The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) confirmed Tuesday, Nov. 19, that Super Typhoon “Pepito” has killed seven people in Nueva Vizcaya, collapsing the government’s target of having zero casualty amid a string of powerful storms striking the country.

Combined damage to agriculture and infrastructure was also estimated to have reached P478 million as a state of calamity was declared in 20 areas.

These include six municipalities in Quezon Province (Aglipay, Cabarroguis, Diffun, Maddela, Nagtipunan, and Saguday) and two in Isabela (Santiago and Cabagan) all of which are in Cagayan Valley (Region 2); the municipality of Dilasag in Aurora Province in Central Luzon (Region 3); 

Ten towns in Mountain Province (Barlig, Bauko, Besao, Bontoc, Natonin, Paracelis, Sabangan, Sadanga, Sagada, and Tadian) as well as Aguinaldo town in Ifugao which are all in Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR).

A family of seven were confirmed dead after a landslide triggered by Pepito struck Ambaguio town last Nov. 17, according to Nueva Vizcaya provincial disaster risk reduction and management officer Khristian Sevilla.

The fatalities included an eight-year-old girl, a 30-year-old man, while others’ ages range from 12 to 18.

“They could not evacuate on time even if we already gave them advance warning about the typhoon. Strong rain suddenly poured and their house situated on the foot of a mountain was buried by the earth coming from above,” Sevilla said.

Around five to six landslides occurred in Ambaguio town as the soil has already been saturated due to the series of storms that affected Nueva Vizcaya – from Kristine, Leon, Marce, Nika, Ofel, and the latest was Pepito.

Office of Civil Defense (OCD) Administrator, Undersecretary Ariel Nepomuceno said Pepito along with Typhoons Nika and Ofel have affected 2.1 million individuals (568,000 families) across Regions 1 (Ilocos), 2 (Cagayan Valley), 3 (Central Luzon), Calabarzon (4A), Mimaropa (4B), Bicol (5), and Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR).

More than 617,000 individuals remained in evacuation 3,176 evacuation centers.

Nepomuceno reassured the public that, despite the challenges posed by “typhoon fatigue” affecting both storm victims and responders from consecutive tropical cyclones, disaster managers and responders remain committed to their duties.

“A lot of our personnel are also experiencing fatigue; some are getting sick already. What we are doing right now is we are rotating our personnel. Those coming from other unaffected regions, for example Region 8 (Eastern Visayas) which is only slightly affected, are being brought to other regions where help is really needed,” the OCD administrator said.