At least three people died and six were missing after a major storm caused widespread flooding in and around the Philippine capital yesterday, forcing schools, government offices and businesses to shut down.
The tropical depression, which left some people wading through chest-deep waters outside Manila, was the latest to hit the Southeast Asian archipelago, which endures about 20 such storms each year.
Most of the dead and missing were poor people forced to live in identified “danger zones” despite government warnings of the risks they face during storms.
Photo:Reuters
“Our local authorities had continuously warned them that their place was really prone to landslides, but they insisted on staying,” civil defense officer Ronnie Mateo said after the rain caused a landslide that fatally buried two teenage brothers just east of Manila.
A 12-year-old girl drowned in a rain-swollen river in a Manila suburb, city officials said.
Tropical Storm Doksuri hit the eastern town of Mauban before moving northwest across the main island of Luzon and passing just beside Manila, the Philippine weather bureau said.
In Calamba City south of Manila a flash flood washed away a riverside shanty, leaving six inhabitants, including a two-year-old missing.
“They were informal settlers, living beside a river. There was a flash flood and it washed out their two-story house,” Calamba City disaster management office head Noriel Habana said. “In previous floods, we had pre-emptive evacuation. It just so happened it was a flash flood and they had no time to react.”
Twenty-two passengers of a bus stranded in floodwaters were rescued in Quezon province, officials said.
Typhoon Talim was yesterday 865km east of the Philippines’ northern tip and moving toward Taiwan.
Talim is due to make landfall on Taiwan late today and officials there were especially concerned about the risk of mudslides in mountainous parts of the nation.
The central government is contacting mountain village wardens, arranging free evacuations to shelters, monitoring rivers and mudslide-prone areas.
TAIWAN PROTECTION MEASURE: US Army General Charles Flynn would not say where in the Asia-Pacific the missiles would be sent, but only that they would arrive in 2024 The US is to send medium-range missiles including the Standard Missile 6 (SM-6) and Tomahawk to the Asia-Pacific next year to deter a Chinese attack on Taiwan, US military news Web site Defense One reported. The report cited comments US Army General Charles Flynn made during the annual Halifax International Security Forum on Nov. 19. “We have tested them and we have a battery or two of them today,” Flynn was quoted as saying. “In [20]24. We intend to deploy that system in your region. I’m not going to say where and when. But I will just say that we will
UNUSUAL UPTICK: There are more flu-like illnesses in northern China than in the past 3 years, but data from Beijing showed that known pathogens are responsible Responding to an uptick in respiratory illnesses in China, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday said it has instructed international airport and port quarantine centers to raise their alert levels, and plans to issue an alert to healthcare practitioners. The number of flu-like illnesses reported in northern China has been increasing for five consecutive weeks, and is higher than the same period in the past three years, CDC Deputy Director-General Philip Lo (羅一鈞) said. “According to the WHO’s latest statement, issued yesterday, information provided by Chinese government showed that the illnesses were mainly reported among children, and the illnesses were attributed
LOYALTY: The 10 active and retired soldiers betrayed the nation and its people by leaking and passing on military secrets to China, the High Prosecutors’ Office said Ten former and current military officers were yesterday indicted on charges of spying for China, including two who allegedly filmed themselves pledging loyalty to Beijing. The High Prosecutors’ Office requested life imprisonment for the suspects in light of the severity of the crime. The 10 active-duty and retired officers included members of the 601st Brigade of the Aviation Special Forces comprising attack helicopter squadrons and elite combat units in charge of defending northern Taiwan, including Taipei. The other suspects came from Huadong Defense Command, in charge of defending the eastern coast; Kinmen Defense Command, in charge of defending Kinmen and Matsu; and one
LOCAL INDUSTRY SAFE: Despite global expansion plans, 90% of Taiwanese IC suppliers’ production would stay in Taiwan, the National Development Council minister said Taiwan’s semiconductor firms are expected to invest US$210 billion over the next five years to cement the country’s lead over its peers in the global IC market, National Development Council Minister Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫) said on Friday. Digital transformation in the high-tech sector had become an irreversible international trend, Kung told an investment forum on business start-ups. The government would continue to encourage the local semiconductor industry to invest by providing incentives under the Statute for Industrial Innovation (產業創新條例), Kung said. Taiwanese semiconductor firms are expected to move their investments out of the China due to a restructuring of global supply chains amid
RSS