From http://www.nst.com.my/latest/world-s-strongest-typhoon-swirls-towards-philippines-1.394466
MANILA: The world’s most powerful typhoon this year gained strength on Thursday as it swirled towards the Philippines, forcing mass evacuations across a vast swathe of the disaster-weary nation.
Authorities warned more than 12 million people were at risk from
Typhoon Haiyan, which was generating wind gusts exceeding 330
kilometres (200 miles) an
“This is a very dangerous typhoon, local officials know where the
vulnerable areas are and have given instructions on evacuations,” state
weather forecaster Glaiza Escullar told AFP.
“There are not too many mountains on its path to deflect the force of
impact, making it more dangerous.” Haiyan was expected make landfall
on Samar island, about 600 kilometres southeast of Manila, then cut
across the central and southern Philippines before exiting into the
South China Sea late on Saturday.
Escullar said Haiyan, which was advancing with a giant, 600-kilometre
front, was expected to hit areas still recovering from a devastating
2011 storm and a 7.1-magnitude quake last month.
They include the central island of Bohol, the epicentre of the
earthquake that killed 222 people, where at least 5,000 survivors are
still living in tents while waiting for new homes.
“The provincial governor has ordered local disaster officials to ensure
that pre-emptive evacuations are done, both for those living in tents
as well as those in flood-prone areas,” Bohol provincial administrator
Alfonso Damalerio told AFP.
Other vulnerable areas were the port cities of Cagayan de Oro and
Iligan on the southern island of Mindanao, where flash floods induced
by Tropical Storm
Washi killed more than 1,000 people in December 2011.
Authorities said evacuations were taking place in many other towns and
villages in Haiyan’s path, while schools were closed, ferry services
suspended and fishermen ordered to secure their vessels.
Cebu Pacific said it had cancelled 110 domestic flights and four
international ones between Thursday and Saturday because of the storm.
Haiyan had maximum sustained winds on Thursday afternoon of 278
kilometres an hour, and gusts of 333 kilometres an hour, according to
the US Navy’s Joint Typhoon Warning Centre.
This would make it the world’s strongest typhoon this year, according
to David Michael Padua, a meteorologist with the Weather Philippines
Foundation, a storm monitoring organisation that runs the
www.weather.com.ph website.
The Philippines is battered by an average of 20 major storms or
typhoons each year, many of them deadly, but scientists have said
climate change may be increasing their ferocity and frequency.
The Philippines endured the world’s strongest storm of 2012, when
Typhoon Bopha left about 2,000 people dead or missing on Mindanao
island in December.
The Global Disaster Alert and Coordination System, jointly run by the
United Nations and the European Commission, said nearly 16 million
people, including more than 12 million from the Philippines, were at
risk from Haiyan.
The others were in Laos and Vietnam, which are forecast to be hit on Sunday, it said on its website.
“Haiyan can have a high humanitarian impact,” it said. AFP
Residents of
Legazpi city in Albay province, south of Manila, are evacuated on
November 7, 2013 ahead of a super typhoon that was strengthening in the
Pacific Ocean. Authorities warned Typhoon Haiyan, with wind gusts
exceeding 330 kilometres (200 miles) an hour, could cause major damage
across a vast area of the central and southern Philippines when it makes
landfall on November 8. AFP
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