A storm moving toward the northeast of the Philippines weakened yesterday, but hundreds of people fled coastal areas, fearing for their lives after powerful typhoons in recent weeks killed hundreds.
The UN said it would raise additional international aid to feed and shelter tens of thousands of people displaced by the two typhoons that also destroyed about 30 billion pesos (US$643 million) worth of crops and infrastructure.
The army, police and coast guard were using several means, including trucks, boats and helicopters, to move people out of danger zones in the northeast, said Lieutenant-Colonel Ernesto Torres of the national disaster agency.
PHOTO: EPA
“We continue to move people in coastal villages to much safer areas in the north because of this stormy weather,” Torres told reporters, adding that Typhoon Lupit had started to dump rain although it had weakened.
Prisco Nilo, head of the Philippine weather bureau, said Lupit had shifted its track northward toward Taiwan.
“The expected landfall in Cagayan province would no longer happen unless there is another change in its track,” he said.
“We cannot say that the northern Philippines has been spared because things can still change,” he said. “Lupit could still trigger landslides as lands are still saturated from the previous storms.”
Lupit, which means “fierce” in Filipino and packing center winds of 105kph and gusts of up to 135kph, was almost stationary 110km northeast of extreme northern Luzon. It is expected to make landfall by tomorrow.
Television images showed people tying boats to trees and strengthening their homes against strong winds. Other residents were sandbagging their homes, hoping to protect them against storm-generated waves that could rise to 3m.
The UN World Food Programme (WFP) said relief work in the areas ravaged by the typhoons since Sept. 26 would continue up to six months because farmlands were still heavily flooded, which could delay the planting season.
“We need the help now,” WFP executive director, Josette Sheeran, told reporters after touring flooded areas near Manila.
“Currently, we are making an assessment to determine what help is still needed,” she said.
The WFP has been distributing 5,000 tonnes of rice and 17 million packs of biscuits to about 1 million people in communities without power and safe drinking water.
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