Another Typhoon Called Pepeng strucks Luzon again!!

Just recently the super typhoon Ondoy left a massive destruction on Philippine territory, many people suffered from hunger and lost of home. After a few day that Ondoy left the Philippine territory another typhoon came again, the typhoon was Pepeng, people in Luzon has not yet recovered from Ondoys destruction and now Pepeng came! Trully and indeed, natures payback is a doubled than what we are doing on mother earth. So people out there, pls help the people in Luzon that suffers from hunger and no home to shelter with.

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MANILA, OCTOBER 5, 2009 (MALAYA) BY REGINA BENGCO (Now comes ‘Melor’ in wake of ‘Pepeng’ Pre-emptive actions reduce casualties)

MALACAÑANG yesterday ordered local government units to prepare for the entry of typhoon "Melor" and the return of "Pepeng."

Melor is expected to enter this afternoon or early evening, according to the weather bureau.

Pepeng, which hit the North over the weekend, is being prevented by a high-pressure area from moving toward the South China Sea and leaving the country, said the weather bureau.

Weather forecasters said Melor, which would be given the local name "Quedan" when it enters Philippine territory, may cause exiting Pepeng to do a loop and go back to the Ilocos region, particularly Batanes.

Melor has wreaked havoc in the Northern Marianas and Saipan.

Forecasters said Pepeng and Melor are interacting with each other due to their close proximity, a phenomenon known as Fujiwhara effect or Fujiwhara interaction, which was named after Japanese meteorologist Sakuhei Fujiwhara.

When two cyclones approach each other, their centers orbit and spiral. The larger one will tend to dominate the smaller, although there are times when they merge.

As of 4 p.m. yesterday, Pepeng was 150 km north northwest of Laoag City with maximum sustained winds of 120 kph and gustiness of up to 150 kph. It is forecast to remain almost stationary because it was already interacting with Melor. It weakened from 175 kph to 120 kph Sunday morning.

Pepeng, which was earlier feared to become a super typhoon, claimed at least 14 lives as it hit the North, particularly the Cagayan Valley Region, Saturday.

The fatality toll is way below that of storm "Ondoy" which left 288 people dead as it lashed Metro Manila and nearby regions two Saturdays ago.

Authorities attributed the low casualty figure to pre-emptive actions implemented by the government before Pepeng entered the country over the weekend.

The Office of Civil Defense said there was no casualty in the worst-hit Cagayan Valley region where some 7,000 residents were evacuated before Pepeng made landfall Saturday afternoon.

"We are zero casualty this time," said OCD regional director Chito Castro.

He said strong winds downed a number of electric posts and uprooted trees.

Heavy downpour resulted in the swelling of the Cagayan river, affecting heavily those in the extreme north areas.

He said power outages were reported in many parts of the region. He said landlines were down and that cellular phone coverage were erratic.

All in all, Castro said, about 10,000 families were affected by the calamity throughout the region.

In the Bicol region, some 28,100 families or 132,649 were preemptively evacuated before Pepeng’s landfall.

Heavy downpour caused flooding in some areas, but this subsided later on Saturday, prompting the evacuees to start returning to their houses.

Raffy Alejandro, OCD director in Bicol, said two were reported dead in the region – two-year-old Edwin Domagsang who drowned in Baao town, Camarines Sur, and Roger Moreno who fell while fixing the roof of his house in Naga City.

In the Cordillera Administrative Region, the regional OCD reported 12 deaths in two landslide incidents in Benguet. Two others were injured and one was reported missing in the region, said regional director Olive Luces.

Five of the 12 fatalities perished in a landslide in Beckel village in La Trinidad town. They were Catalina Tabora, Laruan Tobora, Zenia Galbey, Rustom Galbey, and Dapney Gabley.

The seven others died in another landslide in Sitio Manganese, Ampucao village in Itogon town, also in Benguet. Five of them were eight-year-old Junie Cadasa Jr; Jeric Cadasa, 10; Alex Rufino, 21; Ernesto Gabayne, and Lanoy Cadasa while the two others are still unidentified.

Luces said hundreds of families were evacuated due to flooding and landslides.

She said power interruptions were reported in the entire provinces of Kalinga, Abra and Ifugao while part of Mt. Province also had no electricity.

As of 2 p.m. NDCC spokesman Lt. Col. Ernesto Torres said the NDCC head office in Camp Aguinaldo had two confirmed deaths, those from the Bicol region.

Told that the OCD-CAR has confirmed 12 deaths in the region, Torres said: "We have no official report regarding that. The reports that we release to you are the official reports that reach the NDCC but we are monitoring other reports coming from the RDCCs (regional disaster coordinating councils)

The OCD is the operating arm of the NDCC."