Concerned government agencies on Wednesday started implementing mandatory evacuations in communities directly in the path of Typhoon ‘Ofel’ as a preemptive move to avoid further loss of life after recent storms killed upwards of 150 Filipinos.
The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) projected that ‘Ofel,’ the fifth major storm to hit the country in three weeks, was likely to make landfall Thursday in Cagayan province on the northeast tip of main island Luzon.
Provincial civil defense chief Rueli Rapsing said mayors were ordered to evacuate residents in vulnerable areas, by force if necessary.
“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 forced evacuations come just as the Philippines signed the Host Country Agreement (HCA) with the Board of the Loss and Damage Fund on Tuesday at the 29th Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP29) in Baku, Azerbaijan.
The landmark agreement positions the Philippines to host the Fund’s operations, aimed at supporting vulnerable communities worldwide against the destructive effects of climate change.
In her speech, Environment Secretary Maria Antonia Yulo Loyzaga said the Philippines has a deep and personal stake in ensuring that the funds for responding to loss and damage become accessible to those who need them the most, underscoring the Philippines’ unique experience as an archipelago frequently impacted by natural disasters.
“The Philippines is experiencing a historically unprecedented series of extreme weather events. In the past three weeks, we have been struck by four successive tropical cyclones. A fifth has just made a landfall, and a sixth is on the way,” she said.
The Philippines may be a test case for the Fund in responding to this unique cumulative loss of lives and damage to critical infrastructure such as hospitals, schools, roads and water and power systems, Loyzaga, who heads the Philippine delegation to COP29, pointed out.
Meanwhile, the United Nations (UN) said that the successive storms have taken a toll on the resources of both the Philippine Government and local households.
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 Tuesday.
“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.”
A sixth storm, Tropical Storm Man-yi, currently near Guam, is expected to hit the Philippines as early as next weekend.
Gonzalez urged “resource partners to support the UN effort and fill “critical funding gaps”.
He added that the initiative “will help us mobilize the capacities and resources of the humanitarian community to better support government institutions at national, regional, and local levels. “
As this developed, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) reported that Typhoons Nika (international name Toraji) and Ofel (Usagi) have affected approximately 52,551 families across five regions.
These families, totaling 195,532 individuals, live in 850 barangays in the Ilocos, Cagayan Valley, Central Luzon, Bicol, and Cordillera regions.
Currently, 9,275 families, or 28,104 people, are seeking shelter in 562 evacuation centers, while an additional 4,658 individuals are receiving assistance outside these centers.
On Tuesday, PAGASA hoisted Tropical Cyclone Wind Signal 2 over the eastern portion of mainland Cagayan and the eastern portion of Isabela as ‘Ofel’ intensified into a typhoon-category storm.
Signal 1 was likewise hoisted over Batanes, Babuyan Islands, the rest of mainland Cagayan, the rest of Isabela, Quirino, Nueva Vizcaya, Apayao, Kalinga, Abra, Mountain Province, the eastern portion of Ifugao, Ilocos Norte, and the northern portion of Aurora.
PAGASA’s Tropical Cyclone Bulletin issued on Wednesday at 11 a.m. stated said the eye of the storm was located 485 kilometers east-northeast of Daet, Camarines Norte, moving west-northwestward at 20 kilometers per hour.
‘Ofel’ was packing maximum sustained winds of 120 km/h near the center and gustiness of up to 150 km/h, PAGASA said. With AFP
Editor’s Note: This is an updated article. Originally posted with the headline “Evacuations, call for aid as Typhoon ‘Ofel’ approaches Philippines.”
