A powerful typhoon triggered landslides, destroyed houses and capsized a ferry, killing at least 19 people and leaving hundreds homeless in the Philippines, officials said yesterday as the storm blew toward Japan.
Typhoon Nida, packing winds of 150kph and gusts of 185kph, headed away from the northern Philippines after ravaging several eastern provinces.
At least eight people were killed and several others were reported missing after the wooden-hulled M/B St. Martin ferry overturned late Tuesday when its bamboo outrigger broke in choppy waters off the central Camotes islands, coast guard chief Vice Admiral Arturo Gosingan said. It was carrying 168 passengers and crew.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Nearby fishing boats rescued some passengers and coast guard divers scoured the sea for others. Authorities were trying to determine how many people were missing, Gosingan said.
"We're hoping only the eight were killed and all the others were saved," he told reporters by telephone.
Eleven others were killed elsewhere, including a man hit by lightning on central Antique island and a 65-year-old woman pinned by a fallen coconut tree. At least 10 people, mostly fishermen, were reported missing, officials said.
President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo placed eight eastern provinces under a "state of calamity," enabling local officials to draw money for relief efforts from emergency funds.
In Catanduanes Province, hundreds of houses were destroyed by landslides in three villages in mountainous Gigmoto town, leaving about 700 families homeless, the government's disaster response agency said.
Gigmoto Mayor Amando Guerrero, who was in Manila when the typhoon struck, headed home yesterday with other officials and a truckload of food and clothes. He said some of the homeless had moved to a school, a church and the town hall.
Nida, the fourth typhoon to hit the archipelago this year, also stranded more than 15,000 people after authorities halted sea travel to prevent accidents.
As the weather improved some ferries were allowed to sail, officials said.
Nearly 3,000 people were evac-uated in areas where the typhoon passed, including northern Nueva Ecija Province, where hurricane-force winds destroyed houses in at least seven villages, officials said.
About 20 storms and typhoons hit the Philippines annually.
PHISHING: The con might appear convincing, as the scam e-mails can coincide with genuine messages from Apple saying you have run out of storage For a while you have been getting messages from Apple saying “your iCloud storage is full.” They say you have exceeded your storage plan, so documents are no longer being backed up, and photos you take are not being uploaded. You have been resisting Apple’s efforts to get you to pay a minimum of ￡0.99 (US$1.33) a month for more storage, but it seems that you cannot keep putting off the inevitable: You have received an e-mail which says your iCloud account has been blocked, and your photos and videos would be deleted very soon. To keep them you need
The Israeli military has demolished entire villages as part of its invasion of south Lebanon, rigging homes with explosives and razing them to the ground in massive remote detonations. The Guardian reviewed three videos posted by the Israeli military and on social media, which showed Israel carrying out mass detonations in the villages of Taybeh, Naqoura and Deir Seryan along the Israel-Lebanon border. Lebanese media has reported more mass detonations in other border villages, but satellite imagery was not readily available to verify these claims. The demolitions came after Israeli Minister of Defense Israel Katz called for the destruction of
A US YouTuber who caused outrage for filming himself kissing a statue commemorating Korean wartime sex slaves has been sentenced to six months in prison, a court in Seoul said yesterday. Johnny Somali, 25, gained notoriety several years ago for recording himself doing a series of provocative stunts in South Korea and Japan, and streaming them on platforms such as YouTube and Twitch. South Korean authorities indicted Somali — whose real name is Ramsey Khalid Ismael — in 2024 on public order violations and obstruction of business, and banned him from leaving the country. “The court has sentenced him to six months in
The death toll from a shooting in western Afghanistan rose to 11 on Saturday, after gunmen targeted civilians at a picnic spot in Herat, the provincial authority said. Bullet marks were visible on a wall of the Sayed Mohammad Agha Shia shrine, while bloodstains marked a blanket abandoned at the scene. “Eleven people have been recorded dead and eight others wounded from Friday’s incident, with the condition of two of the wounded reported as critical,” Herat’s information office said in a statement. The update raises a toll of seven killed provided on Friday by the Afghan Ministry of Interior Affairs
RSS