Super typhoon kills 10 in the Philippines

Super Typhoon Megi dumped heavy rains over the Philippine capital on Tuesday after killing 10 people, creating a wasteland of fallen trees in the north and sending thousands scrambling to safety in near-zero visibility.

As it moved away from the Philippines, the strongest cyclone in years regained strength over the South China Sea while heading toward China and Vietnam, where recent floods unrelated to the storm already have caused over 40 deaths.

“Because of the strong typhoons last year, people still fear that it might happen again,” says Arnaldo Arcadio, Emergency Programme Manager for Catholic Relief Services in the Philippines. He goes on to say that many people in the northern Philippines took pre-emptive measures, evacuating danger zones before the typhoon hit.

Arcadio is currently in Benguet province, where a team is assessing the conditions in evacuation centres and the damage to crops and infrastructure.

“What we are seeing right now are just slight damages, but we feel that once we are able to access more areas, we will be seeing more damages and we will be hearing more people asking for help.” Listen…