Typhoon Utor tore across the central Philippines yesterday, leaving four dead or missing and forcing nearly 67,000 to evacuate as officials battled to avoid a second disaster within 10 days.
The mass evacuation was intended to avert any repeat of the devastation of Super Typhoon Durian just over a week ago which unleashed massive mudslides in the eastern Bicol region that left more than 1,000 people dead or missing.
Utor has already forced the government to postpone two key regional summits this week in the central island of Cebu, which is in the path of the storm -- although sources say the real reason may be a terror threat.
In all, 66,700 people were evacuated nationwide ahead of Utor's onslaught, more than 59,000 of them in Bicol alone even though the storm was not expected to hit the region directly.
The storm hit Samar and Masbate islands overnight, forcing residents of coastal and low-lying areas to seek higher ground.
As of 10:45am yesterday Utor was over the southern tip of Mindoro island, packing maximum winds of 120km near the center and moving northwest at 17km per hour, the government weather station said.
Residents on the western island, 120km south of the capital, Manila, were yesterday advised to seek higher ground due to possible flash floods and big waves.
The typhoon passed just north of Borakay, a popular tourist destination known for its white sand beaches.
By tomorrow, it was expected to be northwest of Coron town in the western island of Palawan.
Parts of the central island of Cebu lost power due to the storm and a power barge -- a floating generator supplying electricity to the central island of Romblon -- spilled some of its fuel, causing an oil spill, the civil defense office said.
As heavy rains lashed the Bicol region, families huddled in schools and churches serving as evacuation centers, sleeping on mats and cardboard sheets laid upon concrete floors.
Some of those evacuated were allowed to return home after sunrise but others were told to stay in the evacuation centers due to fears the continuing rains would result in new mudslides.
Utor is expected to head out to the South China Sea during the next 48 hours on a path that could take it towards northern Vietnam or south China and Hong Kong.
"We expect the typhoon to intensify as it heads over the south China Sea," said Nathaniel Cruz, head of the weather forecasting at the Philippines' national weather bureau.
Power, water and communications lines across much of the region remain out of action following Super Typhoon Durian which struck on Nov. 30.
THE ‘MONSTER’: The Philippines on Saturday sent a vessel to confront a 12,000-tonne Chinese ship that had entered its exclusive economic zone The Philippines yesterday said it deployed a coast guard ship to challenge Chinese patrol boats attempting to “alter the existing status quo” of the disputed South China Sea. Philippine Coast Guard spokesman Commodore Jay Tarriela said Chinese patrol ships had this year come as close as 60 nautical miles (111km) west of the main Philippine island of Luzon. “Their goal is to normalize such deployments, and if these actions go unnoticed and unchallenged, it will enable them to alter the existing status quo,” he said in a statement. He later told reporters that Manila had deployed a coast guard ship to the area
A group of Uyghur men who were detained in Thailand more than one decade ago said that the Thai government is preparing to deport them to China, alarming activists and family members who say the men are at risk of abuse and torture if they are sent back. Forty-three Uyghur men held in Bangkok made a public appeal to halt what they called an imminent threat of deportation. “We could be imprisoned and we might even lose our lives,” the letter said. “We urgently appeal to all international organizations and countries concerned with human rights to intervene immediately to save us from
RISING TENSIONS: The nations’ three leaders discussed China’s ‘dangerous and unlawful behavior in the South China Sea,’ and agreed on the importance of continued coordination Japan, the Philippines and the US vowed to further deepen cooperation under a trilateral arrangement in the face of rising tensions in Asia’s waters, the three nations said following a call among their leaders. Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr and outgoing US President Joe Biden met via videoconference on Monday morning. Marcos’ communications office said the leaders “agreed to enhance and deepen economic, maritime and technology cooperation.” The call followed a first-of-its-kind summit meeting of Marcos, Biden and then-Japanese prime minister Fumio Kishida in Washington in April last year that led to a vow to uphold international
US president-elect Donald Trump is not typically known for his calm or reserve, but in a craftsman’s workshop in rural China he sits in divine contemplation. Cross-legged with his eyes half-closed in a pose evoking the Buddha, this porcelain version of the divisive US leader-in-waiting is the work of designer and sculptor Hong Jinshi (洪金世). The Zen-like figures — which Hong sells for between 999 and 20,000 yuan (US$136 to US$2,728) depending on their size — first went viral in 2021 on the e-commerce platform Taobao, attracting national headlines. Ahead of the real-estate magnate’s inauguration for a second term on Monday next week,
RSS