There are no reports of Filipino casualty in the onslaught of Hurricane Sandy in the United States, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) reported Tuesday.
But DFA spokesperson Raul Hernandez clarified the superstorm has been affecting Filipinos in the Atlantic City, New Jersey, and New York.
“The Philippine embassy in Washington DC reported that… some fled their homes and were evacuated,” Hernandez said, failing to come up with an estimate of affected Filipinos in the areas.
“(But) Both our embassy and our consulate general in (New York) have not received any report of possible Filipino casualties,” he added.
Heaving a temporary sigh of relief, Hernandez assured the government has already deployed a team that will be on 24-hour standby to assist Filipinos in the affected areas in US.
In a separate statement, Philippine ambassador to United States Jose Cuisia Jr. said Tropical Storm “Ondoy” is nothing compared to the wrath of Hurricane Sandy.
In 2009, Tropical Storm “Ondoy” dumped torrential rains that is more than a month's worth of rainfall, and left 700 Filipinos dead. Most part of Metro Manila was also submerged in flood waters.
Considered as one of the biggest storm to hit in the United States, Hurricane Sandy pounded the east coast and flooded major parts of New York.
More than one million people across a dozen states were ordered to evacuate, Reuters reported.
Communist insurgents killed five civilians and kidnapped five soldiers in the southern Philippines on Tuesday in the latest of a series of violent acts following the collapse of peace talks, authorities said. …
