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
‘THEY KILLED HOPE’: Four presidential candidates were killed in the 1980s and 1990s, and Miguel Uribe’s mother died during a police raid to free her from Pablo Escobar Colombian presidential candidate Miguel Uribe has died two months after being shot at a campaign rally, his family said on Monday, as the attack rekindled fears of a return to the nation’s violent past. The 39-year-old conservative senator, a grandson of former Colombian president Julio Cesar Turbay (1978-1982), was shot in the head and leg on June 7 at a rally in the capital, Bogota, by a suspected 15-year-old hitman. Despite signs of progress in the past few weeks, his doctors on Saturday announced he had a new brain hemorrhage. “To break up a family is the most horrific act of violence that
HISTORIC: After the arrest of Kim Keon-hee on financial and political funding charges, the country has for the first time a former president and former first lady behind bars South Korean prosecutors yesterday raided the headquarters of the former party of jailed former South Korean president Yoon Suk-yeol to gather evidence in an election meddling case against his wife, a day after she was arrested on corruption and other charges. Former first lady Kim Keon-hee was arrested late on Tuesday on a range of charges including stock manipulation and corruption, prosecutors said. Her arrest came hours after the Seoul Central District Court reviewed prosecutors’ request for an arrest warrant against the 52-year-old. The court granted the warrant, citing the risk of tampering with evidence, after prosecutors submitted an 848-page opinion laying out
North Korean troops have started removing propaganda loudspeakers used to blare unsettling noises along the border, South Korea’s military said on Saturday, days after Seoul’s new administration dismantled ones on its side of the frontier. The two countries had already halted propaganda broadcasts along the demilitarized zone, Seoul’s military said in June after the election of South Korean President Lee Jae-myung, who is seeking to ease tensions with Pyongyang. The South Korean Ministry of National Defense on Monday last week said it had begun removing loudspeakers from its side of the border as “a practical measure aimed at helping ease
DEADLY TASTE TEST: Erin Patterson tried to kill her estranged husband three times, police said in one of the major claims not heard during her initial trial Australia’s recently convicted mushroom murderer also tried to poison her husband with bolognese pasta and chicken korma curry, according to testimony aired yesterday after a suppression order lapsed. Home cook Erin Patterson was found guilty last month of murdering her husband’s parents and elderly aunt in 2023, lacing their beef Wellington lunch with lethal death cap mushrooms. A series of potentially damning allegations about Patterson’s behavior in the lead-up to the meal were withheld from the jury to give the mother-of-two a fair trial. Supreme Court Justice Christopher Beale yesterday rejected an application to keep these allegations secret. Patterson tried to kill her
RSS