The death toll from one of the most destructive typhoons to hit the Philippines in recent years rose to 388 on Monday, the government said, as disease outbreaks threatened some of the stricken areas.

Typhoon Rai struck the south and centre of the Asian nation on December 16 and 17, toppling power lines and trees and unleashing deadly floods that also left hundreds of thousands homeless.

The civil defence office in Manila raised the death toll from Rai to 388 with 60 others missing and hundreds injured. Police previously put the death toll at 375.

Civil defence officials said more than four million people were receiving typhoon aid in 430 cities and towns where about 482,000 houses were damaged or destroyed.

More than 300,000 people remain in evacuation camps, with more than 200,000 others sheltering in the homes of relatives or friends.

Some survivors have likened Typhoon Rai to Super Typhoon Haiyan, which left 7,300 people dead or missing across the central Philippines in 2013 and remains the country's deadliest on record.

The archipelago gets hit by an average of 20 cyclones each year.

As the government rushed to bring food, water and clothing to devastated areas, a new threat appeared in recent days with at least 140 people falling ill from suspected contaminated water.

Eighty people were taken ill with acute gastroenteritis in the southern province of Dinagat Islands, while 54 people are being treated for diarrhoea in hospital on the neighbouring tourist island of Siargao, health undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said.

The central city of Cebu reported 16 diarrhoea cases, she told reporters.

"We all know these areas suffered water interruption. Some areas still have tap water but pipes have been damaged and so there is a possibility of contamination," Vergeire said.

Vergeire said the typhoon also spoiled more than 4,000 doses of coronavirus vaccines and damaged 141 hospitals and clinics, only 30 of which have resumed full operations.

Philippine typhoon survivors wish for roofs and food at Christmas
Alegria, Philippines (AFP) Dec 25, 2021 - Father Ricardo Virtudazo stands in a pool of water in his typhoon-hit church in the southern Philippines delivering Christmas Day mass to dozens of devotees whose wishes this year were for new roofs, food and fine weather.

More than a week after Typhoon Rai cut a swathe through the archipelago, killing nearly 400 people and leaving hundreds of thousands homeless, survivors clung to family and faith after their homes -- and planned festivities -- were wiped out.

"What's important is all of us are safe," said Joy Parera, 31, attending Christmas mass with her husband at San Isidro Labrador Parish church in the town of Alegria, on the northern tip of Mindanao island.

A light rain soaked the pews and white tiled floor of the damaged church, which has been left with a gaping hole in the roof after Rai ravaged the area.

Devotees wore masks as they gathered inside the church festooned with Christmas decorations and prayed for a better year.

"We still have hope," Virtudazo told AFP.

"In spite of the calamities they experience, they still have faith in God."

Christmas is one of the most important events in the Christian calendar and in the Catholic-majority Philippines, families typically gather to share a meal.

But the widespread destruction caused by Rai in the southern and central regions of the country has dampened celebrations as many survivors plead for drinking water and food.

Mindanao, Siargao, Dinagat and Bohol islands are among the most devastated by the storm, which knocked out electricity, tore off roofs, shredded wooden buildings, felled concrete power poles and uprooted trees.

The scale of the damage, lack of mobile phone signal or internet in many areas, and depleted government coffers after the Covid-19 response were hampering efforts to distribute aid.

- 'We'll make do with spaghetti' -

Nardel Vicente said his Christmas wish was for someone to help him buy a new roof for his house in Alegria after it was wrecked by Rai, which hit the country on December 16 as a super typhoon.

Jobless and with little money to spare, Vicente said his family would not be able to prepare a festive meal this year.

"In previous years we had spaghetti, pork, chicken -- whatever we could afford between us," the 38-year-old said.

But he added: "That's ok -- we're alive. It's better than welcoming Christmas with a dead loved one."

Marites Sotis usually serves up meat, spring rolls and salad for her family.

"We won't have those this year because they cost a lot of money," Sotis, 53, told AFP in the coastal municipality of Placer where the storm felled most of her family's coconut trees.

"We'll make do with spaghetti."

Some survivors in nearby Surigao City have been standing on roads for days begging for money and food from passing motorists after failing to receive a scrap of government assistance.

Inaga Edulzura, 41, said she hoped to get a packet of spaghetti to cook for her family. Otherwise, they would "make do with sliced bread".

"Our only request is that there's fine weather on Christmas Day to give us some cheer," she told AFP.

"That and some food."

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Troops race to deliver aid to Philippine typhoon survivors
Loboc, Philippines (AFP) Dec 21, 2021
Troops raced Tuesday to deliver food and water to typhoon-ravaged islands of the Philippines as charities appealed for aid to help hundreds of thousands left homeless by the deadly storm. At least 375 people were killed and hundreds injured when Typhoon Rai pummelled the southern and central regions of the archipelago on Thursday, wiping out wooden houses, uprooting trees and knocking out power across entire islands. "Our food is about to run out, probably in a few days or tomorrow," Simplicia P ... read more