SOURCE: http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/nation/view/20080630-145504/Food-shortage-looms-in-Western-Visayas
MANILA, Philippines—Western Visayas is likely to face a “food shortage” in the coming days because of the damage wrought by Typhoon “Frank” (international codename: Fengshen) to its agriculture and infrastructure, a Palace executive said Sunday.
“That’s the extent of the damage,” Assistant Secretary Raul Banias, presidential assistant for the Western Visayas, told reporters in Cabatuan, Iloilo.
Some 22,000 hectares of rice land, which would have produced about 66,000 metric tons of rice, were destroyed in the region.
“We would have harvested our rice grains next month, but there’s nothing to harvest now,” Banias said, adding that poultry, livestock and fisheries were “almost wiped out.”
A total of 10 bridges were also destroyed, restricting the delivery of farm products to markets in the region.
Banias said the food shortage might last for a month or two because relief goods, although promptly delivered, were trickling in.
He said the damage to crops was “one of the major problems” that would take some three months to rehabilitate.
The Regional Disaster Coordinating Council (RDCC) put the provisional death toll in Western Visayas at 322. The RDCC reported 288 people remained missing and 723 others suffered injuries. The typhoon affected an estimated 1.8 million people in the region.
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4 comments:
This is terrible news. With the damages that Typhoon Frank left, it is certain that the price of basic goods will rise up, especially rice. Filipinos love rice. What will happen now? I hope the NFA rice supply can be enough for the demands..or else.
They only say that there is a food shortage because the primary food in the Visayas region is mainly fish, and due to the sinking of M/V Princess of the Stars, people refuse to eat fish because they think that it is dangerous due to the Endosulfan pesticide which was found in the ship.
The typhoon Frank was strong. It gave a lot of problems. The biggest problem the typhoon made is about provision. It is related with life directly. So it is so terrible.
the govt should have done more to warn the people of the incoming typhoon and provide emergency aid to the effected regions.
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