Preparing for Hagupit | A Globe Telecom Public Advisory.

Typhoon Hagupit (local name 'Ruby') entered the Philippine Area of Responsibility today and has rapidly intensified into a super typhoon, with maximum sustained winds at 205 kilometers per hour (kph) near the center. Typhoon Hagupit is expected to make landfall in Eastern Samar by Saturday afternoon, and as of this writing, 18 areas have been placed under storm signals,

In this regard, Globe Telecom advises its customers in Eastern Visayas to take necessary measures in preparation for the super typhoon. The telecommunications provider urges its customers to charge their cellphones and other mobile devices, in case the weather anomaly causes extended commercial power failure. The company suggests customers may also opt to buy alternative source of energy such as power banks and rechargeable lamps with USBs.

Make your smartphone's battery last longer.

Here are some tips to conserve battery life of smartphones:
1. Log off or turn off unnecessary mobile apps or at least disable push notifications for nonessential apps.
2. Turn off unnecessary radios such as GPS, bluetooth and wifi.
3. Switch off vibrate function and utilize ring tone instead.
4. Turn off sync function.
5. Dim LCD screens and shorten screen timeout.
6. Minimize notifications and use phone only when necessary.

Customers in areas identified in the path of Typhoon Hagupit should also make sure their respective lists of contacts are in order. Contact lists should include emergency numbers such as the nearest hospital, police stations and barangay or community leaders.

Globe Senior Vice-President for Corporate Communications Yoly Crisanto said, “We are now strengthening our disaster-preparedness program in terms of added facilities, supplies, infrastructure, and manpower support so we can immediately attend to network and service concerns that may arise due to the typhoon,” she said.

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Photo credit: Weather.com.ph

Globe regional teams are being mobilized to ensure they are well equipped to address network issues that could arise from the typhoon. Preparations include deployment of back-up supplies, power tools and infra materials, spares and back-up fuel. Crisanto added that the company's disaster-preparedness program also include employee-safety measures to be implemented in areas that will likely be affected.

Crisanto said the company is coordinating closely with government authorities, specifically the National Disaster Risk Reduction & Management Council or NDRRMC to ensure its disaster-preparedness program is aligned with both the national and local government efforts.