Third Typhoon in a Month Threatens To Cause More Flooding
and Landslides in the Philippines
Tuesday, October 20, 2009 - As residents in the flood-weary Philippines continue to recover from two recent typhoons, another storm heads for the northern Luzon region. Typhoon Lupit is expected to make landfall as a category 1 or 2 storm on Thursday with wind speeds in excess of 110 mph.
“Thousands of people are still living in evacuation centers, mostly schools, or living on the second floor of their homes as the first floor is still under water,” says Cristina Hammond, American Red Cross disaster specialist in the Philippines.
The Philippines Red Cross staff and volunteers who have been preparing for and responding to typhoons for four weeks are pre-positioning more relief supplies and putting specially trained search and rescue teams with rubber boats on standby prior to the typhoon’s landfall.
The Red Cross operations center in Manila is working hand-in-hand with weather forecasters and running around the clock to plan before the storm.
“Operations center staff are discussing how best to prepare and how to send reinforcements to help local staff and volunteers who are exhausted and that might also be affected by the storm,” adds Hammond.
Posted in Disaster Alerts, International Updates Tagged: American Red Cross, disaster, floods, heavy rains, ICRC, landslides, Lupit, Luzon, manila, Phillippines, red cross, typhoon
