Tens of thousands of people fled the coastal villages in the central Philippines on Friday as typhoon Hagupit came down on the eastern coasts of the island nation. Hagupit, known locally as Ruby, is due to fully land Saturday evening with gusts of up to 143 mph.

According to the Times of India, following the coast guard's suspension of sea travel in preparation for the coming typhoon, over 2,000 travelers were stranded in the capital of Manila as ports were shut across the archipelago and the central Bicol region.

Philippine Airlines and Cebu Pacific have canceled some of their flights to central and southern Philippines.

President Benigno Aquino met with disaster agency chiefs on Friday afternoon and has subsequently ordered food supplies to be sent to the affected areas. He also arranged for military troops and police officers to be deployed in order to prevent looting in the aftermath of the storm.

"The storm is so big, covering such a wide area, and is causing us a lot of concern," said Richard Gordon, chairman of the Philippine Red Cross, according to NBC News. "We are hoping for the best but preparing for the worst. We have moved 20,000 families so far, which is more than 100,000 people and a lot more are to come."

The U.N. Global Disaster Alert System claims that almost 32 million people, a full third of the island’s population, are likely to be affected by the storm's winds.

There is an extreme nervousness and anticipation surrounding the storm.

"The memory of what happened during Haiyan has also increased people's awareness and preparedness," Renee Lambert, who heads the Catholic Relief Service office in Tacloban, the provincial capital of Eastern Visayas, said according to Time.

The Philippines is still recovering from last year’s typhoon Haiyan, which left more than 7,000 dead or missing and more than 4 million homeless or with ruined homes.

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