A total of 205,140 families or 755,670 persons were displaced by the onslaught of Super Typhoon Karding in Central Luzon.

Data from the Regional Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (RDRRMC) showed eight persons died, including the five rescuers in Bulacan, and 35 others were injured during the height of the typhoon.

On the other hand, 50,744 houses were either totally or partially damaged due to strong winds brought by “Karding”.

Of these figures, a total of 38,275 houses were destroyed in Nueva Ecija; followed by Bulacan with 5,079; Aurora, 3,650; Tarlac, 2,188; Pampanga, 1,334; and Zambales, 248.

Likewise, the total cost of damage to agriculture in the region’s seven provinces was estimated at PHP1.67 billion while the damage to infrastructures is still being assessed.

As a result, five local government units in the region have declared a state of calamity – the province of Nueva Ecija and the municipalities of Concepcion in Tarlac, Dingalan in Aurora, Macabebe in Pampanga, and San Miguel in Bulacan.

Some PHP13 million worth of assistance was provided to the typhoon-hit areas by various agencies led by the Department of Social Welfare and Development-Central Luzon (DSWD-3) and the Office of the Civil Defense Region 3.

Meanwhile, electricity has been restored in some parts of Nueva Ecija as the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) finished the repair of power transmission services in areas served by Nueva Ecija I Electric Cooperative, Inc. (NEECO I), which shifted load from the affected Cabanatuan-Bulualto 69kV line to the Cabanatuan-San Isidro 69kV line.

In its advisory, the NGCP said it continues the restoration of the remaining affected lines, the Cabanatuan-San Rafael 230kV line and Cabanatuan-Bulualto 69kV line, to secure the reliability of transmission services in the area. (PNA)