Philippine president pledges to keep residents safe in typhoon-hit areas

Philippine President Benigno S. Aquino III vowed Monday to ensure the safety of the residents in typhoon-affected areas as Koppu, locally named as Lando, is expected to remain in the country for three more days.

Reports said Typhoon Koppu have killed at least 11 people in northern Philippines with thousands of others being evacuated.

Aquino, who personally distributed relief assistance to some displaced families in northern province of Nueva Ecija, hoped that the number of casualties due to the weather disturbance would not climb anymore.

"We will not take any chance and we will try to ensure that we are on the side of being conservative and making sure that everybody is protected during this time," he told reporters.

Aquino said that there were about 800 villages in several provinces in Luzon that were deemed to be susceptible to the effect of rainwater coming from further up north.

Because of this, he said the concerned government agencies were preventing the residents from going back to their communities.

"The expectation from tonight and until tomorrow, a lot of this rainfall that fell on the northern portion of Luzon will be coming down and will be affecting all of these villages near the major river systems," the President said.

The administration was also taking action to prevent the spread of leptospirosis and other possible diseases brought by floodwaters, he added.
 Xinhua - globaltimes.cn
19/10/15
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