Emergency declared in Philippines as 241 dead, missing

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr has declared a state of emergency after Typhoon Kalmaegi left at least 241 people dead and missing.

Kalmaegi left at least 114 people dead, mostly from drowning in flash floods, and 127 missing, many in the hard-hit central province of Cebu, before the tropical cyclone blew out of the archipelago on Wednesday into the South China Sea.

The typhoon's onslaught, which affected nearly two million people, displaced more than 560,000 villagers, including nearly 450,000 who were evacuated to emergency shelters.

Marcos's emergency declaration, made during a meeting with disaster-response officials to assess the typhoon's aftermath, will allow the government to disburse emergency funds faster and prevent food hoarding and overpricing.

While still dealing