Typhoon Ketsana slammed into Vietnam yesterday, killing at least 22 people during floods and landslides that forced almost 170,000 people to flee their homes, officials said.
The death toll in Vietnam added to at least 246 who died in the Philippines when Ketsana, then a weaker tropical storm, devastated Manila at the weekend.
“According to our official count as of Tuesday afternoon from the local authorities, the typhoon killed 22 people,” said an official with Vietnam’s national flood and storm control committee. He declined to be named.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Nine of the dead perished in Kon Tum, a mountainous inland province, because of landslides and the collapse of their houses during the vicious winds and heavy rains, said Le Trong Chien, a local official in charge of storm relief.
The typhoon made landfall around 0700 GMT about 80km south of Vietnam’s fourth-largest city, Danang, the national flood and storm committee said.
“What worries us is that the flooding could worsen because of heavy rain raising water levels in the rivers, in particular, rising sea water, which threatens coastal residents,” said Duong Van Ngoc, vice president of Phu Vang District in Thua Thien-Hue Province.
Flooding hit parts of Danang as well as Hue, the former capital and a UNESCO World Heritage site. Fallen trees littered the streets and the Perfume River, which winds through the ancient city, had risen considerably.
Ketsana hit the coast between the two fishing provinces of Quang Nam and Quang Ngai, an official from the flood and storm committee said. Hoi An town, another World Heritage site, is located in Quang Nam.
Authorities had lost contact with Ly Son, an island in the South China Sea, state television reported.
Authorities mobilized several thousand police and military personnel with armored cars to help residents escape the typhoon’s path, said Nguyen The Hung of the flood and storm control committee.
The agency said 168,585 people in six coastal provinces had been evacuated.
They were moved to schools, military camps and newly built high-rise apartments, Voice of Vietnam radio reported.
Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of exhausted Philippine flood survivors crammed into schools, gymnasiums, churches and other makeshift shelters yesterday.
Three days after Ketsana pounded Manila and surrounding regions, officials said they were unable to cope with the enormous number of victims pouring into evacuation centers.
The government said 320,000 survivors of the devastating rains on Saturday were sheltering in hundreds of centers, while nearly 250,000 others were receiving some form of aid elsewhere.
Philippine President Gloria Arroyo described the floods as a “once-in-a-lifetime” event, and in an extraordinary move opened the Malacanang presidential palace to flood survivors.
After word of the offer spread, hundreds of people converged on the palace and received plastic bags filled with noodles and canned sardines.
“We just heard it in the news that they are giving relief goods at the palace so we walked for one hour,” said street sweeper Rosette Serrano, 31, who lost everything except her clothes when her house was submerged on Saturday.
Also See: Clouds and rain might mar Moon Festival on Saturday
NO HUMAN ERROR: After the incident, the Coast Guard Administration said it would obtain uncrewed aerial vehicles and vessels to boost its detection capacity Authorities would improve border control to prevent unlawful entry into Taiwan’s waters and safeguard national security, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday after a Chinese man reached the nation’s coast on an inflatable boat, saying he “defected to freedom.” The man was found on a rubber boat when he was about to set foot on Taiwan at the estuary of Houkeng River (後坑溪) near Taiping Borough (太平) in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口), authorities said. The Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) northern branch said it received a report at 6:30am yesterday morning from the New Taipei City Fire Department about a
IN BEIJING’S FAVOR: A China Coast Guard spokesperson said that the Chinese maritime police would continue to carry out law enforcement activities in waters it claims The Philippines withdrew its coast guard vessel from a South China Sea shoal that has recently been at the center of tensions with Beijing. BRP Teresa Magbanua “was compelled to return to port” from Sabina Shoal (Xianbin Shoal, 仙濱暗沙) due to bad weather, depleted supplies and the need to evacuate personnel requiring medical care, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) spokesman Jay Tarriela said yesterday in a post on X. The Philippine vessel “will be in tiptop shape to resume her mission” after it has been resupplied and repaired, Philippine Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, who heads the nation’s maritime council, said
REGIONAL STABILITY: Taipei thanked the Biden administration for authorizing its 16th sale of military goods and services to uphold Taiwan’s defense and safety The US Department of State has approved the sale of US$228 million of military goods and services to Taiwan, the US Department of Defense said on Monday. The state department “made a determination approving a possible Foreign Military Sale” to the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the US for “return, repair and reshipment of spare parts and related equipment,” the defense department’s Defense Security Cooperation Agency said in a news release. Taiwan had requested the purchase of items and services which include the “return, repair and reshipment of classified and unclassified spare parts for aircraft and related equipment; US Government
More than 500 people on Saturday marched in New York in support of Taiwan’s entry to the UN, significantly more people than previous years. The march, coinciding with the ongoing 79th session of the UN General Assembly, comes close on the heels of growing international discourse regarding the meaning of UN Resolution 2758. Resolution 2758, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1971, recognizes the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the “only lawful representative of China.” It resulted in the Republic of China (ROC) losing its seat at the UN to the PRC. Taiwan has since been excluded from