MANILA, Philippines 鈥 Around 19,000 families have been evacuated as Typhoon Karding (international name: Noru) whipped parts of the country over the weekend, data from the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) showed on Monday.
DILG Secretary Benhur Abalos presented the evacuation data to Pres. Ferdinand Marcos Jr. during a National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council briefing.
Abalos鈥 presentation showed that 19,368 families or 74,542 individuals were preemptively evacuated as of 5:00 a.m. on Monday, September 26.
鈥淥verall, kung titignan po natin, napakaraming na preemptively evacuated at importante may supisyenteng pagkain, may tubig, at nakumbinsi kaagad lumipat,鈥 Abalos told Marcos.
Overall, when we look at it, many people were preemptively evacuated. The important thing is there is sufficient food, water, and they were convinced to evacuate.)
Meanwhile, Social Welfare and Development Secretary Erwin Tulfo said that food packs and other relief items have been distributed to the displaced families.
聽鈥淎s of 1 a.m. this morning, I was informed already that food packs were distributed in several evacuation centers since last night. We have prepositioned food items and non-food items,鈥 Tulfo said.
As of posting time, the government has not reported any typhoon-related fatality.
Karding is expected to exit the Philippine area of responsibility Monday night.