On Friday, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo placed the country "under the state of calamity" in preparation for Parma's landfall, according to CNN. She ordered evacuations as a precautionary measure against floods and landslides, and asked weather officials to issue an hourly update. She also urged local governments to implement forced evacuations if need be.
Government officials said the anticipated Saturday "Super Typhoon Parma," is carrying sustained winds exceeding 200kmph and threatens to be more destructive than last Sunday's Typhoon Ketsana that had caused widespread destruction.
The announcement comes almost a week after tropical storm Ketsana unleashed severe flooding in Manila and surrounding areas, leaving 246 dead, forced evacuation of 567,000, and affecting more than three million people. It also killed 99 in Vietnam, 14 in Cambodia and 16 in Laos.
World Vision, a Christian aid agency that is coordinating with government officials to evacuate people Friday said, ironically, sunny weather and slight winds on Friday early evening were giving local residents no indication of the potentially deadly approaching storm, said Ms Fe Olonan, the organisation's programme manager for the region.
Parma currently is classified as a Category 5 typhoon, the highest and most destructive rating and on par with Hurricane Katrina that struck New Orleans, United States in 2005 to such deadly effect. The region is home to mixed housing, including very vulnerable barrio dwellings made of wood.
Olonan said people had been chopping down trees that could blow over and strengthening their homes in readiness for the storm. "We have alerted our programme staff, and they are now closely coordinating with local councils for a synchronized response" she said. They aimed to get people into safe evacuation centres hours before the storm. World Vision sait its staff were ready to assist with food distributions and the setting up of Child Friendly Spaces should they be needed after the storm had passed.
Catholic aid agency, Caritas Internationalis, Churches and Geneva-based Action by Churches Together (ACT), ChristianAid and other aid agencies are already working in the country and are standby to help in any event.
The typhoon comes as the Asia region struggles to recover from two major earthquakes, one in the South Pacific that caused a deadly tsunami, and another in Indonesia.