PHILIPPINES BRACES FOR NEXT POWERFUL STORM
Meanwhile, the next approaching storm, Fung-wong, was growing as it barrelled toward the Philippines over the Pacific. State forecasters said Fung-wong, known as Uwan in the Philippines, could grow to a massive estimated 1,400km in diameter before it makes landfall in northern Aurora province or nearby regions.
They warn that it could hit the densely populated area around the capital, Manila.
Typhoon Kalmaegi displaced more than 560,000 villagers in the Philippines, including nearly 450,000 who were evacuated to emergency shelters, the Office of Civil Defense said. More than 318,000 others are still in evacuation shelters.
Marcos was scheduled to visit Cebu on Friday, the hardest-hit central province, where the typhoon left 139 dead with 79 others missing.
“We suffered many deaths … it was very grave,” Marcos said on Thursday of Kalmaegi’s deadly aftermath, but he said: “The biggest problem that we’re seeing is, we have to think who and how many of the personnel now handling government relief and support in the central Visayas region can be shifted to prepare for Uwan.”
In Cebu, rampaging floodwaters submerged or swept away scores of vehicles in scenes that were caught on camera by residents stranded on roofs.
One of the mourners was Krizza Espra, who went Thursday to a mortuary to see the bodies of her husband and three children, who were killed when the roof they were sheltering on collapsed.
She said four others in her family – including her mother and aunt – remain missing.
“I hope someone can help speed up the search for their bodies before (they) decompose, we hope we can still recognise them,” she said.
Marcos’s “state of national calamity” declaration allows the government to disburse emergency funds faster and prevent food hoarding and overpricing.
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