MANIILA: Thousands were evacuated in coastal provinces of the Philippines on Monday, ahead of a typhoon due to make landfall in a region hit by some of the country’s deadliest storms.
Typhoon Kalmaegi is on a collision course with Leyte island, bringing 120-kilometer (75-mile) per hour winds and gusts of up to 150 kph, according to the national weather service.
“Evacuations are ongoing in Palo and Tanauan,” said Leyte disaster official Roel Montesa, naming two of the towns hardest hit by storm surges in 2013, when Super Typhoon Haiyan killed more than 6,000 people.
Thousands of residents have also been evacuated since Sunday on neighboring Samar island, where three-meter (10-foot) surges are predicted, according to civil defense official Randy Nicart.
“Some local governments are resorting to forced evacuations, including Guiuan town, where the storm is likely to make landfall,” he said.
The Philippines is hit by an average of 20 storms and typhoons each year, routinely striking disaster-prone areas where millions live in poverty.
With Kalmaegi, the archipelago country has already reached that average, state weather service specialist Charmaine Varilla said, adding that at least “three to five more” storms could be expected by December’s end.
Just south of Leyte, in Dinagat Islands province, governor Nilo Demerey said 10,000 to 15,000 people had been pre-emptively moved to safer areas.
“We have been implementing preemptive evacuations for the past two days, while there is time,” he said.
Disaster official Joy Conales said residents of Dinagat’s Loreto town were told to evacuate to higher ground.
The town has a one-story-tall “wave breaker” dike intended to protect its center from big waves.
Scientists warn that storms are becoming more powerful due to human-driven climate change.
Varilla said Tuesday that higher numbers of cyclones typically accompany La Nina, a naturally occurring climate pattern that cools surface temperatures in the central and eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean.
The Philippines was hit by two major storms in September, including Super Typhoon Ragasa, which toppled trees and tore the roofs off buildings, and killed 14 people in neighboring Taiwan.
Thousands evacuated as typhoon bears down on Philippines
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Thousands evacuated as typhoon bears down on Philippines
- Typhoon Kalmaegi is on a collision course with Leyte island, bringing 120-kilometer per hour winds and gusts of up to 150 kph
35 million Nigerians ‘risk hunger after global funding collapse’
- The UN can only aim to deliver $516 million to provide lifesaving aid to 2.5 million people this year, down from 3.6 million in 2025, which in turn was about half the previous year’s level
ABUJA: Nearly 35 million Nigerians are at risk of hunger this year, including 3 million children facing severe malnutrition, the UN said, following the collapse of global aid budgets.
Speaking at the launch of the 2026 humanitarian plan in Abuja, UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator Mohammed Malick Fall said the long-dominant, foreign-led aid model in Nigeria is no longer sustainable and that Nigeria’s needs have grown.
Conditions in the conflict-hit northeast are dire, Fall said, with civilians in Borno, Adamawa, and Yobe states facing rising violence.
BACKGROUND
UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator Mohammed Malick Fall said the foreign-led aid model in Nigeria is no longer sustainable and that the country’s needs have grown.
A surge in terror attacks killed more than 4,000 people in the first eight months of 2025, matching the toll for all of 2023, he said.
The UN can only aim to deliver $516 million to provide lifesaving aid to 2.5 million people this year, down from 3.6 million in 2025, which in turn was about half the previous year’s level.
“These are not statistics. These numbers represent lives, futures, and Nigerians,” Fall said.
He also said the UN had no choice but to focus on “the most lifesaving” interventions given the drop in available funding.
Shortfalls last year led the World Food Programme to also warn that millions could go hungry in Nigeria as its resources ran out in December and it was forced to cut support for more than 300,000 children.
Fall said Nigeria was showing growing national ownership of the crisis response in recent months through measures such as local funding for lean-season food support and early-warning action on flooding.
