'Reming' toll climbs further to 1,316

Super typhoon Reming has left 1,316 people either dead or missing, a week since it battered the Bicol region and Southern Tagalog provinces, the National Coordinating Council (NDCC) reported. The NDCC said there are 570 confirmed deaths and 746 others missing, with very little hope survivors would still be found. It also left a total of 1,933 people injured, mostly from villages near Mayon Volcano in Albay that were hit by landslides. Reming (international name: Durian) was said to have affected 1.6 million persons living in 13 provinces in the Bicol and Southern Tagalog regions. Damage to property also reached P1.26 billion, including P1 billion worth of infrastructure and P260 million in agriculture, the NDCC said. The super typhoon totally destroyed 79,337 houses and damaged 166,954 others. Radio station dzBB also reported that most villages affected by the mudslides still do not have electricity and the roads have yet to be cleared of debris. President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo called the mudslide-hit barangays in Albay as "another Guinsaugon" when she visited visited the province on Tuesday. Mrs Arroyo declared a state of national calamity on Sunday. -GMANews.TV