Tampilkan postingan dengan label Philippine. Tampilkan semua postingan

Kamis, 21 Oktober 2010

Typhoon Megi leaves 200,000 homeless in Philippine

20 October 2010 Last updated at 08:42 GM

Typhoon Megi leaves 200,000 homeless in Philippines

House on hillside in Baguio City, Benguet province, Philippines 19 Oct 2010

Typhoon Megi left a trail of destruction in the northern Philippines before heading towards China

Typhoon Megi is gathering strength and heading towards southern China, meteorologists said, after leaving 200,000 Filipinos homeless.

The severe storm left a trail of destruction in its wake after hitting the northern Philippines on Monday.

Officials there said at least 200,000 people remained homeless with the cost to infrastructure still unknown.

The storm is described as the worst in many years, but predictions vary about where it will make next landfall.

The typhoon was originally heading westwards toward Vietnam, where heavy rains and floods have so far killed scores of people.

Its course has been edging northward however, with tens of thousands of residents evacuated in China's Hainan island and Guangdong province.

Some predications now suggest it could more northerly still, towards Taiwan.

People in the Chinese province of Guangdong and Hong Kong are stockpiling food ahead of the storm, which has been gathering strength over the South China Sea.

Ships and fishing boats have been told to stay in harbour, as Hong Kong's weather officials predicted winds of up to more than 185 km/hour(115mph).

In the Philippines, President Benigno Aquino praised his administration's response to Typhoon Megi.

He said that the thorough preparations had helped minimise loss of life, after at least 11 people died.

President Aquino said that by forward planning and accurate weather predictions, government agencies had been able to make a real difference to the level of destruction wrought by Typhoon Megi.

Cut off

Before the storm, thousands of people were moved from low-lying areas, to avoid flash floods and landslides.

Evacuation centres were stocked with food and medicines, and the weather bureau gave hourly radio updates about the path of the storm.

Physical destruction has nonetheless been extensive - thousands of homes flattened, crops destroyed and roads and bridges damaged.

"Their food supply is only up to Sunday. But going there is very difficult. There is no road to reach them," the governor of the hardest-hit province of Isabela, Faustino Dy told reporters in Cauayan, northern Philippines.

The BBC's correspondent in Manila, Kate McGeown, says the Philippine response to this storm was in stark contrast to that of past disasters.

A typhoon of similar magnitude hit the Philippines in 2006, and more than 1,000 people died.

Earlier this year, the weather bureau was heavily criticised for failing to predict that a typhoon would hit Manila, leaving the capital completely unprepared.

Are you in an area affected by the typhoon? Are you part of the emergency services rescue effort?

Send your pictures and videos to yourpics@bbc.co.uk or text them to61124 (UK) or 0044 7725 100 100 (International). If you have a large file you can upload here

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-11581196

Kamis, 24 Desember 2009

3 dead after Philippine sea collision; 24 missing

1 hr 14 mins ago

MANILA, Philippines – Three floating bodies were found as search-and-rescue teams combed the waters of Manila Bay on Thursday for at least 24 people missing after a passenger ferry collided with a fishing boat.

Forty-six passengers and crew of the wooden-hulled ferry MV Catalyn B were plucked from the water and brought to the coast guard's Manilaheadquarters, said coast guard spokesman Armand Balilo. The coast guard alerted all vessels in the area to look for those still missing.

A female passenger was seen being carried on a stretcher, while others were led to a clinic for a medical examination.

The 44-foot- (13-meter-) long vessel, carrying 73 people on a journey from Manila to southwest Mindoro Island, sank shortly after the accident, Balilo said. The ferry had a capacity to carry 126 people.

All 22 crew on the fishing boat were safe and it did not sink, said Melvin Viola of the coast guard's operation center.

The cause of the accident off Cavite province's Limbones island was not clear. No weather disturbances were reported in the area. The collision came at a time when millions of Filipinos were heading to their home provinces ahead of Christmas Eve.

Henry Tria, one of about 30 anxious relatives who flocked to the coast guard office, said five relatives were on board, including teenaged nephews and a 7-year-old niece.

"I told them that we should take a bigger ship but the tickets were sold out so they decided to go on this smaller ferry because they wanted to be home for Christmas," he said.

One nephew's name was on a coast guard list of rescued passengers, he added.

The floating bodies of two men and a woman were found by a tanker passing through the area.

Coast guard commander Luis Tuazon Jr. said most of the passengers were sleeping when the vessels collided and many did not have time to get life jackets on. An investigation will be launched into the cause of the accident, he said.

Sea accidents are common in the archipelago because of tropical storms, badly maintained boats and weak enforcement of safety regulations.

Last year, a ferry overturned after sailing toward a powerful typhoon in the central Philippines, killing more than 800 people on board.

In December 1987, the ferry Dona Paz sank after colliding with a fuel tanker, killing more than 4,341 people in the world's worst peacetime maritime disaster.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091224/ap_on_re_as/as_philippines_sea_collision

Jumat, 09 Oktober 2009

Philippine mudslides, floods kill estimated 100

18 mins ago

MANILA, Philippines – A disaster-relief official says dozens of landslides in the rain-soaked mountains of the northern Philippines have killed an estimated 100 people.

Olive Luces, civil defense director for the Cordillera mountain region, says four major mudslides struck late Thursday, burying almost an entire village in La Trinidad town in Benguet province.

Fresh flooding also hit about 30 towns in Pangasinan province, sending residents fleeing to rooftops and scrambling for safety after dams released excess water from recent heavy rains.

The Philippines has been hit by two major storms in the past two weeks. Floods and landslides have already left some 300 others dead.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Fresh flooding hit about 30 towns in the northern Philippines on Friday, sending residents fleeing to rooftops and scrambling for safety after dams released excess water from recent heavy rains, officials said.

Pangasinan provincial Vice Gov. Marlyn Premicias said she was getting frantic text messages from residents asking to be rescued, adding: "Eastern Pangasinan has become one big river."

Rains and water discharged late Thursday night from a dam in Pangasinan inundated 30 out of 46 towns along the Agno River in the coastal province, said Boots Velasco, the province's information officer.

"There was really heavy rain, so water had to be released from the dam, otherwise it would have been more dangerous," said the government's chief forecaster Nathaniel Cruz. "Even our office was flooded and our staff had to move to the rooftop. It's near the river that they were monitoring."

Heavy army trucks could not penetrate the area and Premicias appealed for helicopters and boats to move people out of danger.

Forecasters said Tropical Depression Parma was still lingering off the northeastern coast, dumping rains overnight. It was the second major storm to hit the country in two weeks. Storms and flooding have killed more than 300 people since Sept. 26, including at least seven buried in a landslide in mountainous Benguet province Thursday, said Olive Luces, regional chief of the Office of Civil Defense.

Mayor Nonato Abrenica of the Pangasinan's Villasis township said rain and water released from a nearby dam caused floods to rise quickly, isolating his town. He asked for food, water and medicines to be airlifted and for boats to rescue stranded residents.

An anchorman of DZBB radio said text messages received by the station included an appeal from a hospital staffer in Villasis who described that patients had to be moved to the second floor to escape the floods. The message said there was no power and food in the hospital.

The government's disaster relief agency said it had requested the U.S. Embassy to redeploy hundreds of American troops from the massive cleanup in and around the capital, Manila, to the flood-hit areas in the north.

Two U.S. Navy ships were positioning in the Lingayen Gulf in Pangasinan to provide helicopters and rubber boats for the rescue mission in the province, said U.S. Marine Capt. Jorge Escatell.

In Japan, meanwhile, a powerful typhoon tore through the main island Thursday, peeling roofs off houses, cutting electricity to hundreds of thousands and forcing flight cancellations before turning back toward the sea. Four people died.

During morning rush hour, more than 2 million commuters in Tokyo were stranded for hours as train services on several lines were suspended, while in other regions trucks were toppled on highways and bridges were destroyed by flash floods.

By evening, Typhoon Melor was downgraded to a tropical storm as it lost power over northern Japan. It was due to veer off the northeastern coast Thursday evening.

Nearly 100 people were injured and more than 11,000 people were evacuated to shelters, according to the Fire and Disaster Management Agency.

News broadcasts showed the damage left by the storm as it moved northeast across the country — partially submerged cars, large shipping containers scattered by the wind, and damaged buildings with ceilings and walls torn away. Footage also showed huge waves crashing over storm barriers onto coastal roads. ___

Associated Press writers Hrvoje Hranjski in Manila and Mari Yamaguchi in Tokyo contributed to this report.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091009/ap_on_re_as/as_asia_storm

Senin, 28 September 2009

140 die in Philippine storm

140 die in Philippine storm, toll expected to rise

By TERESA CEROJANO, Associated Press Writer – 12 mins ago

MANILA, Philippines – Rescuers pulled more bodies from swollen rivers Monday as residents started to dig out their homes from under carpets of mud after flooding left 140 people dead in the Philippine capital and surrounding towns.

Overwhelmed officials called for international help, warning they may not have sufficient resources to withstand another storm that forecasters said was brewing east of the island nation and could hit as early as Friday.

Authorities expected the death toll from Tropical Storm Ketsana, which scythed across the northern Philippines on Saturday, to rise as rescuers penetrate villages blocked off by floating cars and other debris. The storm dumped more than a month's worth of rain in just 12 hours, fueling the worst flooding to hit the country in more than 40 years. At least 140 people died, and 32 are missing.

Troops, police and volunteers have already rescued more than 7,900 people, but unconfirmed reports of more deaths abound, Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro said.

He told a news conference that help from foreign governments will ensure that the Philippine government can continue its relief work.

"We are trying our level best to provide basic necessities, but the potential for a more serious situation is there," Teodoro told a news conference. "We cannot wait for that to happen."

The extent of devastation became clearer Monday as TV networks broadcast images of mud-covered communities, cars upended on city streets and reported huge numbers of villagers without drinking water, food and power.

In Manila's suburban Marikina city, a sofa hung from electric wires.

Since the storm struck, the government has declared a "state of calamity" in metropolitan Manila and 25 storm-hit provinces, allowing officials to use emergency funds for relief and rescue.

The homes of nearly half a million people were inundated. Some 115,000 of them were brought to about 200 schools, churches and other evacuation shelters, officials said.

Resident Jeff Aquino said floodwaters rose to his home's third floor at the height of the storm.

Aquino, his wife, three young children and two nephews spent that night on their roof without food and water, mixing infant formula for his 2-year-old twins with the falling rain.

"We thought it was the end for us," Aquino said.

Among those stranded by the floodwaters was young actress Christine Reyes, who was rescued by movie and TV heartthrob Richard Gutierrez from the rooftop of her home near Manila after she made a frantic call for help to a local TV network with her mobile phone.

"If the rains do not stop, the water will reach the roof. We do not know what to do. My mother doesn't know how to swim," she said, weeping.

Gutierrez, a close friend and Reyes' co-star in an upcoming movie, heard of her plight, borrowed an army speedboat and ferried Reyes, her mother and two young children to safety.

"I thought it was our ending but I did not lose hope," Reyes said, thanking Gutierrez. "Let us help those who have not yet been rescued."

Rescuers pulled a mud-splattered body of a woman from the swollen Marikina river Monday. About eight hours later, police found three more bodies from the brownish waters.

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has said Ketsana and the flooding were "an extreme event" that "strained our response capabilities to the limit but ultimately did not break us."

The United States has donated $100,000 and deployed a military helicopter and five rubber boats manned by about 20 American soldiers from the country's south, where they have been providing counterterrorism training. The United Nations Children's Fund and the World Food Program have also provided food and other aid.

Activists, meanwhile, pointed to the deadly flooding as an example of the dangers of global warming at U.N. climate negotiations in Bangkok.

"The Philippine floods should remind politicians and delegates negotiating the climate treaty that they are not just talking about paragraphs, amendments and dollars but about the lives of millions of people and the future of this planet," said Kim Carstensen, Leader of the WWF Global Climate Initiative.

___

Associated Press writer Jim Gomez contributed to this report.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090928/ap_on_re_as/as_philippines_flooding;_ylt=AmztPyYCDYAJDUinAn5GvTVvaA8F;_ylu=X3oDMTJwNG81NG5yBGFzc2V0A2FwLzIwMDkwOTI4L2FzX3BoaWxpcHBpbmVzX2Zsb29kaW5nBGNwb3MDMwRwb3MDMTEEc2VjA3luX3RvcF9zdG9yeQRzbGsDMTQwZGllaW5waGls

Philippine storm leaves 106 dead and missing

By JIM GOMEZ, Associated Press Writer – Sun Sep 27, 11:32 am ET

MANILA, Philippines – Rescuers plucked bodies from muddy floodwaters and saved drenched survivors from rooftops Sunday after atropical storm tore through the northern Philippines and left at least 106 people dead and missing.

It was the region's worst flooding in more than four decades. The government declared a "state of calamity" in metropolitan Manila and 25 storm-hit provinces.

Tropical Storm Ketsana roared across the northern Philippines on Saturday, dumping more than a month's worth of rain in just 12 hours. The resulting landslides and flooding have left at least 83 people dead and 23 others missing, Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro said.

Many parts of the capital remained flooded Sunday, although waters were fast receding.

TV footage shot from military helicopter showed drenched survivors still marooned on top of half-submerged passenger buses and rooftops in the suburbs of Manila. Some dangerously clung on high-voltage power lines while others plodded through waist-high flood waters.

Authorities deployed rescue teams on boats to save survivors sighted during the aerial check.

More than 330,000 people were affected by storm, including some 59,000 people who were brought to about 100 schools, churches and other evacuation shelters, officials said.

The "state of calamity" declaration allowed officials to utilize emergency funds for relief and rescue.

Teodoro said that so far, army troops, police and civilian volunteers have rescued more than 5,100 people.

Many residents lost all their belongings in the storm, but were thankful they were alive.

"We're back to zero," said Marikina resident Ronald Manlangit. Still he expressed relief that he managed to move all his children to the second floor of his house Saturday as floodwaters engulfed the ground floor.

Mud covered everything — cars, the road and vegetables in a public market near Manlangit's house.

Governor Joselito Mendoza of Bulacan province, north of the capital, said it was tragic that "people drowned in their own houses" as the storm raged.

The most recently reported fatalities included nine people in Bulacan, most of them drowned. A landslide in northern Pampanga province killed 12 villagers. An army soldier and four militiamen drowned while trying to rescue villagers in southern Laguna province.

In the city of Marikina near Manila, a rescuer gingerly lifted the mud-covered body of a child from a boat. Rescuers carried away four other bodies, including that of a woman found in a church, after a search in a flooded neighborhood, an AP photographer saw.

Distress calls and e-mails from thousands of residents in metropolitan Manila and their worried relatives flooded TV and radio stations overnight. Ketsana swamped entire towns, set off landslides and shut down Manila's airport for several hours.

"My son is sick and alone. He has no food and he may be waiting on the roof of his house. Please get somebody to save him," a weeping housewife, Mary Coloma, told radio DZBB.

The sun shone briefly in Manila on Sunday and showed the extent of devastation in many neighborhoods — destroyed houses, overturned vans and cars, and streets and highways covered in debris and mud.

The 16.7 inches (42.4 centimeters) of rain that swamped metropolitan Manila in just 12 hours on Saturday exceeded the 15.4-inch (39.2-centimeter) average for all of September, chief government weather forecasterNathaniel Cruz said, adding that the rainfall broke the previous record of 13.2 inches (33.4 centimeters) in a 24-hour period in June 1967.

Garbage-choked drains and waterways, along with high tide, compounded the problem, officials said.

Ketsana, which packed winds of 53 mph (85 kph) with gusts of up to 63 mph (100 kph), hit land early Saturday then roared across the main northern Luzon island toward the South China Sea.

___

Associated Press writer Oliver Teves contributed to this report.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090927/ap_on_re_as/as_philippines_flooding;_ylt=AizthTkdlqOHxAASfQ10Y3IEtbAF;_ylu=X3oDMTJxNGdmNWVmBGFzc2V0A2FwLzIwMDkwOTI3L2FzX3BoaWxpcHBpbmVzX2Zsb29kaW5nBGNwb3MDNwRwb3MDNwRzZWMDeW5fdG9wX3N0b3JpZXMEc2xrA3BoaWxpcHBpbmVzdA--

Bencana Global 2050

Kamis, 21 Oktober 2010