MANILA, Philippines - Military troops in Luzon and Visayas were placed on red alert on Wednesday as the government braces for the impact of super typhoon “Chedeng (international name: Maysak).”
The red alert took effect at 1 p.m. and covers the Northern Luzon Command, Southern Luzon Command, Joint Task Force National Capital Region and the Central Command.
A red alert places all personnel on standby to ensure adequate manpower in case of an emergency. The status entails the cancellation of all leaves.
Other unified commands of the military – the Palawan-based Western Command, the Western Mindanao Command in Zamboanga City and Eastern Mindanao Command in Davao City have been placed on blue alert. The alert status placed half of their forces on standby.
“It is a strong typhoon. We don’t want to have many casualties in this kind of typhoon,” Armed Forces chief Gen. Gregorio Catapang Jr. said in a press conference.
Catapang said security forces are faced with the challenge of securing and evacuating tourists who would visit areas located along the expected path of the typhoon.
“It’s Holy Week and people are going to different places including those that will be hit by the typhoon. They might be caught in harm’s way especially the foreigners,” the military chief.
“They do not know the location of evacuation centers. These are the areas to be settled in the municipal and provincial level,” he added.
Catapang said evacuation must be conducted as early as possible, noting that the typhoon is expected to make a landfall this weekend.
"We’ll ask embassies to inform foreigners and tourists coming here that they should have a plan,” Catapang said.
Philstar
