Philippines readies evacuations

Oct 19, 2009 MANILA - PHILIPPIINE authorities applied the lessons from recent deadly storms on Monday by stocking up on food and clothes early while moving residents out of harm's way as a powerful typhoon threatened the country's rain-soaked northeast. Typhoon Lupit, packing winds of 108 miles (175 kilometres) per hour and gusts of up to 130 mph (210 kph), was not expected to make landfall before Thursday, giving officials time to organise food supplies and issue landslide and flood warnings. The government was moving fast to prevent any loss of life after back-to-back storms on Sept 26 and Oct 3 killed more than 850 people. 'These days we no longer have a problem convincing residents to evacuate,' said Loreto Espineli, police chief in Benguet province where 300 people died. Hundreds of families living in danger zones - low-lying areas, near cliffs and mountain slopes - were still in evacuation centers or staying with relatives since Typhoon Parma damaged their homes early this month. They will ride out the latest typhoon in shelters, Mr Espineli said. 'In most houses, one male is left behind just to look after their belongings, and when the typhoon is already near, we will go house-to-house to evacuate everyone,' he said. Village heads were using megaphones to warn about the impending typhoon, and sirens will be sounded once it makes landfall, Mr Espineli told The Associated Press, adding: 'We will force them to leave if they don't want to,' he said. -- AP