Foodie One
10-02-2009, 09:20 PM
Super typhoon expected today; govt orders forced evacuation
THE National Police said yesterday they will forcibly evacuate residents refusing to leave their homes in the direct path of approaching super typhoon Pepeng.
‘‘Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. ordered the preemptive evacuation in line with our zero casualty target,” police spokesman Leopoldo Bataoil said.
He said the order covered communities in the shorelines of Cagayan, where Pepeng was expected to make landfall tomorrow afternoon.
The weather bureau said Pepeng was packing winds of up to 241 kilometers per hour. It could still build up strength as it churned toward the eastern side of the country.
Cagayan Valley Police Chief Roberto Damian said residents would be asked politely to leave when the typhoon begins lashing the area.
“We will first appeal to them to leave, but if we see that they are in immediate danger, we will forcibly carry them to evacuation centers,” he said.
The Navy has assembled a task force in northern Luzon, where forecasters expect Pepeng—international name Parma-—to make landfall tonight or early tomorrow morning, spokesman Lieut. Col. Edgard Arevalo said in a telephone interview.
The Air Force will send trucks and rubber boats to facilitate evacuations when local officials request them, Air Force spokesman Lt. Col. Gerardo Zamudio said.
Pepeng’s winds increased to 241 kilometers per hour yesterday, according to the US Navy Joint Typhoon Warning Center, making it a Category 4 storm, the second-strongest on the Saffir-Simpson scale. It is forecast to get stronger before making landfall, according to the center.
The government “should prepare for the worst,” said Jose Bersales, emergency affairs director of World Vision Philippines, which is providing food and aid to 20,000 survivors of Ondoy.
The Philippines’ weather bureau raised its No. 1 storm signal for areas of southeastern Luzon yesterday, meaning winds of between 30 and 60 kph are expected. A gale warning was issued for islands to the southeast of Luzon.
Pepeng’s winds were gusting to 296 kph and waves near the eye are as high as 9 meters, according to the US center.
Navy forecasters designated Pepeng as a super typhoon when its wind speed reached 240 kph. Its winds are forecast to strengthen to 259 kph by 2 p.m. today, making it a Category 5 storm, the strongest rating.
Such storms are capable of causing “catastrophic damage” and can blow roofs off residential and industrial buildings, according to the US National Hurricane Center.
Meanwhile, Budget Secretary Rolando Andaya Jr. said the government had enough funds to sustain relief operations in areas destroyed by tropical storm Ondoy because it had many sources of financing.
He made the statement after reports said the National Disaster Coordinating Council, the main relief agency, had only P24 million left from its P2-billion fund, and after Congress scrambled to add P10 billion to the agency’s budget.
“We are not limited by the [council’s] P2-billion calamity fund. Various government agencies can tap their own budget for our relief efforts,” Andaya said.
But he said the additional P10 billion proposed to finance relief and rehabilitation efforts would likely bloat this year’s budget deficit, and most likely by the same amount.
The government has set a deficit ceiling of P250 billion or 3.2 percent of the gross domestic product this year.
Earlier, Teodoro said the disaster council’s calamity fund was depleted because it had been meant for rehabilitation and not relief efforts.
“There is a balance of about P24 million in our calamity fund. The fund is a separate budget and normally used for rehabilitation, not for relief,” he said. Bloomberg, with Joyce Pangco Pañares
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THE National Police said yesterday they will forcibly evacuate residents refusing to leave their homes in the direct path of approaching super typhoon Pepeng.
‘‘Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. ordered the preemptive evacuation in line with our zero casualty target,” police spokesman Leopoldo Bataoil said.
He said the order covered communities in the shorelines of Cagayan, where Pepeng was expected to make landfall tomorrow afternoon.
The weather bureau said Pepeng was packing winds of up to 241 kilometers per hour. It could still build up strength as it churned toward the eastern side of the country.
Cagayan Valley Police Chief Roberto Damian said residents would be asked politely to leave when the typhoon begins lashing the area.
“We will first appeal to them to leave, but if we see that they are in immediate danger, we will forcibly carry them to evacuation centers,” he said.
The Navy has assembled a task force in northern Luzon, where forecasters expect Pepeng—international name Parma-—to make landfall tonight or early tomorrow morning, spokesman Lieut. Col. Edgard Arevalo said in a telephone interview.
The Air Force will send trucks and rubber boats to facilitate evacuations when local officials request them, Air Force spokesman Lt. Col. Gerardo Zamudio said.
Pepeng’s winds increased to 241 kilometers per hour yesterday, according to the US Navy Joint Typhoon Warning Center, making it a Category 4 storm, the second-strongest on the Saffir-Simpson scale. It is forecast to get stronger before making landfall, according to the center.
The government “should prepare for the worst,” said Jose Bersales, emergency affairs director of World Vision Philippines, which is providing food and aid to 20,000 survivors of Ondoy.
The Philippines’ weather bureau raised its No. 1 storm signal for areas of southeastern Luzon yesterday, meaning winds of between 30 and 60 kph are expected. A gale warning was issued for islands to the southeast of Luzon.
Pepeng’s winds were gusting to 296 kph and waves near the eye are as high as 9 meters, according to the US center.
Navy forecasters designated Pepeng as a super typhoon when its wind speed reached 240 kph. Its winds are forecast to strengthen to 259 kph by 2 p.m. today, making it a Category 5 storm, the strongest rating.
Such storms are capable of causing “catastrophic damage” and can blow roofs off residential and industrial buildings, according to the US National Hurricane Center.
Meanwhile, Budget Secretary Rolando Andaya Jr. said the government had enough funds to sustain relief operations in areas destroyed by tropical storm Ondoy because it had many sources of financing.
He made the statement after reports said the National Disaster Coordinating Council, the main relief agency, had only P24 million left from its P2-billion fund, and after Congress scrambled to add P10 billion to the agency’s budget.
“We are not limited by the [council’s] P2-billion calamity fund. Various government agencies can tap their own budget for our relief efforts,” Andaya said.
But he said the additional P10 billion proposed to finance relief and rehabilitation efforts would likely bloat this year’s budget deficit, and most likely by the same amount.
The government has set a deficit ceiling of P250 billion or 3.2 percent of the gross domestic product this year.
Earlier, Teodoro said the disaster council’s calamity fund was depleted because it had been meant for rehabilitation and not relief efforts.
“There is a balance of about P24 million in our calamity fund. The fund is a separate budget and normally used for rehabilitation, not for relief,” he said. Bloomberg, with Joyce Pangco Pañares
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