Gen. Rodolfo Azurin. Jr., chief of the Philippine National Police (PNP), ordered all police commanders in areas that would be affected by super typhoon "Karding" to place their personnel and other equipment on standby for any disaster-related response.
Azurin said that among the equipment he ordered on standby are the watercraft of the Maritime Group and vehicles that could be used in the evacuation and other search and rescue operations.
"I already gave the instructions as soon as we were advised of the threat of this weather disturbance to prepare and for those areas that will not be affected, they too should prepare for possible deployment as part of the rescue teams,," said Azurin.
"Karding" is expected to make a landfall in Quezon and in anticipation of Karding’s strong winds, weather experts raised Signal No. 5 over Polillo Islands and the extreme northern portion of Quezon province (northern and central portions of General Nakar and northeastern portion of Infanta).
Signal No. 4 was hoisted over Calaguas Islands, southern portion of Aurora, northern portion of Quezon, southeastern portion of Nueva Ecija, eastern and central portions of Bulacan, northeastern portion of Rizal, and extreme northern portion of Laguna.
Signal No. 3 was in effect in Metro Manila, central portion of Aurora, southeastern portion of Nueva Vizcaya, the rest of Nueva Ecija, Tarlac, the rest of Bulacan, Pampanga, Zambales, Bataan, Pangasinan, the rest of Rizal, northern and central portions of Laguna, northeasternn portion of Cavite, the rest of the northern portion of Quezon, and northern portion of Camarines Norte.
Signal No. 2 was raised over the southern portion of Isabela, Quirino, the rest of Nueva Vizcaya, Benguet, La Union, the rest of Aurora, the rest of Cavite, Batangas, the rest of Laguna, central portions of Quezon, the rest of Camarines Norte, northern portion of Camarines Sur, and Catanduanes.
Areas under Signal No. 1 were the southern portion of Cagayan, the rest of Isabela, southern portion of Apayao, Kalinga, Abra, Mountain Province, Ifugao, southern portion of Ilocos Norte, Ilocos Sur, the rest of Quezon, northern portion of Occidental Mindoro, including Lubang Islands, northern portion of Oriental Mindoro, Marinduque, the rest of Camarines Sur, Albay, Sorsogon, Burias Island, and Ticao Island.
Azurin said he also advised police commanders to also prepare for road-clearing operations, especially on the roads leading to the areas that would be severely affected by the weather disturbance for easy access of government response.
"Our commanders should also regularly coordinate with the local government units for the smooth response," said Azurin.
A number of local government units have already initiated preemptive evacuation for their constituents.