UPDATE 1-Pandemic hampers Philippines mass evacuation as typhoon hits

(Adds comments from provincial officials)
By Karen Lema
MANILA, May 14 (Reuters) - The coronavirus pandemic is
complicating Philippine efforts to move hundreds of thousands of
people into evacuation centres where social distancing is hard
to enforce as a strong typhoon pummeled through its eastern
provinces.
Typhoon Vongfong, the first to hit the country this year,
intensified after slamming into the eastern Philippines on
Thursday afternoon, packing winds of 155 kilometres per hour
(kph) and gusts of up to 255 kph (158 miles per hour), the state
weather bureau said in a bulletin.
Provincial and city governments, many of which are already
strapped for resources due to the outbreak, are grappling with
logistical and space issues, with an estimated 200,000 people
needed to be moved from their homes in coastal and mountainous
areas because of fears of flooding and landslides.
"This is really a nightmare for us here," Ben Evardone,
governor of the Eastern Samar province, told CNN Philippines.
"Our problem right now is where to squeeze our people, while
making sure they practice social distancing".
With an average of 20 typhoons every year hitting the
Philippines, an archipelago of more than 7,000 islands, the
challenges faced by stretched-thin local governments offer a
grim preview of disaster response in the time of COVID-19.
The typhoon was forecast to move northwestward and hit
Luzon, the country's largest island that includes the capital
Manila, which remains on lockdown.
Images shared on social media showed the powerful typhoon
bringing intense rain and violent winds in areas along its path,
toppling trees, knocking out power and destroying homes.
In the town of Buhi in the province of Camarines Sur,
hundreds of evacuees were given face masks before they were
allowed in the evacuation centres.
Mark Anthony Nazarrea, a public information officer at Buhi,
said the local government turned two more schools into temporary
shelters to enable better social distancing.
There were no reported cases of the new coronavirus in Buhi,
Nazarrea said, but "we want to minimise the risk".
Classrooms that used to accommodate eight families during
disasters are now housing only one to two families, he said.
The novel coronavirus has killed 790 people in the
Philippines since the first local transmission was recorded in
March, and infected close to 12,000.