Evacuations, call for aid as Typhoon Usagi approaches Philippines

MANILA: The Philippines ordered evacuations on Wednesday (Nov 13) ahead of Typhoon Usagi, as the United Nations disaster office sought US$32.9 million in aid for the country after storms that killed more than 150 people.
The national weather service said Usagi, the archipelago’s fifth major storm in three weeks, was likely to make landfall on Thursday in Cagayan province on the northeast tip of main island Luzon.
Provincial civil defence chief Rueli Rapsing said mayors had been ordered to evacuate residents in vulnerable areas, by force if necessary as the 120kmh typhoon bears down on the country.
“Under (emergency protocols), all the mayors must implement the forced evacuation, especially for susceptible areas,” he told AFP by telephone, adding as many as 40,000 in the province lived in hazard-prone areas.
The area is set to be soaked in “intense to torrential” rain on Thursday and Friday, which can trigger floods and landslides with the ground still sodden from recent downpours, state weather forecaster Christopher Perez told reporters.
He urged residents of coastal areas to move inland due to the threat of storm surges and giant coastal waves up to 3m high, with shipping also facing the peril of 8m to 10m waves.
A sixth tropical storm, Man-yi, is expected to strengthen into a typhoon before hitting the centre of the country as early as Friday, Perez said.
With more than 700,000 people forced out of their homes, the successive storms have taken a toll on the resources of both the government and local households, the UN said late on Tuesday.
About 210,000 of those most affected by recent flooding need support for “critical lifesaving and protection efforts over the next three months”, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said in a statement.
“Typhoons are overlapping. As soon as communities attempt to recover from the shock, the next tropical storm is already hitting them again,” UN Philippines Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator Gustavo Gonzalez said.
“In this context, the response capacity gets exhausted and budgets depleted.”
The initiative “will help us mobilise the capacities and resources of the humanitarian community to better support government institutions at national, regional and local levels”, he added.
More than 28,000 people displaced by recent storms are still living in evacuation centres operated by local governments, the country’s civil defence office said in its latest tally.
Government crews were still working to restore downed power and communication lines and clearing debris from roads.
About 20 big storms and typhoons hit the archipelago nation or its surrounding waters each year, killing scores of people and keeping millions in enduring poverty.
A recent study showed that storms in the Asia-Pacific region are increasingly forming closer to coastlines, intensifying more rapidly and lasting longer over land due to climate change.