A new superstorm, expected to reach the Philippines on Friday morning, will bring maximum sustained winds of around 268 kms (167 miles) an hour, meteorologists said, stronger than a typhoon that caused widespread damage in the south of the country last December.
Typhoon Haiyan, locally known as Yolanda, is forecast to hit the archipelago’s central islands, which are still recovering from a 7.2 magnitude earthquake last month.
The quake on 15 October killed 190 people, displaced 380,000 and affected over 3 million in the tourist destinations of Bohol and the nearby Cebu islands.
‘If Typhoon Yolanda continues at its current strength, its impact could be colossal, not only on those areas directly in its path, but also for nearby islands already battling to recover from last month’s massive earthquake,’ Bernd Schell, country representative in the Philippines for the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, said.
Typhoon Haiyan, locally known as Yolanda, is forecast to hit the archipelago’s central islands, which are still recovering from a 7.2 magnitude earthquake last month.
The quake on 15 October killed 190 people, displaced 380,000 and affected over 3 million in the tourist destinations of Bohol and the nearby Cebu islands.
‘If Typhoon Yolanda continues at its current strength, its impact could be colossal, not only on those areas directly in its path, but also for nearby islands already battling to recover from last month’s massive earthquake,’ Bernd Schell, country representative in the Philippines for the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, said.