Red Cross has described the coastal districts damaged by Odette as “complete carnage.”
The death toll from the fiercest typhoon to hit the Philippines this year has risen to more than 300, according to the national police, making it one of the country’s deadliest storms in recent years.
Typhoon Rai wreaked havoc on the archipelago’s southern and central regions, leaving at least 378 people injured and 52 missing, according to a police report.
Rai, a super typhoon, blasted into the country on Thursday, forcing more than 300,000 people to flee their homes and beachside resorts.
“Homes, hospitals, school and community buildings have been ripped to shreds,” Red Cross Chairman Richard Gordon said earlier.
Roofs were ripped off, trees were uprooted, concrete power poles were collapsed, wooden buildings were smashed to bits, and villages were flooded, drawing analogies to Super Typhoon Haiyan in 2013.
In the Philippines, Haiyan, also known as Yolanda, was the deadliest typhoon on record, killing or missing more than 7,300 people.
Bohol, noted for its beaches, rolling “Chocolate Hills,” and small tarsier primates, was one of the hardest-hit islands this time, with at least 74 people killed, according to provincial governor Arthur Yap’s official Facebook page.
The islands of Siargao, Dinagat, and Mindanao, which bore the brunt of the storm when it slammed into the country with wind gusts of 195 kilometers per hour (120 miles per hour), have also been devastated.
On Sunday, provincial information officer Jeffrey Crisostomo told AFP that at least ten people died on the Dinagat Islands.
As residents struggle to locate water and food, S.O.S was painted on a road in the popular tourist town of General Luna on Siargao island, where surfers and holidaymakers had come ahead of Christmas.
Large swaths of the affected area remain cut off from the outside world, making it difficult for disaster relief agencies to determine the entire scope of the storm’s damage.
Water-refilling stations and ATMs were also affected by the power outage.
Thousands of military, police, coast guard, and firefighter personnel have been dispatched to aid in the search and rescue operation.
Heavy machinery, such as backhoes and front-end loaders, have been dispatched to help clear roads blocked by fallen power poles and trees, while the Coast Guard and naval vessels bringing food, water, and medical supplies have been dispatched.
Rai made landfall in the Philippines late in the typhoon season, when most cyclones form between July and October.
Scientists have long warned that as the world warms as a result of human-caused climate change, typhoons will grow more powerful and stronger.
The Philippines — ranked among the globe’s most vulnerable nations to the impacts of climate change — is hit by an average of 20 storms and typhoons every year, which typically wipe out harvests, homes and infrastructure in already impoverished areas.
Amid all these, we gather the courage to extend out beyond typical gift-giving as we get closer to our traditional celebration of Christ’s birth. Where people of all political colors put aside their prejudices and simply be there with those in need, because those destroyed by typhoon Rai were simply left homeless, exhausted, hungry, and yearning for help.
In the same spirit, Christians and other religious denominations are invited to extend their presence in whatever way they can to assist, and bring a glimmer of hope to those who are helpless and in misery.
