MANILA: The death toll from a powerful storm that triggered flooding and landslides across the Philippines has reached 150, disaster officials said Thursday, as more rain was forecast in some of the hardest-hit areas.
More than 355,400 people fled their homes as Severe Tropical Storm Nalgae pounded swathes of the archipelago nation late last week and over the weekend.
Of the 150 deaths recorded by the national disaster agency, 63 were in the Bangsamoro region on the southern island of Mindanao where flash floods and landslides destroyed villages.
At least 128 people were injured and 36 are still missing across the country, the agency said. Authorities have warned there is no hope of finding more survivors.
Mindanao is rarely hit by the 20 or so typhoons that strike the Philippines each year, but storms that do reach the region tend to be deadlier than in Luzon and the central parts of the country.
With more rain forecast Thursday, disaster agencies in Bangsamoro were preparing for the possibility of further destruction in the poor and mountainous region.
“The soil is still wet in areas where flash floods and landslides occurred so further erosion could be instantly triggered,” said Naguib Sinarimbo, regional civil defense chief.
“Waterways and rivers that were in the path of the flash floods are blocked by debris and boulders so they could easily overflow.”
President Ferdinand Marcos has blamed deforestation and climate change for the devastating landslides in Bangsamoro.
He has urged local authorities to plant trees on denuded mountains.
“That’s one thing that we need to do,” Marcos told a briefing this week.
“We have been hearing this over and over again, but we still continue cutting trees. That’s what happens, landslides like that happen.”
Marcos has declared a state of calamity for six months in the worst-affected regions, freeing up funds for relief efforts.
Scientists have warned that deadly and destructive storms are becoming more powerful as the world gets warmer because of climate change.
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More rain on the way as Philippine storm death toll hits 150
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More rain on the way as Philippine storm death toll hits 150
- More than 355,400 people fled their homes as Severe Tropical Storm Nalgae pounded swathes of the archipelago nation late last week and over the weekend
North Korean POWs in Ukraine seeking ‘new life’ in South
SEOUL: Two North Korean prisoners of war held by Ukraine have said they hope to start a “new life” in South Korea, according to a letter seen by AFP on Wednesday.
Previous reports have indicated that the two men, held captive by Kyiv since January after sustaining injuries on the battlefield, were seeking to defect to the South.
But the letter represents the first time the two of them have said so in their own words.
“Thanks to the support of the South Korean people, new dreams and aspirations have begun to take root,” the two soldiers wrote in a letter dated late October to a Seoul-based rights group which shared it with AFP this week.
North Korea has sent thousands of troops to support Russia’s nearly four-year invasion of Ukraine, according to South Korean and Western intelligence agencies.
At least 600 have died and thousands more have sustained injuries, according to South Korean estimates.
Analysts say North Korea is receiving financial aid, military technology and food and energy supplies from Russia in return.
North Korean soldiers are instructed to kill themselves rather than be taken prisoner, according to South Korea’s intelligence service.
In the letter, the two prisoners thanked those working on their behalf “for encouraging us and seeing this situation not as a tragedy but as the beginning of a new life.”
“We firmly believe that we are never alone, and we think of those in South Korea as our own parents and siblings and have decided to go into their embrace,” they wrote.
The letter is signed by the two soldiers, whose names AFP has been asked to withhold to protect their safety.
- ‘Death sentence’ -
Under South Korea’s constitution, all Koreans — including those in the North — are considered citizens, and Seoul has said this applies to any troops captured in Ukraine.
The letter was delivered during an interview for a documentary film coordinated by the Gyeore-eol Nation United (GNU) rights group, which works to help North Korean defectors.
That interview took place at an undisclosed facility in Kyiv where the two POWs are being held after they were captured.
During the interview, the pair also pleaded to be sent to the South, according to GNU chief Jang Se-yul, himself a North Korean defector who fled the isolated country in the 2000s.
The video has not yet been made public but is expected to be released next month, Jang said.
Yu Yong-weon, a lawmaker who met with the prisoners during a visit to Ukraine in February, said the prisoners had described witnessing wounded comrades kill themselves with grenades.
Sending the soldiers back to the North would constitute “a death sentence,” Yu said.
South Korea’s foreign ministry has urged Ukraine not to “forcibly repatriate North Korean prisoners of war against their will” and has asked that their desire to go to the South be respected.
Previous reports have indicated that the two men, held captive by Kyiv since January after sustaining injuries on the battlefield, were seeking to defect to the South.
But the letter represents the first time the two of them have said so in their own words.
“Thanks to the support of the South Korean people, new dreams and aspirations have begun to take root,” the two soldiers wrote in a letter dated late October to a Seoul-based rights group which shared it with AFP this week.
North Korea has sent thousands of troops to support Russia’s nearly four-year invasion of Ukraine, according to South Korean and Western intelligence agencies.
At least 600 have died and thousands more have sustained injuries, according to South Korean estimates.
Analysts say North Korea is receiving financial aid, military technology and food and energy supplies from Russia in return.
North Korean soldiers are instructed to kill themselves rather than be taken prisoner, according to South Korea’s intelligence service.
In the letter, the two prisoners thanked those working on their behalf “for encouraging us and seeing this situation not as a tragedy but as the beginning of a new life.”
“We firmly believe that we are never alone, and we think of those in South Korea as our own parents and siblings and have decided to go into their embrace,” they wrote.
The letter is signed by the two soldiers, whose names AFP has been asked to withhold to protect their safety.
- ‘Death sentence’ -
Under South Korea’s constitution, all Koreans — including those in the North — are considered citizens, and Seoul has said this applies to any troops captured in Ukraine.
The letter was delivered during an interview for a documentary film coordinated by the Gyeore-eol Nation United (GNU) rights group, which works to help North Korean defectors.
That interview took place at an undisclosed facility in Kyiv where the two POWs are being held after they were captured.
During the interview, the pair also pleaded to be sent to the South, according to GNU chief Jang Se-yul, himself a North Korean defector who fled the isolated country in the 2000s.
The video has not yet been made public but is expected to be released next month, Jang said.
Yu Yong-weon, a lawmaker who met with the prisoners during a visit to Ukraine in February, said the prisoners had described witnessing wounded comrades kill themselves with grenades.
Sending the soldiers back to the North would constitute “a death sentence,” Yu said.
South Korea’s foreign ministry has urged Ukraine not to “forcibly repatriate North Korean prisoners of war against their will” and has asked that their desire to go to the South be respected.
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