Thousands evacuated their homes Saturday afternoon as Typhoon Parma hit the already damaged shores of the Philippine islands.

The storm made landfall on the rural island of Luzon at 5 p.m. local time, killing at least 4 people and destroying property at wind speeds of 92 mph. The strongest typhoon to hit the Philippines in three years, Parma is expected to drop 8 to 20 inches of rainfall on the already flooded country, submerged by last week's downpour from Typhoon Ketsana.

Relief groups including World Vision and Catholic Relief Services (CRS) have pledged their support for regions affected by Parma, even while continuing to address the "astronomical damage" left by Ketsana, which killed 246 people on the Philippine islands and 122 in Vietnam.

"We have mobilized, and with our Caritas Catholic church partners, we are providing emergency assistance to the families affected by these disasters," said CRS President Ken Hackett. "These are our brothers and sisters who are in dire need. Our prayers are with them, and we will do all we can to help."

The Philippine government has also deployed 10,000 troops to help with relief and evacuation efforts.

Parma is the latest in a flurry of catastrophes to hit the Asia-Pacific region, which has seen over 800 disaster-related deaths over the past week. Nearly 540 were killed in Indonesia when a 7.6-magnitude earthquake hit the island on Wednesday, followed by a 6.6-magnitude one on Thursday.