Philippine President Gloria Arroyo placed her nation under a “state of calamity” yesterday and terrified people fled their homes as a powerful typhoon threatened to unleash more carnage following deadly floods.
After being accused of not preparing her country adequately for last Saturday’s storm that killed 293 people in and around Manila, Arroyo also ordered forced evacuations of towns in the direct path of Typhoon Parma.
“Our prayers are that no lives will be lost,” said Bella Angara, the governor of the northern province of Aurora, which is one of the areas predicted to feel Parma’s full force this afternoon.
The government warned Parma would tear down houses in and around Aurora, while likely bringing more heavy rain to Manila and nearby areas that were still recovering from Saturday’s record floods.
“We’re praying very hard that the super typhoon will spare us,” said housewife Nita Solita, 42, who was living in a makeshift evacuation center in Manila after losing her home. “I don’t know what’s happening to our country.”
Nearly 400,000 people remained in under-prepared schools, gymnasiums and other makeshift government shelters after Typhoon Ketsana unleashed the heaviest rains in more than four decades on Manila.
The rains from Parma threatened to worsen already squalid conditions and further hamper relief supplies for the survivors in those shelters.
Many parts of Manila and neighboring regions also remain under water — with mud, debris and trash still blocking drains — so any more rain could lead to another surge in flood waters.
In one town that remained in chest-deep water on the outskirts of Manila, people were fleeing their homes in preparation for another surge in the floods.
“I ordered this morning the evacuation of people in flood-stricken areas ... thousands have already transferred to public schools and my own rice milling compound,” San Pedro Mayor Calixto Cataquiz said.
Arroyo also ordered the evacuation of those living in coastal and low-lying regions further north on Luzon, such as Aurora Province.
“We need that preventative evacuation,” Arroyo said in a nationally televised conference with government officials that was held to discuss preparations for Parma.
Her spokesman, Cerge Remonde, told reporters later that Arroyo had declared a state of calamity for the whole country, which allows local authorities to tap emergency funds and the national government to impose price controls.
About 1.8 million people could be exposed to Parma’s worst winds, the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said.
The government weather station said that Parma, which was originally forecast to hit Aurora this morning, was now predicted to make landfall this afternoon after its pace slowed.
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