A storm moving toward the northeast of the Philippines weakened yesterday, but hundreds of people fled coastal areas, fearing for their lives after powerful typhoons in recent weeks killed hundreds.
The UN said it would raise additional international aid to feed and shelter tens of thousands of people displaced by the two typhoons that also destroyed about 30 billion pesos (US$643 million) worth of crops and infrastructure.
The army, police and coast guard were using several means, including trucks, boats and helicopters, to move people out of danger zones in the northeast, said Lieutenant-Colonel Ernesto Torres of the national disaster agency.
PHOTO: EPA
“We continue to move people in coastal villages to much safer areas in the north because of this stormy weather,” Torres told reporters, adding that Typhoon Lupit had started to dump rain although it had weakened.
Prisco Nilo, head of the Philippine weather bureau, said Lupit had shifted its track northward toward Taiwan.
“The expected landfall in Cagayan province would no longer happen unless there is another change in its track,” he said.
“We cannot say that the northern Philippines has been spared because things can still change,” he said. “Lupit could still trigger landslides as lands are still saturated from the previous storms.”
Lupit, which means “fierce” in Filipino and packing center winds of 105kph and gusts of up to 135kph, was almost stationary 110km northeast of extreme northern Luzon. It is expected to make landfall by tomorrow.
Television images showed people tying boats to trees and strengthening their homes against strong winds. Other residents were sandbagging their homes, hoping to protect them against storm-generated waves that could rise to 3m.
The UN World Food Programme (WFP) said relief work in the areas ravaged by the typhoons since Sept. 26 would continue up to six months because farmlands were still heavily flooded, which could delay the planting season.
“We need the help now,” WFP executive director, Josette Sheeran, told reporters after touring flooded areas near Manila.
“Currently, we are making an assessment to determine what help is still needed,” she said.
The WFP has been distributing 5,000 tonnes of rice and 17 million packs of biscuits to about 1 million people in communities without power and safe drinking water.
Also See: Lupit floods Yilan schools, roads
US PUBLICATION: The results indicated a change in attitude after a 2023 survey showed 55 percent supported full-scale war to achieve unification, the report said More than half of Chinese were against the use of force to unify with Taiwan under any circumstances, a survey conducted by the Atlanta, Georgia-based Carter Center and Emory University found. The survey results, which were released on Wednesday in a report titled “Sovereignty, Security, & US-China Relations: Chinese Public Opinion,” showed that 55.1 percent of respondents agreed or somewhat agreed that “the Taiwan problem should not be resolved using force under any circumstances,” while 24.5 percent “strongly” or “somewhat” disagreed with the statement. The results indicated a change in attitude after a survey published in “Assessing Public Support for (Non)Peaceful Unification
The CIA has a message for Chinese government officials worried about their place in Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) government: Come work with us. The agency released two Mandarin-language videos on social media on Thursday inviting disgruntled officials to contact the CIA. The recruitment videos posted on YouTube and X racked up more than 5 million views combined in their first day. The outreach comes as CIA Director John Ratcliffe has vowed to boost the agency’s use of intelligence from human sources and its focus on China, which has recently targeted US officials with its own espionage operations. The videos are “aimed at
‘MISGUIDED EDICT’: Two US representatives warned that Somalia’s passport move could result in severe retaliatory consequences and urged it to reverse its decision Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) has ordered that a special project be launched to counter China’s “legal warfare” distorting UN Resolution 2758, a foreign affairs official said yesterday. Somalia’s Civil Aviation Authority on Wednesday cited UN Resolution 2758 and Mogadishu’s compliance with the “one China” principle as it banned people from entering or transiting in the African nation using Taiwanese passports or other Taiwanese travel documents. The International Air Transport Association’s system shows that Taiwanese passport holders cannot enter Somalia or transit there. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) protested the move and warned Taiwanese against traveling to Somalia or Somaliland
SECURITY: Grassroots civil servants would only need to disclose their travel, while those who have access to classified information would be subject to stricter regulations The government is considering requiring legislators and elected officials to obtain prior approval before traveling to China to prevent Chinese infiltration, an official familiar with national security said yesterday. President William Lai (賴清德) in March announced 17 measures to counter China’s growing infiltration efforts, including requiring all civil servants to make trips to China more transparent so they can be held publicly accountable. The official said that the government is considering amending the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例) to require all civil servants to follow strict regulations before traveling to China.
RSS