Right: Hundreds of residents take shelter inside the provincial capitol of Surigao city close to central Philippines on Dec. 5 in anticipation of typhoon Hagupit. (AP Photo/Erwin Mascarinas)

The Philippines, battered by cyclones that form over the Pacific Ocean, is the second most-at-risk nation globally from tropical storms after Japan, according to Maplecroft, a research company based in Bath in the U.K. Super Typhoon Haiyan, the strongest storm in the world to hit land, killed more than 6,200 people in November of last year and left more than a thousand missing.

The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange Index fell 1.3% at the noon break in Manila, poised for the biggest drop since Oct. 13.

“It's now more certain that the we are on the typhoon's path,” said Allan Yu, who helps manage $7.3 billion as first vice president at Metropolitan Bank & Trust Co. “Many investors are taking profit, worried by the damage this will cause on infrastructure and the impact it will have on growth.”

Super Typhoon

Hagupit is tracking a path similar to Haiyan, which devastated the central Philippines, the weather bureau said. People in the capital must also prepare for the storm, Interior Secretary Mar Roxas said at a briefing today. Hagupit, which according to the Joint Typhoon Warning Center is a super typhoon, will probably affect about two thirds of the nation's provinces, he said yesterday.

As many as 12.9 million people may be affected, the United Nations' Global Disaster Alert and Coordination System said on its website. Hagupit “can have a high humanitarian impact.”

President Benigno Aquino, during a televised meeting at the disaster-risk agency in Manila yesterday, ordered government agencies to secure rice warehouses, power and telecommunications resources for critical operations. Nineteen provinces within the first 100-kilometer radius of the storm's central track are considered highly critical areas, where damage to agriculture is expected to be heavy, travel dangerous and moderate to heavy disruption of electricity likely, state meteorologists said.

At least 8,000 people are staying at 21 evacuation centers in Dinagat, provincial public information officer Jane Mayola said. About 1,500 people have left their homes near the shore in Tacloban City in Leyte province, where thousands were killed when Haiyan triggered storm surges, Superintendent Carlos Centinaje, police community relations officer in Eastern Visayas, said by phone.

The government is studying declaring a state of national emergency before the typhoon hits so prices of basic commodities can be frozen amid reports of hoarding in some areas, Aquino said yesterday. “We want to bring in more supplies to stop panic buying,” he said.

–With assistance from Ian Sayson in Manila.

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