Tropical Storm “Ondoy” could cause severe difficulty and long-term poverty to at least 200,000 families, especially among the poorest urban and rural households, research group Ibon Foundation said.

As of October 2, data by the National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC) showed 629,466 families consisting of 3,084,977 persons were affected by Ondoy.

Over 98 percent of the families and individuals are from the National Capital Region (NCR), Central Luzon (Region 3), and Calabarzon (Region 4A).

Ibon research head Sonny Africa said at least 206,000 families in these areas will experience lasting and severe effects of the typhoon.

He noted that there is still no detailed data available of the profile of the victims from either government, the private sector, or civil society groups.

However, he explained that initial estimates can be made by using region-wide occupation and income profiles from the latest Family Income and Expenditure Survey (FIES) of 2006 and applying these to the NDCC’s estimates of affected families.

“Even as government downplays the long-term impact on the economy as a whole, there are going to be severe effects, especially on the poorest urban and rural households,” Africa said. (Ellalyn B. de Vera)