The Philippines has been hit by  powerful pacific storm, Haiyan, which is classified as a super typhoon. The typhoon brought sustained winds that were measured at more than 195 miles per hour before making landfall. The storm sustained one minute winds producing powerful puffs of 230 miles per hour.

This typhoon is the most powerful typhoon to make a landfall in 2013 and is extremely catastrophic. The South East Asian country has been affected by the super typhoon in Central Visayas, Layet, and Samar provinces. It is estimated that the potential landfall area of this typhoon will likely be along Northern Leyte by Friday.

Residents living in Bicol Region, Northern Mindanao and Northern Quezon are asked to remain vigilant as they monitor the approach of this destructive typhoon. Emergency and disaster management plans are now in place. Warnings have been issued regarding heavy damages likely to affect the communities, which includes power disruptions and serious agricultural losses, as well as infrastructural damages.

When the landfall occurs, heavy to intense rainfall will be expected and the typhoon’s diameter is expected to extend to 600km. So people are asked to postpone all travel, especially to the affected areas.

Meanwhile, Philippines’ Disaster Government website has been hacked.  According to Ibtimes, Cyber pirates infiltrated the website of Dina, a government disaster management websites and redirected visitors to an adult site. “A server where we upload was hacked,” said council executive director Eduardo del Rosario.

The website was launched to offer real-time information to Filipinos on natural disasters like floods, tsunamis, landslides, and typhoons, among others. Rosario told the Philippine Daily Inquirer that the website would “educate the general public on disaster preparedness”.

According to reports, the group responsible for the website attack is believed to be hacktivist group known as Anonymous. The hackers have already said that they have hacked several government website as a global protest against the government’s action to censor information and engage in corruption.

(image via weather.com)