DUMAGUETE CITY, Negros Oriental, Philippines (PIA) – As of Tuesday noon, Dec. 20, figures released by the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council (PDRRMC) and the Office of Civil Defense (OCD-7) in Central Visayas pegged the number of families affected by typhoon ''Sendong'' at 10,420.

The number is lower than the 24,000 earlier reported by the OCD during a PDRRMC meeting held Dec. 19 at the governor's office in Dumaguete City.

The discrepancy is a result of further verification and field validation done by OCD-7 and PDRRMC on reports coming from flood-hit areas in the province.

The PDRRMC set the death toll at 37 while 247 persons have been reported injured and three still missing.

Damage to agriculture so far is pegged at P37 million covering livestock, rice, corn, fisheries, and crops, among others.

Infrastructure damage amounted to P388.5 million.

Torrential rains estimated to be more than a month’s worth of rainfall battered the province dawn of Saturday, Dec. 17, triggering flash floods in said affected areas.

As early as Tuesday, Dec. 13, the PDRRMC had issued a weather bulletin and typhoon warnings, according to Allen Cabaron, provincial coordinator of the Office of Civil Defense (OCD) here, in a report submitted to the Regional Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council.

On Wednesday, Dec. 14, the council, led by Gov. Roel Degamo called for an emergency meeting to bolster the council’s preparations and emergency response mechanisms, Cabaron said.

By then, advisories warning of the impending typhoon have been issued to the Local Disaster Risk Reduction Management Councils (LDRRMCs) of local government units (LGUs) concerned, the report said.

A day after tropical storm ''Sendong'' cut a swath of devastation across the province, Degamo with assistance of the Philippine Army’s 302nd Infantry Brigade, conducted an aerial survey to determine the extent of the storm’s damage on affected areas.

Relief efforts were likewise done by joint teams from the provincial and regional offices of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).

The Department of Health (DoH), on the other hand, inspected the evacuation centers to address health concerns of the evacuees displaced by the typhoon.