The Philippines has declared a national state of calamity after Typhoon Kalmaegi — locally known as “Tino” — carved a path of devastation through the central region, leaving at least 114 people dead and 127 missing.
The hardest-hit province was Cebu, where authorities reported 71 confirmed deaths and hundreds more missing after flash floods and landslides overwhelmed rivers and low-lying communities. Entire towns were submerged, homes swept away, and rescue operations struggled to reach remote barangays blocked by mud and debris.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. authorised the calamity declaration to enable faster deployment of emergency funding, accelerate relief support and bypass usual procurement delays. He warned that up to 10 to 12 regions may still be affected, especially as forecasters track another approaching system, Typhoon Uwan (also known as Fung-Wong).
“The scale of what we are discovering here — lives lost, towns flooded, infrastructure destroyed — demands a national response,” the president said in a statement.
The disaster agency reported that hundreds of thousands of residents were evacuated ahead of the typhoon, and many returned to scenes of ruin: homes half-submerged in mud, vehicles overturned, and streets littered with wreckage. In one municipality, survivors described waist-deep waters engulfing houses within minutes of torrential rainfall.
Compounding the tragedy, six air-force personnel were killed when a helicopter sent for relief efforts crashed in the southern province of Agusan del Sur.
While the storm has moved on, it has now regained strength as it heads toward central Vietnam, placing that country’s coastlines on high alert for heavy rainfall, flooding and possible landslides.
Local officials in the Philippines have pointed to underlying warning signs — such as sub-standard flood-control infrastructure, unchecked quarrying and river-blocking debris — as factors that turned a powerful storm into a full-scale catastrophe. A corruption investigation is already under way into how multi-billion-peso flood-mitigation projects failed to protect communities.
As rescue and recovery efforts intensify, the government is mobilising the armed forces, disaster units and volunteer groups throughout the Visayas region. But with another typhoon looming and thousands left homeless, humanitarian agencies say the coming days will be critical in preventing further loss of life and managing a mounting humanitarian crisis.
