Direct Relief  has reached out to partners located in Typhoon Bopha’s trajectory, continuing to monitor the storm as it travels across the southern Philippines.

With winds to 160 mph, equivalent to a Category 5 hurricane,  Typhoon Bopha has made landfall in the Philippine island of Mindanao, where two partner hospitals – Valencia Hospital and Mindanao Hospital – are located.

More than 41,000 people have been evacuated into nearly 1,000 government shelters in accordance with President Benigno Aquino’s call for evacuations yesterday, saying: “(Bopha’s) destructive potential is no laughing matter. It is expected to be the strongest typhoon to hit our country in 2012.”

Bopha is the sixteenth typhoon to hit the Philippines in 2012. On average, 20 typhoons hit the country each year.

After the last major typhoon to hit the Philippines,  Typhoon Ketsana in 2009, Direct Relief provided medical material aid and cash assistance to partners working in the area.