Pagasa recommends dropping ‘Pablo’ as name for future storms

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MANILA, Philippines — Typhoon “Pablo” (international name Bopha), which battered Visayas and Mindanao and left hundreds dead and nearly 900 missing will likely be deleted from the state weather bureau’s list of names for tropical cyclones due to the damages it caused.

Raymond Ordinario of the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration said Tuesday that the details of the report were being finalized to make an official request for the “decommissioning” of typhoon Pablo.

“Pag gagamitin ulit, it connotes bad records. Baka mag-flashback sa mga tao yung damages niya,” he told INQUIRER.net.

A cyclone must have either destroyed at least P1B worth of agriculture and infrastructure, or killed at least 300 to be removed from the list of names of future typhoons.

There are 714 dead and 890 missing as of Tuesday morning, the National Disaster Risk and Management Council said.

It has also left P7.1 billion worth of damages to infrastructure, agriculture and properties.

Pablo is the only typhoon this year that is a candidate for decommissioning.

Other cyclone names in 2011 that were deleted were Sendong, Pedring,  Mina, Juaning and Bebeng.

As of June, there are 144 cyclone names registered by Pagasa, including auxiliary names, to be used until the year 2024.