More than 200,000 people crammed into Vietnam storm shelters and soldiers helped reinforce vulnerable homes as a super typhoon bore down on the country on Saturday after leaving a deadly trail of devastation in the Philippines.
Haiyan, one of the most intense typhoons on record, slammed into the Philippines on Friday with sustained winds of about 315 kilometres an hour.
It is expected to make landfall in central Vietnam early on Sunday, with millions of people thought to be in its path.
Authorities have begun mass evacuations in at least four central coastal provinces, Vietnam’s state-run VNExpress news site said, as the country was put on high alert.
“More than 200,000 people have evacuated to shelters - some shelters are overloaded,” VNExpress said.