International News

MANILA, Oct 19, (APP/AFP) – Millions of people in the Philippines were ordered Wednesday to prepare for one of the strongest typhoons to ever hit the disaster-battered country, with authorities warning of giant storm surges and destructive winds. Super Typhoon Haima was forecast to hit remote communities in the far north of the country about 11:00 pm (1500 GMT) on Wednesday, bringing winds almost on a par with catastrophic Super Typhoon Haiyan that claimed more than 7,350 lives in 2013. “It’s not just heavy rain and strong winds that we are expecting. It’s also floods, landslides and storm surges in coastal areas. Those in these areas, you are in danger. Find safer ground,” Allan Tabel, chief of the interior ministry’s disaster and information coordinating centre, told a nationally televised briefing. With Haima having a weather band of 800 kilometres (500 miles), more than 10 million people across the northern parts of the Philippines’ main island of Luzon will be affected, according to the government’s disaster risk management agency.