Manila evacuates thousands as #RubyPH nears

MANILA, Philippines – How does Manila prepare for typhoon Ruby, international name Hagupit?
Hours before Ruby is expected to hit the Philippine capital, the local government evacuates residents.
Bea Cupin files this video blog.

It’s only drizzling here at the Manila Baywalk along Roxas Boulevard in the city of Manila but metro Manila cities are not leaving anything to chance. Hours and even days before typhoon Ruby is expected to inch closer to the national capital region, cities start preemptively evacuating coastal communities, or those along waterways

Now in the city of Manila alone some 2500 families are already in 8 evacuation centers around the city. The city disaster chief says it’s the largest scale evacuation the current administration has had to implement and that is because they’re preparing for the worst

MARILYN VICENTE, EVACUEE: Ngayon lang talaga ako na evacuate dito. Bakit dati ayaw niyo po? Kasi sabi nila super typhoon daw. (This is my first time to follow preemptive evacuations. Why didn’t you want to leave before? This time, they said it would be a super typhoon.)

State weather bureau Pagasa says, Ruby will inch closest to Manila between 9-10pm tonight around the same time the high tide comes in – that puts coastal communities in even greater danger.

In Manila, 70 to 80% of the communities in hazard prone areas have already been evacuated but some residents have refused to leave which is why the city may implement a force evacuation should the weather become worse.

Now where I’m standing now the Manila Baywalk should be a no man’s land in a few hours time so we can expect the local authorities to ask city hawkers or even members of the media to leave. After all the cities in Metro Manila have the same goal in mind: zero casualties.

For the latest on Typhoon Ruby visit Rappler and Rappler’s Project Agos.
Bea Cupin, Rappler, Manila. – Rappler.com