More than 160,000 people fled to high ground or crowded into schools and town halls yesterday as yet another powerful typhoon battered the eastern Philippines, where rescuers are still struggling to find scores of missing from an earlier storm that killed more than 420 people.
Mudslides and flash floods have turned entire provinces facing the Pacific Ocean into a sea of chocolate-brown mud littered with bodies, uprooted trees, collapsed homes and bridges.
At least 422 people were killed and 177 were missing, officials said yesterday.
Survivors sifted through piles of mud, which in some towns was ankle deep, for clothes and belongings.
Soldiers, police and medical workers trekked with relief supplies across flood-ravaged roads and bare mountains to reach towns cut off by landslides.
In Infanta town in Quezon province, east of Manila, where 100 died, officials allowed residents to briefly leave evacuation centers to retrieve belongings from damaged homes, but warned them to return because of the typhoon.
"We are not concerned so much about saving property. We just want to save lives," said Infanta Mayor Filipina America.
Weather forecasters have warned that Typhoon Nanmadol -- expected to make landfall late yesterday -- could be especially fierce, with winds of up to 240kph.
Schools and offices were closed in Manila and in a large part of the main northern island, Luzon. The coast guard prevented ferries, small boats and fishermen from leaving ports, and the air force said the bad weather had basically grounded its rescue fleet.
In coastal Mercedes town, 230km southeast of Manila, about 2,000 people moved into a school as heavy rains and strong winds lashed the area. Similar evacuations took place throughout the region, where people took refugee in sturdy buildings.
The Office of Civil Defense reported as many as 168,000 people have been evacuated.
Rough seas and debris forced a navy gunboat to turn around after it tried to bring food and medicine to the hardest-hit town, Real, in Quezon province, where a landslide earlier this week killed at least 150, said navy spokesman Captain Geronimo Malabanan.
Later yesterday, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo distributed relief goods during a 10-minute visit to Maragundon, on the outskirts of Real.
About 400 troops set out for Real on foot with relief supplies in their backpacks and in boxes perched on their heads, inching along a route blocked by up to 20 landslides, said regional military commander Major General Pedro Cabuay.
The US government has signed defense cooperation agreements with Japan and the Philippines to boost the deterrence capabilities of countries in the first island chain, a report by the National Security Bureau (NSB) showed. The main countries on the first island chain include the two nations and Taiwan. The bureau is to present the report at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee tomorrow. The US military has deployed Typhon missile systems to Japan’s Yamaguchi Prefecture and Zambales province in the Philippines during their joint military exercises. It has also installed NMESIS anti-ship systems in Japan’s Okinawa
TRAGEDY STRIKES TAIPEI: The suspect died after falling off a building after he threw smoke grenades into Taipei Main Station and went on a killing spree in Zhongshan A 27-year-old suspect allegedly threw smoke grenades in Taipei Main Station and then proceeded to Zhongshan MRT Station in a random killing spree that resulted in the death of the suspect and two other civilians, and seven injured, including one in critical condition, as of press time last night. The suspect, identified as a man surnamed Chang Wen (張文), allegedly began the attack at Taipei Main Station, the Taipei Fire Department said, adding that it received a report at 5:24pm that smoke grenades had been thrown in the station. One man in his 50s was rushed to hospital after a cardiac arrest
‘WIN-WIN’: The Philippines, and central and eastern European countries are important potential drone cooperation partners, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung said Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) in an interview published yesterday confirmed that there are joint ventures between Taiwan and Poland in the drone industry. Lin made the remark in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper). The government-backed Taiwan Excellence Drone International Business Opportunities Alliance and the Polish Chamber of Unmanned Systems on Wednesday last week signed a memorandum of understanding in Poland to develop a “non-China” supply chain for drones and work together on key technologies. Asked if Taiwan prioritized Poland among central and eastern European countries in drone collaboration, Lin
ON ALERT: Taiwan’s partners would issue warnings if China attempted to use Interpol to target Taiwanese, and the global body has mechanisms to prevent it, an official said China has stationed two to four people specializing in Taiwan affairs at its embassies in several democratic countries to monitor and harass Taiwanese, actions that the host nations would not tolerate, National Security Bureau (NSB) Director-General Tsai Ming-yen (蔡明彥) said yesterday. Tsai made the comments at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, which asked him and Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo (顧立雄) to report on potential conflicts in the Taiwan Strait and military preparedness. Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Michelle Lin (林楚茵) expressed concern that Beijing has posted personnel from China’s Taiwan Affairs Office to its
RSS