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Friday, December 03, 2004
RP braces for super storm: No classes, gov't work
CEBU CITY -- Typhoon Yoyong, expected to whip Luzon late Thursday night, forced Malacaņang to shut down government agencies and cancel classes in public schools nationwide Friday.
While Cebu and the rest of Central Visayas were not in Yoyong's path, more than 160,000 persons in Luzon fled to higher ground or crowded into schools and town halls.
At least six people were reported to have died in Catanduanes and Camarines Sur as the typhoon unleashed its strong winds and rains.
Rescuers are still struggling to find scores of missing from an earlier storm that killed more than 420 people.
At least 177 were missing.
Victims of typhoon Winnie in Naga and Legazpi cities can expect to get help from the Cebu City Government when Mayor Tomas Osmeņa visits the affected areas next week.
The mayor will lead the City's reconnaissance team to find out the victims' needs and priorities.
For Cebu City residents, city officials will report for work and will be ready to lend a hand because rains brought about by Yoyong might cause floods and landslides in the city.
No work
City Administrator Juan Saul Montecillo told Sun.Star last night that Mayor Osmeņa instructed him to make City Hall employees heed President Arroyo's order not to report for work.
At the Capitol, Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia also called off work but asked department heads to be present to act on any emergencies.
Classes in all levels in all public schools are suspended.
All passenger vessels weighing 1,000 gross tons and below were also barred from leaving the Cebu City port Thursday.
These included four vessels bound for Leyte, which was placed under signal number one.
Petty Officer 3 Ariel Tena, Coast Guard (CG) Cebu duty officer, said they will only allow the vessels to leave port once the storm warning is lifted.
Cebu Pacific also canceled flights from Manila to Cebu and vice versa last night.
Travelers with scheduled departures today are advised to check with their airlines or the Mactan airport for any changes in flight schedules.
Toll rising
Initially, Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye announced that classes and work in government agencies in six regions, including Metro Manila, are called off Friday.
But about 7:30 Thursday night, he said the suspension was supposed to apply nationwide.
Weather forecasters have warned that Yoyong could be especially fierce, with winds of up to 240 kilometers per hour.
The Philippines is hit by about 20 storms and typhoons a year.
A typhoon and another storm last week killed at least 87 people and left 80 others missing in Luzon.
Satellite images of Yoyong showed the powerful typhoon ripping through the north, with Camarines Norte and the Aurora-Isabela area bearing the brunt of the storm.
Cebu City Hall is organizing assistance for the typhoon victims in Naga and Legazpi cities.
"Between relief operations and rehabilitation, Cebu City can help better with relief rather than reconstruction. Relief is where Cebu is very fast and the National Government is slow. With rehabilitation, the National Government will spend in hundreds of millions and that's something we can't do for the victims," Mayor Osmeņa said.
Donations
Osmeņa said he chose Naga and Legazpi because he knows the mayors of the two cities and Cebu City has also helped them in previous disasters.
Also, only the two cities in the Bicol Region have airstrips.
It is not the first time the City Government will help Naga and Legazpi.
In the 1990s, the City also sent a dump truck and relief goods to Legazpi after a major disaster, while assistance was also given to Naga when the bridge connecting the city to the rest of Bicol collapsed.
The City Government set up Thursday a mechanism that will facilitate the collection of relief goods from the public.
Osmeņa said City Hall and barangay vehicles could pick up the donations of the Cebuanos and store them in the barangay halls.
The City will also spend for the cost of transporting the relief goods to the areas hit by typhoon Winnie. (GC/LCR/RHM/MBG)
(December 3, 2004 issue)
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Typhoon lashes Catanduanes, Camarines; 6 feared dead