MANILA: The death
toll from a storm that struck the Philippines shortly after Christmas rose to
68 with the number of fatalities expected to climb even higher, civil defense
officials said yesterday. Fifty-seven people died in the mountainous Bicol
region, southeast of Manila, while 11 were killed in the central island of
Samar, mostly due to landslides and drownings, the officials said. "I am
afraid this (death toll) will still go up because there are a lot of areas we
still have to clear," said Claudio Yucot, Bicol civil defense director.

The weather
disturbance locally named "Usman" hit the country on Saturday. While
it did not have powerful winds it brought heavy rains that caused floods and
loosened the soil, triggering landslides in some areas. Many people failed to
take necessary precautions because Usman was not strong enough to be rated as a
typhoon under the government's storm alert system, Yucot said. "People
were overconfident because they were on (Christmas) vacation mode and there was
no tropical cyclone warning," he told AFP.

Although Usman
has since moved westward away from the country, many affected areas were still
experiencing seasonal rains, hampering rescue and recovery efforts, he added.
At least 17 people are still missing and more than 40,000 were displaced
nationwide due to the storm, the civil defense office said. An average of 20
typhoons and storms lash the Philippines each year, killing hundreds of people
and leaving millions in near-perpetual poverty. The most powerful was Super
Typhoon Haiyan which left more than 7,360 people dead or missing across the
central Philippines in 2013. - AFP