Typhoon Survivors (Photo : Dondi Tawatao | Getty Images Entertainment )
In the midst of typhoon Koppu, locally known as typhoon Lando, the Philippines experienced yet another earthquake. Further reports from experts have yet to confirm the magnitude of the said earthquake.
Many netizens took to social media to express their fear over the alleged "10-second" earthquake. Accompanied with strong winds and heavy rains, Filipinos all over the world encouraged their families to stay at home and have a bag ready with canned food, clothing and first aid medicine in case of an emergency.
According to NBC, nine have already been killed from the typhoon, with five injured and more than 20,000 forced to evacuate from their homes. The publication further noted that multiple residents have been stranded in some areas in Luzon due to intense floods.
According to BBC, Koppu has been downgraded to a severe tropical storm by the Japanese Meteoroidal Agency. The Philippines' local agency, however, still characterized it as a typhoon. In spite of its weakening, heavy rains is expected to last until Wednesday.
Unlike previous tropical cyclones, whose threats come from strong winds, typhoon Koppu reportedly drew a massive amount of rain, double what London gets in a year. Apart from the severe flooding, the publication held that it was the massive landslides that Filipinos were most afraid of.
Typhoon Koppu was said to be the second strongest storm to hit the Philippines this 2015.
"We can expect that there will be needs in terms of helping people recover their livelihoods as we know that many of the farmers would have lost their crops," Oxfam Philippine country director Justin Morgan told BBC.
