Just days after super typhoon Haiyan leveled huge swathes of the Philippines, a new storm threatens the devastated country as it struggles in rescue and cleanup efforts.
Tropical depression Zoraida reached the Filipino island of Mindanao on Monday and is expected to accelerate northwest. The storm is projected to make landfall in Surigao del Sur Tuesday morning, the Philippines Star reported.
The newspaper added that classes were suspended in seven areas of the island.
Four days after super typhoon Haiyan made landfall, rescue workers in the Philippines continue searching for survivors of the year's strongest storm. According to some estimates, more than 10,000 people have perished in the disaster.
"I was talking to the people of Tacloban," Senior Presidential aide Rene Alemendras told the Associated Press. "They said 'we were ready for the wind. We were not ready for the water.'"
The Associated Press notes the Philippines suffers about 20 typhoons a year.
From the AP:
Most strike the north along the main island of Luzon and the population in the central islands, where Leyte is located, is less aware of the potential for disaster. The region is also blighted by its geography. It is made up of a string of islands, and there is only so much land where people can be evacuated to, unless they can be flown or ferried to the mainland.
But while strong storms occur regularly in the island nation, an October earthquake that left more than 350,000 people homeless has created further complications for the Philippines, according to Trust.org. In addition, storms preceding Haiyan inundated Filipino lands with rainwater, further increasing the likelihood of floods and mudslides.
The International Organization for Migration speculates the Haiyan crisis could come to rival the catastrophic earthquake the struck Haiti in 2010, which killed tens of thousands and left nearly 1.5 million homeless.
