Bracing for the impact of super typhoon Hagupit

Thursday, December 4, 2014
  • Over a year after typhoon Haiyan, survivors rush to evacuation centres; bracing for the impact of super typhoon Hagupit

Barely 13 months after typhoon Haiyan devastated provinces in Eastern Visayas in the Philippines, the survivors’ recovery hopes are now threatened as they brace for another super typhoon Hagupit (local named Ruby).

"We have the resources at hand to support families and communities around areas where we have ongoing Haiyan recovery work."

World Vision Response Director Andrew Rosauer has mobilized the emergency response team in Tacloban City today, on standby and ready to respond in case the impact of Hagupit will be severe. “We have the resources at hand to support families and communities around areas in Samar, Leyte, Ilo-ilo and Aklan where we have ongoing Haiyan recovery work.”

“We’ve seen survivors rebuild from typhoon Haiyan in the last 13 months, but there is still a long way to go. We are concerned that Hagupit has the potential to undo so much progress, when people were well on the way to recovery’, Mr Rosauer said.

Today in Tacloban, one of the hardest hit areas during typhoon Haiyan, crowds of people were seen heading to evacuation areas. One of them is 41-year old Wilma, a mother of six, who brought all of her children. “It has been a terrible year for us and we are just starting to rebuild,” she said.

Many of the survivors have learned lessons from Haiyan, choosing to evacuate well ahead of the anticipated storm. According to a local official in charge of one of the evacuation sites, they are expecting people continue coming in overnight.

World Vision’s Typhoon Haiyan Response team based in Tacloban has prepositioned relief kits ready for distribution to over 1,000 families. Coordination is ongoing for over 1,000 food packs. World Vision is working closely with the UN cluster for joint preparations and information sharing.

Since last night, people in the city started stocking up, clearing the shelves in stores to ensure they had emergency food items. Today queues were long at major department stores, where some of the fast food centers closed early allowing staff to  go home early to prepare their own families to safety.

There is a general sense of fear and concern as people monitor the situation. On the streets, people were hauling their meager belongings in pedicabs and pick-up trucks to evacuation centers, or relatives sturdy houses.

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Andrew Rosauer is available for interview. Please contact:

Rhonda Hirst on +63 916 735 5061 or rhonda_hirst@wvi.org

Cecil Laguardia on +63 939 926 2669 or cecil_laguardia@wvi.org