Super Typhoon Haiyan nears Philippines [View all]
Source: Al Jazeera America
Philippine officials said Thursday that thousands of villagers, including those from a central province devastated recently by an earthquake, are being evacuated as one of Asia's most powerful typhoons this year approaches.
Typhoon Haiyan was already packing sustained winds of 134 miles per hour and ferocious gusts of 155 mph, and could pick up strength over the Pacific Ocean before it slams into the Philippine province of Eastern Samar on Friday, according to government forecasters.
Eduardo del Rosario, who heads the government's main disaster-response agency, said governors and mayors were supervising the evacuation of thousands of residents away from landslide- and flood-prone communities in several provinces where the typhoon is expected to pass.
President Benigno Aquino III has ordered officials to aim for zero casualties, a goal often broken in an archipelago lashed by about 20 storms each year, most of them deadly and destructive. Haiyan is the 24th such storm to hit the Philippines this year.
Read more: http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2013/11/7/super-typhoon-haiyanapproachesthephilippines.html
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