LOCAL officials in areas that will be directly affected by Supertyphoon Lawin (international code name Haima)have stockpiled relief items and ordered the preemptive evacuation of residents living in low lying areas, as well as flood and landslide-prone areas.
The precautionary measure was ordered by governors and mayors and other local disaster officials in Northern Luzon, including in the Cordillera Administrative Region, in anticipation of the powerful typhoon, seen to hit areas that were battered by Typhoon Karen (international code name Sarika).
Weather forecasters hoisted Storm Signal No. 4 in the provinces of Cagayan and Isabela on Wednesday morning even before Lawin, which is nearing the category of a super typhoon, could hit land.
The storm, with maximum sustained winds of 220 km per hour and a gustiness of up to 305 kph, was sighted about 450 km, east of Casiguran, Aurora, as of 11 a.m. and was moving at west, northwest direction at the speed of 26 kph.
Lawin may hit land by late Wednesday evening or early Thursday. The provinces of Abra, Apayao, Ilocos Sur, Ilocos Norte, Mountain Province, Ifugao, Quirino, Kalinga, northern Aurora and the rest of Cagayan have been placed under Storm Signal No. 3.
The rest of Northern Luzon, including the Calayan Group of Islands, La Union, Benguet, Nueva Vizcaya, Pangasinan, Nueva Ecija, the rest of Aurora and Tarlac, are under Storm Signal No. 2.
On the other hand, Signal No. 1 was hoisted over Metro Manila, Batanes Group of Islands, Zambales, Pampanga, Bulacan, Bataan, northern Quezon Including Polillio Islands, Rizal, Cavite, Laguna, Camarines Norte, Camarines Sur and Catanduanes.
Residents of Isabela and Cagayan, who live in low lying areas, as well as those in areas threatened by landslides, were urged by their officials to heed warnings by disaster officials and take precautionary measures my moving to higher ground.
Isabela Gov. Faustino Dy III has even ordered the provincial police office to arrest and physically bring to evacuation centers those who refuse to follow the warnings.
He said the province is implementing both preemptive and force evacuations. Other provinces in the Cordilleras, especially Benguet, were also implementing preemptive evacuations, as the different local disaster offices went on red alert in preparation for the landfall of Lawin.
National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council Executive Director Ricardo Jalad said not only relief supplies have been prepositioned in the provinces threatened by Lawin, but even assets and equipment needed for response.
“Even the Department of Public Works and Highways has prepositioned their equipment for clearing, in case there are roads that will be closed. The Armed Forces has also prepositioned response teams,” he said.
Jalad said satellite phones were also distributed to regional disaster offices, which have established rapid emergency telecommunication teams.
“As we all know, the strength of the typhoon, it can topple down our commercial telecommunication facilities so we are bringing in our veteran equipment coming from Tacloban,” he said.
Image credits: Nonoy Lacza