Empire States Blog

TYPHOON NOCK-TEN STRIKES PHILIPPINE CAPITAL MANILA

The charity Save the Children told the BBC that up to one million people would need emergency shelter over the next 24 hours.

   

"The danger is really for those people who don't make it to the evacuation centres since a large percentage of the population still lives in very light construction wood shacks," said the charity's Philippines director Ned Olney, who is in Manila.

Nock-Ten (known as Nina in the Philippines) hit the coast near Catanduanes island late on Sunday, knocking out power.

Hours later, local media reported that in Albay province a couple were swept away in a flash flood and an elderly person was killed by a collapsing wall.

Erna Angela Pintor, 20, said the roof of her house in the eastern town of Ligao was ripped off and floods had forced others to flee their homes.

"This was supposed to be a celebration but we cannot celebrate," she told AFP news agency.

"This is a sad Christmas for us. No-one (in the family) died but a lot of our neighbours' homes were washed away."

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