At least 66 people were confirmed dead in the central Philippines on November 5 after Typhoon Kalmaegi — locally named Tino — swept across the Visayas and northern Palawan before moving into the South China Sea toward Vietnam, according to national disaster officials cited by Reuters and the Associated Press. The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) reported 26 people missing as authorities raced to restore power, clear roads and reach isolated communities in flood-hit Cebu, the hardest‑hit province.
Cebu’s low‑lying cities and towns awoke to wrecked homes, overturned vehicles and debris-strewn streets as waters receded. More than 200,000 people evacuated ahead of the storm, and over 160 domestic flights were canceled at the height of the weather disruption, measures that likely saved lives but underscored the scale of the emergency, Reuters reported. Cebu province placed itself under a state of calamity to speed up relief and repairs, while search-and-rescue teams combed inundated neighborhoods where many fatalities were due to drowning, AP said.
Among the dead were six Philippine Air Force personnel whose helicopter crashed in Agusan del Sur on the island of Mindanao while conducting humanitarian operations tied to the storm, authorities told both Reuters and AP. Military flights and naval assets remained deployed to ferry food, water and medical supplies to cut‑off communities across the central archipelago.
Kalmaegi made multiple landfalls as it tracked west across the central islands. The weather bureau PAGASA said the typhoon carried maximum sustained winds near 150 km/h and gusts up to 205 km/h as it raked parts of Southern Leyte, Cebu and Negros on November 4 before crossing northern Palawan early November 5 and exiting to the West Philippine Sea later in the morning, according to sequential bulletins carried by the state news agency PNA and PNA. Forecasters expect the storm to maintain or regain intensity over open water.
Vietnam’s National Centre for Hydro‑Meteorological Forecasting warned Kalmaegi is on course to strike central provinces from Quang Ngai toward the Central Highlands in the early hours of Friday, November 7, with dangerous seas and torrential rain likely across a wide swath of the coast, as reported by the official outlet VietnamPlus. Provincial authorities along the projected track have begun pre‑emptive closures of fishing grounds and readied evacuation sites. AP added that heavy rain bands could later spill into Thailand’s northwest.
Compounding shocks in a disaster‑exposed region
Kalmaegi is the Philippines’ 20th tropical cyclone of 2025, compounding a tough season that already included September’s Super Typhoon Ragasa over northern Luzon, Reuters noted. The typhoon struck just weeks after a 6.9‑magnitude earthquake in northern Cebu killed more than 70 people and damaged bridges, churches and housing, according to updated tallies from Reuters and the Philippine civil defense agency. That back‑to‑back sequence highlights the vulnerability of local infrastructure when flood‑control systems, slopes and public buildings are already weakened by prior disasters.
The Philippines routinely ranks among the world’s most at‑risk countries for natural hazards, a status tied to geography, high exposure to cyclones and earthquakes, and gaps in coping capacity. The Asian Development Bank, which approved a $500 million policy loan in late 2024 to bolster climate resilience, warned that disaster vulnerability weighs on the country’s growth outlook and warrants sustained investment in resilient transport, energy and water systems, Reuters reported.
Regional mechanisms and international coordination
Manila can request support from Southeast Asia’s standing disaster framework — the legally binding ASEAN Agreement on Disaster Management and Emergency Response — which empowers the Jakarta‑based AHA Centre to coordinate regional relief, surge logistics and assessments when member states call for help. The framework and the Centre’s role are outlined by ASEAN’s disaster management bodies and partners, including recent cooperation with the European Union to strengthen joint response capacity (AADMER overview; AHA Centre; EU–ASEAN agreement).
Beyond emergency operations, Kalmaegi’s path matters to global commerce. Maritime transport moves over 80 percent of the world’s traded goods, the United Nations trade agency notes, and severe cyclones in the South China Sea can disrupt port operations, offshore energy and coastal shipping schedules across one of the world’s busiest sea lanes, according to UNCTAD. Any slowdown along Vietnam’s central coast would ripple through regional manufacturing and agri‑export supply chains, even if briefly.
What to watch through landfall in Vietnam
Short‑term priorities in the Philippines are restoring power and water in Cebu and Negros, reopening primary roads and bridges, and accounting for the missing. The military helicopter crash underscores the risks responders face as they operate in poor visibility and turbulent winds. With Kalmaegi forecast to make landfall in Vietnam early November 7, attention shifts to pre‑emptive evacuations, landslide‑prone slopes in the Central Highlands, and coastal storm‑surge zones from Da Nang to Nha Trang, where shelters and emergency stocks are being readied (VietnamPlus).
Global significance: a powerful cyclone traversing a key Asia shipping corridor and two export‑oriented economies raises humanitarian demands and poses short‑term risks to regional logistics just as supply chains remain sensitive to weather and geopolitical shocks (UNCTAD).
This is a developing story; regional updates are tracked in our World section.
