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The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) estimates Super Typhoon Rai destroyed or damaged a “staggering” number of houses as it tore across the Philippines in December, leaving more than 400 people dead, Aljazeera reported.

In an update on Tuesday, the IFRC said its assessments indicated the storm destroyed or damaged “a staggering 1.5 million houses, more than any other typhoon in recent decades”.

Rai, with winds of up to 193 kilometres per hour (120 miles per hour), made landfall in the country’s surfing capital of Siargao, a tiny island in eastern Mindanao with a population of roughly 180,000 people.

According to the provincial government, more than 90 percent of the buildings on the island, including schools and town halls, were severely damaged.

The entire island has been without power ever since and remains reliant on electric generators that provide limited supply, while many of its residents are living in makeshift structures and even evacuation centres.

In one small village of Cangcohoy, inland from Siargao, 15 families continue to shelter in a school building after their homes were destroyed, according to the ANC, a Filipino cable news channel. Many of those families also lost their livelihoods, and they have been relying on aid, mostly from private donors, to survive.

The IFRC said the needs remained immense.

“It’s a little over one month since Typhoon Rai slammed into the Philippines, yet millions of people still urgently need humanitarian support, including homes, clean water supplies and healthcare,” IFRC country head Alberto Bocanegra said in a statement.

“This Super Typhoon has caused enormous devastation, destroying or damaging more homes than any storm in recent decades.”

Compared with 2013’s Super Typhoon Haiyan, which left more than 6,000 people dead, Rai left a much wider path of destruction, hitting several major islands including Bohol, Cebu, Negros, and Palawan.

According to estimates, the damage left by Rai could be as much as $790m.

“This is a much bigger disaster than the world realised a month ago,” said Philippine Red Cross chairman Richard Gordon, who is also a senator.

“People who relied on farming, fishing and tourism can’t earn an income now. Millions of people don’t have a roof over their heads.”

According to the IFRC, as much as $22m is needed to support more than 400,000 people over 24 months.

A top priority includes the rebuilding of safer shelters as well as providing displaced families with living essentials – from kitchen sets to sleeping kits and clothing, according to the international aid organisation.

There have also been reports of the government ordering residents, including in Siargao, not to return and rebuild in their previous plot of land by the sea, and many are needing legal support on housing, land, and property issues.

Since Rai hit the country, the Philippine Red Cross has reached 36,000 people with emergency shelter support, including providing construction materials and tarpaulins to build temporary shelters.

“The typhoon [Rai] comes in the middle of a pandemic and a political campaign, which draw attention away from what truly is a catastrophe. This must not become forgotten tomorrow morning,” Gordon, head of the Red Cross in the Philippines, added.

The IFRC’s Bocanegra added that while Filipinos have recovered from previous disasters and are “tough” when it comes to rebuilding, “more must be done to help” those whose homes have been destroyed.

The IFRC said that longer-term support is also required to help families build safer homes, including those living on isolated islands and in remote or hard to reach areas.

At least six people died in a crush outside a stadium hosting a game at Africa’s top soccer tournament in Cameroon on Monday, a local government official said, realizing fears over the capacity of the country to stage the continent’s biggest sports event, Associated Press reported.

Naseri Paul Biya, the governor of the central region of Cameroon, said there could be more deaths.

“We are not in position to give you the total number of casualties,” he said.

The crush happened as crowds struggled to get access to Olembe Stadium in the capital city of Yaounde to watch the host country play Comoros in a last 16 knockout game in the African Cup of Nations.

Officials at the nearby Messassi hospital said they received at least 40 injured people, who were rushed to the hospital by police and civilians. The officials said the hospital wasn’t capable of treating all of them. 

“Some of the injured are in desperate condition,” said Olinga Prudence, a nurse. “We will have to evacuate them to a specialized hospital.”

People were seen lying motionless on their backs near an entrance to the stadium in the aftermath of the crush. A man knelt next to one of the victims and appeared to be trying to resuscitate the victim. Shoes, caps and colorful wigs — part of some of the fans’ game costumes — were strewn on the ground. 

Witnesses said children were among those caught up in the crush. The witnesses said it happened when stadium stewards closed the gates and stopped allowing people in. It was not immediately clear if the crush happened before or during the game.

Soccer officials said around 50,000 people had tried to attend the match. The stadium has a capacity of 60,000 but it was not meant to be more than 80% full for the game due to restrictions on the size of the crowd because of the coronavirus pandemic. 

The Confederation of African Football, which runs the African Cup, said in a statement it was aware of the incident.

“CAF is currently investigating the situation and trying to get more details on what transpired,” it said. “We are in constant communication with Cameroon government and the Local Organizing Committee.”

One of the federation’s top officials, general secretary Veron Mosengo-Omba, went to visit injured fans in the hospital, the statement said.

Cameroon is hosting the African Cup for the first time in 50 years. The Central African nation was meant to host the tournament in 2019 but the event was taken away from it that year and awarded to Egypt because of serious concerns with Cameroon’s preparations, particularly the readiness of its stadiums.

Olembe Stadium was one of the venues that was under scrutiny. It is the main stadium for the monthlong tournament and will stage three more games, including the final on Feb. 6.

Monday’s incident was the second serious blow to the country in the space of a day, after at least 17 people died when a fire set off a series of explosions at a nightclub in Yaounde on Sunday.

Following that incident, Cameroon President Paul Biya urged the country to be on guard while it hosts its biggest national sports event in a half century.

Cameroon won Monday’s game 2-1 to move on to the quarterfinals.

The government has been facing difficulties in achieving its goal to administer the Covid-19 vaccine to all the people.

Though the government had planned to vaccinate all the citizens by March this year, it has been able to administer both doses of vaccine to only 42.7 percent people.

Instead of giving continuation to the regular vaccination drive, the government has launched a booster dose campaign.

So far, 129.66 million people across the country have received both doses of vaccine against Covid-19.

The Ministry of Health and Population said that only 42.7 percent of the total population of 30,376,055 have been fully vaccinated.

The Ministry said that 16,289,425 people have taken their first dose of the vaccine.

Similarly, the government has administered booster doses to 168,939 people. Nepal has so far received 40,388,840 doses of vaccine from various companies. Of them, the government has already used 29,424,756 doses of vaccine.

COVID-19 cases are increasing at an alarming rate in Nepal of late, with 10,000 new cases reported on average each day. Most of the infected people are staying in home isolation.

According to the statistics of the Ministry of Health and Population, more than 80,000 people are staying in home isolation. The government, however, is unaware of these people.

Many people, who have difficulty in breathing or have low oxygen levels, are still staying in home isolation.

The government has not reached out to the people to inquire about their health conditions.

Though the government has been chanting slogans about telemedicine, the implementation is almost zero.

“I have been staying in home isolation for the past two days. Neither the ward nor the government has said anything to me,” Ramila Pathak said.

Notwithstanding the number of Covid-19 cases are surging, the government has not conducted contract tracing of the people who came in contact with the infected persons.

In addition to that, the government has not given much attention to the people staying in home isolation.

Dr Krishna Paudel, Director at the Epidemiology and Disease Control Division, urged the general public to contact the government’s hotline numbers 1133 and 1115 if they feel any difficulties while staying in home isolation.