(MENAFN- The Arabian Post)

Storm-hit regions across the Philippines are grappling with immense destruction after Typhoon Kalmaegi claimed at least 114 lives and left 127 people missing, as the system gains strength while crossing into the South China Sea en route to Vietnam. The tragedy marks one of the deadliest disasters of the year in the archipelago, with authorities in the central province of Cebu reporting the vast majority of casualties. Local officials describe flattened homes, streets choked with debris and flood-waters receding to reveal the extent of the damage. The government has declared a state of national calamity in order to unlock emergency funding and combat risks of food hoarding and price escalations.

Relief operations in the Philippines are under severe strain as rescue teams work through thick mud and twisted wreckage to locate the missing and restore access to remote communities. Civil-defence officials have identified clearing debris as a paramount priority, both to allow relief supplies to reach cut-off areas and to determine whether missing persons may be trapped under rubble. The magnitude of the disaster is compounded by the fact that the same provinces are still recovering from a magnitude 6.9 earthquake earlier this year, which had already displaced thousands and weakened infrastructure.

Over 387,000 individuals were evacuated ahead of the storm's landfall across eastern and central regions, including more than 450,000 villagers in some estimates. Schools, public offices and airports were shut down, while domestic flights and shipping operations were suspended in dozens of ports. In Cebu City and adjacent areas, flood-waters rose to chest height, with some barangays reporting first-ever exposure to such flooding in decades.

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As Kalmaegi moves across the South China Sea toward Vietnam's central coast, forecasters warn of intensifying conditions. The Vietnamese government is mobilising hundreds of thousands of residents in anticipated evacuation zones, notably in the Gia Lai province, where major coffee-growing areas lie vulnerable to torrential rainfall and destructive winds. At least eight airports in central Vietnam have been placed on alert, with flights expected to be disrupted and soldiers deployed for search and rescue operations.

Analysts tracking Southeast Asia's storm patterns note that Kalmaegi is further evidence of an escalating vulnerability to extreme weather in the region. One senior official in Vietnam described the system as“a huge typhoon with terrible devastating capacity.” The escalating trend of storms capable of rapid intensification and heavy precipitation places significant strain on fragile infrastructure and disaster-response systems across multiple countries.

In the Philippines, questions are already being raised about the adequacy of flood-defence measures, especially in Cebu where officials have cited years of substandard projects and unchecked quarrying upstream as exacerbating the flooding. The mayor of Cebu City declared the typhoon-triggered floods the worst in the city's history and called for an overhaul of disaster-mitigation planning.

Agricultural and economic damage is emerging as a major concern. In the Philippines, millions of homes and tens of thousands of hectares of crops were affected. In Vietnam, authorities warn that coffee and other high-yield crops in the Central Highlands may face severe setbacks if the storm causes landslides or saturates soil during harvest. Analysts caution that the loss of crop yields and export earnings could cascade into local economies already managing inflationary pressures and supply-chain disruptions.

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Military and civilian coordination is being mobilised in both countries. In the Philippines, the crash of a military helicopter during a relief mission has sparked calls for improved logistics and air-operation safety. In Vietnam, the deployment of over 268,000 soldiers into parts of the Central Highlands underscores the heightened state of readiness. Debris from flooded homes and infrastructure damage pose dual challenges of immediate rescue and longer-term rebuilding.

For residents of devastated communities, the path forward is daunting. In Cebu, one survivor watched her home collapse in front of her, saying years of savings were wiped out in an instant. As evacuees return to damaged neighbourhoods, they face the twin burdens of clearing debris and navigating what many warn is a growing climate-driven risk.

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