Tifone Rai, the dramatic toll rises to 388 deaths

The death toll from typhoon Rai which hit the central-southern regions of the Philippines on December 16 and 17 has risen to at least 388: this was announced by the Civil Protection of the country, underlining that to date there are still 60 missing.

Currently, the authorities specified, over four million inhabitants in 430 cities are receiving aid due to the typhoon, which has destroyed or damaged around 482,000 homes.

The government has also warned against the risk of disease in the affected areas: so far at least 140 people have fallen ill due to suspected contamination of drinking water.

(Unioneonline / vl)