Philippines evacuates 700,000 ahead of Typhoon Melor

In International Affairs
December 14, 2015

More than 700,000 people fled the central Philippines amid threats of giant waves, floods and landslides as powerful Typhoon Melor approached the archipelago nation. Melor brushed the northern tip of Samar, a farming island of 1.5 million people, with winds gusting at 185 kilometres per hour. Samar was among areas devastated in 2013 by Typhoon Haiyan, when giant waves wiped out entire communities, leaving 7,350 people dead or missing.

Authorities warned that Melor’s powerful winds had the potential to whip up four-metre (13-feet) high waves, blow off tin roofs and uproot trees while heavy rains within its 300-kilometre diameter could trigger floods and landslides. In Albay province alone, almost 600,000 people were evacuated due to fears that heavy rains could cause mudslides on the slopes of nearby Mayon Volcano.

An additional 130,000 people were also evacuated in nearby Sorsogon. The latest typhoon is expected to cut across the country’s central heartlands before heading out to the South China Sea in the west. The government had prepared more than 200,000 food packs and other emergency items ahead of the storm’s landfall. The Philippines is battered by an average of 20 typhoons annually.

Typhoon Koppu, the last deadly storm to hit the country, killed 54 people and forced tens of thousands others to flee their homes after it pummelled the northern Philippines in October.

Did You Know???

The only difference between a hurricane, a cyclone, and a typhoon is the location where the storm occurs. In the Atlantic and Northeast Pacific, the term “hurricane” is used. The same type of disturbance in the Northwest Pacific is called a “typhoon” and “cyclones” occur in the South Pacific and Indian Ocean.

Philippines