A strong typhoon roared towards the eastern Philippines on Thursday as authorities worked to evacuate tens of thousands of people while avoiding overcrowding in shelters that could risk coronavirus.

The first typhoon to hit the country this year is expected to make landfall later on Thursday, weather agency administrator Vicente Malano said.

The Philippines was bracing for the typhoon while trying to fight the COVID-19 outbreak largely by locking Filipinos in their homes and prohibiting gatherings that can set off infections. More than 11,600 cases, including 772 deaths, have been reported in the country.

Typhoon Vongfong was last spotted 230km (143 miles) off Northern Samar province with maximum sustained winds of 150kph (93mph) and gusts of up to 185kph (115mph).

Overcrowding in emergency shelters is a common scene in the archipelago, which is usually hit by about 20 typhoons and storms a year, and regularly experiences volcanic eruptions and earthquakes. Many officials face a dilemma on how to shield villagers from the double threat of the storm and the virus.

“This is very complicated,” Mayor Benjamin Ver of Jipapad, a town in the typhoon’s path, told The Associated Press by telephone.

Far-flung Jipapad is prone to landslides and flooding. The town in Eastern Samar province is surrounded by mountains and flanked by two rivers that often swell in storms.

The only evacuation centres for its 8,000 villagers are a gymnasium and the town hall where residents could be sheltered from the typhoon. Ver, who also is the town’s sole doctor, said he has secured enough face masks to protect his villagers from the virus in the town hall when the typhoon hits.

Observing social distancing “is almost impossible” if all the villagers are crammed in the town hall, but Ver said he would see what else can be done.

Jipapad and the whole of Eastern Samar, a province of half a million people, remained free of coronavirus infections unlike neighbouring regions, provincial Governor Ben Evardone said.

All emergency shelters have been turned into quarantine facilities with medical equipment in case of outbreaks but may have to be rearranged back into evacuation centres if large numbers of people need shelter, Evardone told the Associated Press.

Northern Samar provincial Governor Edwin Ongchuan said he has asked for twice the usual number of school buildings to be turned into typhoon shelters to accommodate about 80,000 residents who were being forcibly evacuated from high-risk coastal villages.

“If we used 10 school buildings before, we now need 20 to accommodate the evacuees with social distancing,” Ongchuan said.

The government weather agency warned that “along with large swells, this storm surge may cause potentially life-threatening coastal inundation” and added that sea travel would be dangerous in regions expected to be battered by Vongfong, a Vietnamese word for wasp.

Metropolitan Manila will not be hit directly by the storm but could see strong winds. Officials have been advised to remove medical quarantine tents set up outside hospitals that could be blown away, Malano from the weather agency said.

Source: Al Jazeera