GUIUAN, PHILIPPINE: Tens of thousands of people on a central Philippine island returned home yesterday after a tsunami alert was lifted following a 7.6 magnitude undersea quake, as local authorities began work to repair damages to public infrastructure.
The earthquake 91 miles (146 km) off the town of Guiuan on Samar Island on Friday killed one person and caused only minor damage, but prompted the US Pacific Tsunami Warning Center to issued a tsunami warning.
Philippine authorities ordered thousands of people living in coastal villages to evacuate, but on Saturday those that had fled to higher grounds were returning home, said Conrado Nicart, governor of Eastern Samar province.
“We've sent out our engineers and repair teams to inspect roads, bridges and public buildings,” Nicart told radio, adding the earthquake caused minor infrastructure damage.
“Our people were reporting cracks on roads and municipal gymnasiums, and approaches on a bridge near Mercedes town were also damaged but remained passable to light vehicles.”
The tsunami warning was initially issued for the Philippines, Japan, Indonesia, Taiwan, Papua New Guinea and other islands in the Pacific including the US state of Hawaii. Small waves of about 16 cm (6 inches) did hit a southern Philippine island, the seismology agency said.
Thousands return home after Philippine quake
Thousands return home after Philippine quake
Russia says it doesn’t see French desire yet to resume dialogue at highest level
MOSCOW: Russia said on Tuesday it doesn’t yet see a desire from France to resume dialogue at the highest level, despite recent contacts between Moscow and Paris.
Presidents Vladimir Putin and Emmanuel Macron last spoke in July 2025, which was their first conversation for nearly three years.
Macron sent his top diplomat to Moscow last week, sources told Reuters.
Western European governments have largely shunned dialogue with Putin because of the Ukraine war, in contrast with the Trump administration.
Macron said in December that Europeans would have to re-engage in direct talks with Putin if the latest US-led efforts to broker a Ukraine peace deal founder.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters: “Indeed, contacts have taken place, we can confirm this, which, if desired and necessary, will help to quickly establish dialogue at the highest level. So far, we have not received any indication of this desire, although we have noted Mr.Macron’s statement on the need to restore relations with Russia. We are impressed by such statements.”
Peskov added: “We have long said that reducing our relations to a state of zero is illogical, counterproductive, and harmful to all parties.” He said Russia favored dialogue to address pressing problems that could not be resolved by confrontation.
