KALINGA - Two towns in Kalinga have yet to receive aid and relief goods from the government three days after the onslaught of Super Typhoon Lawin (international name: Haima), local disaster officials said.
The communities of Pasil and Balbalan remain isolated because roads leading to the areas are still impassable, according to Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council administrator Chris Wandag.
"Roads have yet to be cleared as at least 35 landslides occurred near these areas," said Wandag.
Six people have been confirmed dead, including a family of five who were buried alive after a landslide hit their house in Barangay Uma Lubuanan.
Though mobile signals have been restored, power and water lines in the two towns have also yet to be repaired.
Pasil has a land area of 18,900 hectares consisting of 14 barangays. It has a population of 9,626 as of 2010, said the DILG.
Balbalan, on the other hand, has a land area of 51,900 hectares, 5,432 of which is devoted to agriculture, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
It consists of 14 barangays and is approximately 70 kilometers away from Kalinga's capital Tabuk, said the PSA. It has a total population of 12,082 as of May 2010 and 1,923 households as of May 2000.
Lawin struck on Wednesday night with winds similar to those of catastrophic Typhoon Yolanda in 2013, which was then the strongest storm to hit the disaster-prone country and claimed more than 7,350 lives.
At least eight people have been confirmed killed while thousands lost their homes as Lawin devastated farming and mountain communities across the north of the Philippines' main island of Luzon. - With Agence France-Presse