MANILA: A powerful storm sweeping toward the Philippines intensified into a super typhoon on Saturday, the state weather forecaster said, warning of “significant to severe impacts” from the wind and “life-threatening” storm surges.
Around 255,000 people have fled their homes ahead of Super Typhoon Man-yi, which is expected to make landfall later Saturday or early Sunday, becoming the sixth major storm to pummel the archipelago nation in the past month.
With wind gusts of up to 230 kilometers per hour (about 140 miles per hour), Man-yi was on track to slam into the sparsely populated island province of Catanduanes as a super typhoon or “near peak intensity,” the weather service warned.
Up to 14-meter (46-feet) high seas were expected around Catanduanes, while “significant to severe impacts from typhoon-force winds are possible” in the hardest hit areas, along with a “high risk of life-threatening storm surges” exceeding three meters, the forecaster said.
At least 163 people died in the five storms that pounded the Philippines in recent weeks that also left thousands homeless and wiped out crops and livestock.
The government urged people Saturday to heed warnings to flee to safety.
“If preemptive evacuation is required, let us do so and not wait for the hour of peril before evacuating or seeking help, because if we did that we will be putting in danger not only our lives but also those of our rescuers,” Interior Undersecretary Marlo Iringan said.
In Albay province, Legazpi City grocer Myrna Perea was sheltering with her fruit vendor husband and their three children in a school classroom with nine other families after they were ordered to leave their shanty.
Conditions were hot and cramped — the family spent Friday night sleeping together on a mat under the classroom’s single ceiling fan — but Perea said it was better to be safe.
“I think our house will be wrecked when we get back because it’s made of light materials — just two gusts are required to knock it down,” Perea, 44, said.
“That’s why we evacuated. Even if the house is destroyed, the important thing is we do not lose a family member.”
Scientists have warned climate change is increasing the intensity of storms, leading to heavier rains, flash floods and stronger gusts.
About 20 big storms and typhoons hit the Southeast Asian nation or its surrounding waters each year, killing scores of people, but it is rare for multiple such weather events to take place in a small window.
Evacuation centers were filling up on Catanduanes island in the typhoon-prone Bicol region, with the state weather forecaster warning Saturday of “widespread incidents of severe flooding and landslides.”
More than 400 people were squeezed into the provincial government building in the capital Virac, with new arrivals being sent to a gymnasium, provincial disaster officer Roberto Monterola said.
Monterola said he had dispatched soldiers to force about 100 households in two coastal villages near Virac to move inland due to fears storm surges could swamp their homes.
“Regardless of the exact landfall point, heavy rainfall, severe winds, and storm surges may occur in areas outside the predicted landfall zone,” the forecaster said.
In Northern Samar province, disaster officer Rei Josiah Echano lamented that damage caused by typhoons was the root cause of poverty in the region.
“Whenever there’s a typhoon like this, it brings us back to the mediaeval era, we go (back) to square one,” Echano said, as the province prepared for the onslaught of Man-yi.
All vessels — from fishing boats to oil tankers — have been ordered to stay in port or return to shore.
The volcanology agency also warned heavy rain dumped by Man-yi could trigger flows of volcanic sediment, or lahars, from three volcanos, including Taal, south of Manila.
Man-yi will hit the Philippines late in the typhoon season — most cyclones develop between July and October.
Earlier this month, four storms were clustered simultaneously in the Pacific basin, which the Japan Meteorological Agency said on Saturday was the first time such an occurrence had been observed in November since its records began in 1951.
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Tens of thousands flee as Super Typhoon Man-yi nears Philippines
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Tens of thousands flee as Super Typhoon Man-yi nears Philippines
- Around 255,000 people have fled their homes ahead of Super Typhoon Man-yi
- It will be the sixth major storm to pummel the archipelago nation in the past month
Terror at Friday prayers: Witnesses describe blast rocking Islamabad mosque
- The Daesh group has claimed responsibility for the attack, according to the SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors jihadist communications
ISLAMABAD: A worshipper at the Shiite mosque in Islamabad where dozens of people were killed in a suicide blast on Friday described an “extremely powerful” explosion ripping through the building just after prayers started.
Muhammad Kazim, 52, told AFP he arrived at the Imam Bargah Qasr-e-Khadijatul Kubra mosque shortly after 1:00 p.m. (0800 GMT) on Friday and took up a place around seven or eight rows from the Imam.
“During the first bow of the Namaz (prayer ritual), we heard gunfire,” he told AFP outside the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) hospital, where many of the wounded were brought for treatment.
“And while we were still in the bowing position, an explosion occurred,” he said.
Kazim, who is from Gilgit-Baltistan in northern Pakistan and lives in Islamabad, escaped unharmed, but accompanied his wounded friend to the PIMS hospital for treatment.
“It was unclear whether it was a suicide bombing, but the explosion was extremely powerful and caused numerous casualties,” Kazim said.
“Debris fell from the roof, and windows were shattered,” he added. “When I got outside, many bodies were scattered... Many people lost their lives.”
The Daesh group has claimed responsibility for the attack, according to the SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors jihadist communications.
Another worshipper, Imran Mahmood, described a gunfight between the suicide bomber, a possible accomplice and volunteer security personnel at the mosque.
“The suicide attacker was trying to move forward, but one of our injured volunteers fired at him from behind, hitting him in the thigh,” Mahmood, in his fifties, told AFP.
“He fell but got up again. Another man accompanying him opened fire on our volunteers,” he said, adding the attacker “then jumped onto the gate and detonated the explosives.”
As of Saturday morning, the death toll stood at 31, with at least 169 wounded.
The attack was the deadliest in the Pakistani capital since September 2008, when 60 people were killed in a suicide truck bomb blast that destroyed part of the five-star Marriott hotel.
Lax security
Describing the aftermath of the attack, Kazim said unhurt worshippers went to the aid of those wounded.
“People tried to help on their own, carrying two or three bodies in the trunks of their vehicles, while ambulances arrived about 20 to 25 minutes later,” he told AFP.
“No one was allowed near the mosque afterwards.”
Kazim, who has performed Friday prayers at the mosque “for the past three to four weeks,” said security had been lax.
“I have never seen proper security in place,” he told AFP.
“Volunteers manage security on their own, but they lack the necessary equipment to do it effectively,” he said.
“Shiite mosques are always under threat, and the government should take this seriously and provide adequate security,” he added.
Muhammad Kazim, 52, told AFP he arrived at the Imam Bargah Qasr-e-Khadijatul Kubra mosque shortly after 1:00 p.m. (0800 GMT) on Friday and took up a place around seven or eight rows from the Imam.
“During the first bow of the Namaz (prayer ritual), we heard gunfire,” he told AFP outside the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) hospital, where many of the wounded were brought for treatment.
“And while we were still in the bowing position, an explosion occurred,” he said.
Kazim, who is from Gilgit-Baltistan in northern Pakistan and lives in Islamabad, escaped unharmed, but accompanied his wounded friend to the PIMS hospital for treatment.
“It was unclear whether it was a suicide bombing, but the explosion was extremely powerful and caused numerous casualties,” Kazim said.
“Debris fell from the roof, and windows were shattered,” he added. “When I got outside, many bodies were scattered... Many people lost their lives.”
The Daesh group has claimed responsibility for the attack, according to the SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors jihadist communications.
Another worshipper, Imran Mahmood, described a gunfight between the suicide bomber, a possible accomplice and volunteer security personnel at the mosque.
“The suicide attacker was trying to move forward, but one of our injured volunteers fired at him from behind, hitting him in the thigh,” Mahmood, in his fifties, told AFP.
“He fell but got up again. Another man accompanying him opened fire on our volunteers,” he said, adding the attacker “then jumped onto the gate and detonated the explosives.”
As of Saturday morning, the death toll stood at 31, with at least 169 wounded.
The attack was the deadliest in the Pakistani capital since September 2008, when 60 people were killed in a suicide truck bomb blast that destroyed part of the five-star Marriott hotel.
Lax security
Describing the aftermath of the attack, Kazim said unhurt worshippers went to the aid of those wounded.
“People tried to help on their own, carrying two or three bodies in the trunks of their vehicles, while ambulances arrived about 20 to 25 minutes later,” he told AFP.
“No one was allowed near the mosque afterwards.”
Kazim, who has performed Friday prayers at the mosque “for the past three to four weeks,” said security had been lax.
“I have never seen proper security in place,” he told AFP.
“Volunteers manage security on their own, but they lack the necessary equipment to do it effectively,” he said.
“Shiite mosques are always under threat, and the government should take this seriously and provide adequate security,” he added.
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