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
INVESTIGATION: The case is the latest instance of a DPP figure being implicated in an espionage network accused of allegedly leaking information to Chinese intelligence Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) member Ho Jen-chieh (何仁傑) was detained and held incommunicado yesterday on suspicion of spying for China during his tenure as assistant to then-minister of foreign affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮). The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said Ho was implicated during its investigation into alleged spying activities by former Presidential Office consultant Wu Shang-yu (吳尚雨). Prosecutors said there is reason to believe Ho breached the National Security Act (國家安全法) by leaking classified Ministry of Foreign Affairs information to Chinese intelligence. Following interrogation, prosecutors petitioned the Taipei District Court to detain Ho, citing concerns over potential collusion or tampering of evidence. The
Seventy percent of middle and elementary schools now conduct English classes entirely in English, the Ministry of Education said, as it encourages schools nationwide to adopt this practice Minister of Education (MOE) Cheng Ying-yao (鄭英耀) is scheduled to present a report on the government’s bilingual education policy to the Legislative Yuan’s Education and Culture Committee today. The report would outline strategies aimed at expanding access to education, reducing regional disparities and improving talent cultivation. Implementation of bilingual education policies has varied across local governments, occasionally drawing public criticism. For example, some schools have required teachers of non-English subjects to pass English proficiency
NEGOTIATIONS: The US response to the countermeasures and plans Taiwan presented has been positive, including boosting procurement and investment, the president said Taiwan is included in the first group for trade negotiations with the US, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday, as he seeks to shield Taiwanese exporters from a 32 percent tariff. In Washington, US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said in an interview on Fox News on Thursday that he would speak to his Taiwanese and Israeli counterparts yesterday about tariffs after holding a long discussion with the Vietnamese earlier. US President Donald Trump on Wednesday postponed punishing levies on multiple trade partners, including Taiwan, for three months after trillions of US dollars were wiped off global markets. He has maintained a 10 percent
TRADE: The premier pledged safeguards on ‘Made in Taiwan’ labeling, anti-dumping measures and stricter export controls to strengthen its position in trade talks Products labeled “made in Taiwan” must be genuinely made in Taiwan, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said yesterday, vowing to enforce strict safeguards against “origin laundering” and initiate anti-dumping investigations to prevent China dumping its products in Taiwan. Cho made the remarks in a discussion session with representatives from industries in Kaohsiung. In response to the US government’s recent announcement of “reciprocal” tariffs on its trading partners, President William Lai (賴清德) and Cho last week began a series of consultations with industry leaders nationwide to gather feedback and address concerns. Taiwanese and US officials held a videoconference on Friday evening to discuss the
RSS