Drought-stricken Palau could dry up completely this month, officials said yesterday as the Pacific island appealed for urgent aid from Taiwan and Japan, including shipments of water.
The tiny country of about 18,000 people declared a state of emergency last month, the latest Pacific island nation to do so as one of the worst ever El Nino-induced droughts in the region worsens.
“We’re still in the state of emergency, there’s a sense of urgency to address the crisis,” a government spokesman told reporters as the National Emergency Committee (NEC) met to discuss strategy.
A committee report prepared for Palauan President Tommy Remengesau offered a bleak outlook for the already parched country.
“Based on the current water level and usage rates, and assuming conditions persist unabated, a total water outage is likely to occur in the next two to three weeks,” it said.
Access to tap water is already rationed to three hours per day or less in Koror and schools are only open half days because they cannot give students enough to drink.
“The NEC has been in contact with the governments of Japan and Taiwan regarding support of materials and equipment, as well as direct shipments of water as necessary,” the committee said.
The Japanese embassy in Palau confirmed it had received a request for assistance and discussions were ongoing about what form it would take.
“The nature of what type of assistance and in what volume is expected to be finalized as soon as possible,” it said in a statement.
Palau also expects help from Taiwan. Palau is one of the 22 countries that maintains diplomatic relations with Taipei in the face of opposition from Beijing.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Eleanor Wang (王珮玲) said in Taipei yesterday that the government has provided Palau with financial assistance to purchase seawater desalination equipment and to fund other projects aimed at reducing the impact of the drought.
The NEC report added that the US military had been asked to supply portable water filtration systems to alleviate the increasingly desperate situation.
The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration last month said the El Nino weather pattern is unlikely to ease before the second half of the year.
The Marshall Islands and the Federated States of Micronesia have also declared states of emergency, while Guam and the Northern Marianas are experiencing low rainfall.
In Koror, bottled water has become scarce as people stockpile dwindling supplies.
Resident Rolynda Jonathan said she constantly worried about her two children.
“There are no words to describe the level of stress, worry and burden of hauling water from one place to another,” she told reporters.
Additional reporting by StACY HSU
Drug lord Jose Adolfo Macias Villamar, alias “Fito,” was Ecuador’s most-wanted fugitive before his arrest on Wednesday, more than a year after he escaped prison from where he commanded the country’s leading criminal gang. The former taxi driver turned crime boss became the prime target of law enforcement early last year after escaping from a prison in the southwestern port of Guayaquil. Ecuadoran President Daniel Noboa’s government released “wanted” posters with images of his face and offered US$1 million for information leading to his capture. In a country plagued by crime, members of Fito’s gang, Los Choneros, have responded with violence, using car
OVERHAUL: The move would likely mark the end to Voice of America, which was founded in 1942 to counter Nazi propaganda and operated in nearly 50 languages The parent agency of Voice of America (VOA) on Friday said it had issued termination notices to more than 639 more staff, completing an 85 percent decrease in personnel since March and effectively spelling the end of a broadcasting network founded to counter Nazi propaganda. US Agency for Global Media (USAGM) senior advisor Kari Lake said the staff reduction meant 1,400 positions had been eliminated as part of US President Donald Trump’s agenda to cut staffing at the agency to a statutory minimum. “Reduction in Force Termination Notices were sent to 639 employees at USAGM and Voice of America, part of a
Canada and the EU on Monday signed a defense and security pact as the transatlantic partners seek to better confront Russia, with worries over Washington’s reliability under US President Donald Trump. The deal was announced after a summit in Brussels between Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Antonio Costa. “While NATO remains the cornerstone of our collective defense, this partnership will allow us to strengthen our preparedness ... to invest more and to invest smarter,” Costa told a news conference. “It opens new opportunities for companies on both sides of the
The team behind the long-awaited Vera Rubin Observatory in Chile yesterday published their first images, revealing breathtaking views of star-forming regions as well as distant galaxies. More than two decades in the making, the giant US-funded telescope sits perched at the summit of Cerro Pachon in central Chile, where dark skies and dry air provide ideal conditions for observing the cosmos. One of the debut images is a composite of 678 exposures taken over just seven hours, capturing the Trifid Nebula and the Lagoon Nebula — both several thousand light-years from Earth — glowing in vivid pinks against orange-red backdrops. The new image