'RAMIL' MOVING SLOWLY AWAY FROM
RP, ZIGZAGGED THRU CAGAYAN YESTERDAY
MANILA, OCTOBER 25, 2009
(STAR) Tropical storm “Ramil” (international code name: Lupit)
continued to move slowly away from the country, weather forecasters said
yesterday.
According to the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa), Ramil is heading northeast away from the Philippine Area of Responsibility (PAR) toward Japan at 15 kilometers per hour.
As of 5 p.m. yesterday Ramil was spotted 425 kilometers northeast of Basco, Batanes or 100 kms south of Okinawa, Japan.
Signal No. 1 remains hoisted over the Batanes Group of Islands as Ramil continues to zigzag northeast.
Ramil weakened into a tropical storm after it almost hit the province of Cagayan before it made a 90-degree turn northeast.
Pagasa said the erratic movement of Ramil was caused by two high-pressure areas from the South China Sea in the west and the Pacific Ocean in the east, each pulling the storm in its direction.
Pagasa spokesman Nathaniel Cruz assured the public there would be no more storms coming after Ramil in the next few days.
“We do not see any weather disturbance after Ramil until Oct. 28,” Cruz said.
The much feared and anticipated typhoon kept weary residents on edge and weather forecasters dumbfounded over its erratic course over the last few days.
The storm, however, managed to destroy a house in rain-soaked Cagayan.
Authorities reported that the only damage left by the storm was the house of Eduardo Alcantara, a fisherman from Barangay Maura in Aparri town, which was washed away by a storm surge that almost caused the town’s seawall to break.
Local officials are now looking for an alternative site to put up Alcantara’s residence. Alcantara and his family had joined the thousands of residents that were preemptively evacuated following warnings that the center of Ramil could strike the town over the weekend.
Fortunately Ramil, which has been hovering over the coast of Cagayan for several days, veered from its expected path of destruction. Authorities said the negligible number of evacuees and damaged property could be attributed to the preemptive response strategies.
“Thanks to the prompt response of authorities in evacuating their constituents (from danger zones), many lives have been saved, actions which have proven correct during the previous typhoon,” said Chief Superintendent Roberto Damian, Cagayan Valley police director and concurrent Regional Disaster Coordinating Council (RDCC) chairman.
Even as the weather improved after the typhoon veered away yesterday, local officials and the National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC) led by Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro advised residents to stay put because of the continued threats of landslides and floods.
Local officials ordered the preemptive evacuation of residents, particularly those in the coastal areas of Cagayan.
The province, along with Benguet, Pangasinan, La Union and the Ilocos provinces, are still reeling from the devastation left by typhoon “Pepeng” two weeks before.
The forced evacuation of residents in Aparri came after its concrete sea wall, which protects the town’s coastline from high tide or onslaught of huge waves, broke down from strong winds and tides during the approach of Ramil.
The RDCC said some 600 evacuees, whose villages in Aparri, Santa Ana, Gonzaga, Santa Teresita and Pamplona have been hit by strong waves and storm surges, started to go back to their villages yesterday.
The NDCC pulled out its disaster and rescue units from the province as the residents trooped back to their homes.
NDCC spokesman Lt. Col. Ernesto Torres said relief distribution for the evacuees would still continue, particularly to those families affected by the previous storms.
Torres added that relief distribution and rehabilitation operations will also continue in the Cordillera region, the Ilocos provinces, Central Luzon and Southern Tagalog. - Evelyn Macairan, Charlie Lagasca and Jaime Laude
'Ramil' zigzags around Cagayan (The Philippine Star) Updated Yesterday October 24, 2009 12:00 AM
MANILA,
Philippines - Living up to its name, typhoon “Lupit” – meaning cruel in Filipino
– zigzagged around the rain-soaked northern Luzon yesterday, keeping weary
residents on edge and weather forecasters guessing about its next move.
Lupit, locally named typhoon “Ramil,” has been hovering for several days near the coast of Cagayan, sending thousands to seek shelter following “Ondoy” and “Pepeng” that killed nearly 1,000 people, most of them buried in dozens of mudslides.
Ramil’s erratic direction baffled forecasters and frustrated the media who kept predicting its landfall everyday.
The state weather bureau Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) in a nationally televised briefing Thursday evening predicted Ramil would ram into northeastern Cagayan province by early yesterday.
After crawling for the last two days, Ramil barreled on course to hit shore then stalled again yesterday, delaying landfall by another day - or two, or three, said Pagasa chief forecaster Nathaniel Cruz.
Cruz attributed the erratic movement of Ramil to two high-pressure areas from the South China Sea in the west and the Pacific Ocean in the east, each pulling the storm in its direction.
Ramil weakened into a tropical storm yesterday afternoon but Pagasa said it may still bring strong winds and heavy rains over Northern Luzon in the next two days.
As of 4 p.m. yesterday, the eye of Ramil was located some 110 kilometers northeast of Aparri, Cagayan with 105 kms per hour center winds and gustiness of up to 135 kph.
Cruz said Ramil was forecast to remain “almost stationary” in the next several hours because of the high pressure area over South China Sea blocking its natural path.
Pagasa administrator Prisco Nilo said the latest Pagasa models indicated Ramil would likely drift toward the area between the Batanes group of islands and Taiwan.
Instead of hitting Cagayan, the storm is expected to make landfall over Batanes.
Weather stations in Hong Kong and Japan said Ramil (Lupit) would make a sharp turn northwards, away from the Philippines.
But Cruz said this had not yet been confirmed, while warning that Ramil and the high-pressure areas he had earlier pointed out were all “erratic,” making definite forecasts impossible.
Typhoons usually slice through the northern Philippines from the Pacific and exit through the South China Sea. The country, known as the welcome mat for typhoons, gets about 20 a year during the rainy season from June to December.
People in coastal fishing towns and other vulnerable areas had already been evacuated from their homes, while relief and rescue supplies had been stocked in the north in the event Ramil hits.
The government has imposed preemptive evacuation of residents in several areas while relief and rescue supplies had been stocked in anticipation of the worst-case scenario.
Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro said the government was continuing to monitor the storm for any change in its movement.
“We really plan for the worst-case scenario,” Teodoro said in a radio interview.
For the past week, troops and disaster-relief officials have ferried tons of canned food and clothes and moved rubber boats and helicopters along the eastern coast and the mountainous Benguet province.
At least 1,500 residents living along the Cagayan River and its tributaries were moved to high ground, according to Cagayan Gov. Alvaro Antonio.
Another 1,000 people left their homes in Aparri, including some 200 residents after a wave surge collapsed a 20-meter high sea wall in San Antonio village early this week.
Ramil’s imminent arrival comes after tropical storms Ondoy (Ketsana) and Pepeng (Parma) caused massive destruction across the northern Philippines from Sept. 26.
Residents in Cagayan and Batanes are preparing for the worst but for them, the wait seems unending – until the storm inexplicably veered away from the projected path. –AP, Helen Flores, Charlie Lagasca, Jack Castano
BACK-TO-BACK TYPHOONS DISRUPTED 1.5 MILLION
STUDENTS
(STAR) By Rainier Allan Ronda - The back-to-back typhoons have
disrupted the education of more than 1.5 million students in more than 900
public schools, said Education Secretary Jesli Lapus.
Based on the DepEd’s latest Rapid Disaster Assessment Report (RADAR), there were 907 schools in northern Luzon that sustained damage, the worst of which was during typhoon “Pepeng.”
The damage and destruction, DepEd said, affected the education of more than 1.56 million public school students.
Of the 907 affected schools in northern Luzon, Region 1 schools had the highest number of casualties with 539, Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) comes second with 230; and Region II with 138.
Lapus said the DepEd placed the destruction caused by Pepeng and tropical storm “Ondoy” at P3.2 billion.
Lapus said a lot has to be done for the 907 schools to make sure that things return to normal for the students.
He said their top priority is the replacement of millions of copies of textbooks lost in the floods.
DepEd estimates that some 28 million textbooks worth around P2 billion were destroyed by the two typhoons.
However, Lapus pointed out that while textbook replacement was important, they also had to give priority to the reconstruction and repair of damaged or destroyed public school buildings.
“So is the replacement of school furniture and other equipment like computers,” Lapus pointed out.
“Teaching has to be done in the classrooms if we want our students’ studies to go back to normal,” Lapus said.
Just for northern Luzon or CAR, Region I and Region II, DepEd RADAR placed the damage to classrooms at P434 million. Damage to school furniture and equipment was placed at P6.07 million.
But a lack of rehabilitation funds makes the task very difficult, and Lapus said getting things back to normal might take some time.
Lapus yesterday expressed serious concern over the DepEd’s inadequate funds to be able to assure more than 1.5 million students of public schools in northern Luzon that their learning would resume.
Lapus said the DepEd only had P50 million left in quick disaster funds since they have already used up P100 million in the rehabilitation of damaged school infrastructure.
“We got P65 million for Ondoy and P35 million for Pepeng. These are hugely inadequate amounts considering that the estimated damage to public schools by the two storms is more than P3 billion,” Lapus said.
“Remember that we already had typhoons in June and even before that,” Lapus said.
“We’re very grateful for the help from the private sector and international donors,” Lapus said.