MANILA: The Philippines shut schools and scrapped flights on Thursday as a fresh storm threatened to hit just days after a super typhoon killed nine people in the archipelago.
Severe Tropical Storm Bualoi is forecast to intensify into a typhoon on Friday and then slam into the southern end of the Philippines’ largest island, Luzon.
“Widespread flooding and landslides in mountainous areas are possible,” Benison Estareja from the nation’s weather service told a briefing.
The Philippines is hit by an average of 20 storms and typhoons each year, putting millions of people in disaster-prone areas in a state of constant poverty.
Scientists warn that storms are becoming more powerful as the world warms due to the effects of human-driven climate change.
Authorities warned of a “high risk of life-threatening storm surge” of up to three meters (10 feet) with the coming storm.
The Philippine Coast Guard said around 1,500 people were stranded in ports of Bicol, the region where the typhoon is forecast to hit.
Thousands were also still displaced in the rain-soaked nation after Super Typhoon Ragasa passed over the country’s far northern end and killed at least nine people.
The weather bureau said the outer bands of Bualoi might also bring rains to the northern Philippines.
“These rains are continuous and may cause renewed flooding, and landslides, especially in areas that are already saturated,” Civil Defense Administrator Harold Cabreros said late Wednesday.
Seven fishermen died during Ragasa when their boat was flipped over by huge waves in the far northern Cagayan Province, while one person was killed by a toppled tree.
A typhoon-triggered landslide also killed a 74-year-old man and injured at least seven people in Benguet, a mountainous province north of Manila.
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos pledged late Wednesday that food, medicine and other aid was in position in areas where Bualoi is expected to pass.
The storms come as public anger seethes over a scandal involving bogus flood-control projects believed to have cost taxpayers billions of dollars.
Philippines cancels classes, flights as new storm looms
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Philippines cancels classes, flights as new storm looms
- Thousands still displaced in the rain-soaked nation after Super Typhoon Ragasa passed over the country’s far northern end
- The storms come as public anger seethes over a scandal involving bogus flood-control projects
US will respond to Rwanda’s violation of peace pact, says Rubio
- Waltz told the Security Council meeting that the US “is deeply concerned and increasingly disappointed” by this resurgence of violence
WASHINGTON: Top US diplomat Marco Rubio said on Saturday that Rwanda had clearly violated the peace agreement it signed with the Democratic Republic of Congo in Washington last week and vowed unspecified “action” in response.
The Rwandan-backed M23 armed group advanced in eastern DRC and seized the key border city of Uvira, just days after the leaders signed the “Washington Accords” on Dec. 4.
“Rwanda’s actions in eastern DRC are a clear violation of the Washington Accords, and the US will take action to ensure promises made to the President are kept,” Secretary of State Rubio wrote on X.
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UN peacekeeping chief Jean-Pierre Lacroix warned the new offensive ‘has revived the specter of a regional conflagration with incalculable consequences.’
The capture of Uvira, along the border with Burundi, has raised fears that the conflict could escalate into a regional war.
As part of an offensive launched at the beginning of December in South Kivu province, the armed group’s takeover follows its earlier this year capture of Goma and Bukavu, other major cities in the DRC’s mineral-rich east.
On Friday, US Ambassador to the UN Mike Waltz accused Rwanda of “leading the region toward more instability and toward war.”
“The Rwandan defense forces have provided materiel, logistics, and training support to M23 as well as fighting alongside M23 in DRC with roughly 5,000 to 7,000 troops,” not including possible reinforcements during the latest offensive, Waltz told the UN Security Council.
The Rwandan firepower has included surface-to-air missiles, drones, and artillery, he added.
Since taking up arms again in 2021, the M23 has seized swaths of territory, displacing tens of thousands and leading to a spiraling humanitarian crisis.
Earlier this month, UN experts said Rwanda’s army and the M23 had carried out summary executions and forced mass displacements of people in the region.
Waltz told the Security Council meeting that the US “is deeply concerned and increasingly disappointed” by this resurgence of violence.
The envoy denounced “the scale and sophistication” of Rwanda’s involvement in eastern DRC.
UN peacekeeping chief Jean-Pierre Lacroix warned the new offensive “has revived the specter of a regional conflagration with incalculable consequences.”
“Recent developments pose a serious risk of the progressive fragmentation of the Democratic Republic of Congo, particularly its eastern part,” he said.
Burundi on Friday accused Rwanda of bombing its territory, and its ambassador, Zephyrin Maniratanga, told the council it “reserves the right to use self-defense.”
He warned that if the attacks continue, it would be extremely difficult to avoid an escalation between the two African countries.
“Rwanda is not waging war against the Republic of Burundi and has no intention of doing that,” Ambassador Martin Ngoga said.
Meanwhile, Congolese Foreign Minister Therese Kayikwamba Wagner criticized the Security Council for its “lack of action” and called for sanctions against Rwanda.
Despite a resolution adopted in February demanding the withdrawal of Rwandan troops and a ceasefire, “the situation is undeniable: another city has fallen, a parallel administration has consolidated itself, thousands more families have fled, and others have been killed, raped, and terrorized,” she said.
