Torrential rains bring Manila to a standstill, forcing tens of thousands to evacuate
Schools and government offices in Manila and the surrounding provinces were closed after a night of rain that saw the region's Marikina River burst its banks.
More than 23,000 people living along the river were evacuated overnight, sheltering in schools, village halls and covered courtyards.
Another 25,000 more were evacuated in the metropolitan area's Quezon and Caloocan cities.
'Usually these people are from low-lying areas like beside creeks (feeding into the river),' according to Wilmer Tan of the Marikina rescue office, who said the river had reached 18 metres (59 feet) in height.
An elderly woman and her driver were swept down a swollen creek as they attempted to cross a bridge in Caloocan, said John Paul Nietes, an emergency operations centre assistant supervisor.
'Their car was recovered last night. The rescue operation is continuing, but as of today, they haven't found either of them,' he said.
'The car window was broken, so the hope is that they were able to escape.'
Floodwaters were receding on Tuesday morning, though thousands of people remained unable to return to their homes.
Ongoing monsoon rains have killed at least three people and left another seven missing in the central and southern Philippines since Tropical Storm Wipha skirted the country on Friday, according to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council.
At least 20 storms or typhoons strike or come near the Philippines each year, with the country's poorest regions typically the hardest hit.
Deadly and destructive storms are becoming more powerful as the world gets warmer because of climate change.
'This is hard, because if the rain will continue... the river will swell,' Manila street sweeper Avelina Lumangtad, 61, told AFP as she stood next to a flooded thoroughfare.
'The floods are dangerous.' — AFP
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Malay Mail
13 minutes ago
- Malay Mail
AI-powered warning system brings hope to Nepal's landslide-hit villages
KATHMANDU, Aug 2 — Every morning, Nepali primary school teacher Bina Tamang steps outside her home and checks the rain gauge, part of an early warning system in one of the world's most landslide-prone regions. Tamang contributes to an AI-powered early warning system that uses rainfall and ground movement data, local observations and satellite imagery to predict landslides up to weeks in advance, according to its developers at the University of Melbourne. From her home in Kimtang village in the hills of northwest Nepal, 29-year-old Tamang sends photos of the water level to experts in the capital Kathmandu, a five-hour drive to the south. 'Our village is located in difficult terrain, and landslides are frequent here, like many villages in Nepal,' Tamang told AFP. Every year during the monsoon season, floods and landslides wreak havoc across South Asia, killing hundreds of people. Nepal is especially vulnerable due to unstable geology, shifting rainfall patterns and poorly planned development. As a mountainous country, it is already 'highly prone' to landslides, said Rajendra Sharma, an early warning expert at the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority. 'And climate change is fuelling them further. Shifting rainfall patterns, rain instead of snowfall in high altitudes and even increase in wildfires are triggering soil erosion,' Sharma told AFP. Saving lives Landslides killed more than 300 people last year and were responsible for 70 percent of monsoon-linked deaths, government data shows. Tamang knows the risks first hand. When she was just five years old, her family and dozens of others relocated after soil erosion threatened their village homes. They moved about a kilometre (0.6 miles) uphill, but a strong 2015 earthquake left the area even more unstable, prompting many families to flee again. 'The villagers here have lived in fear,' Tamang said. 'But I am hopeful that this new early warning system will help save lives.' The landslide forecasting platform was developed by Australian professor Antoinette Tordesillas with partners in Nepal, Britain and Italy. Its name, SAFE-RISCCS, is an acronym of a complex title—Spatiotemporal Analytics, Forecasting and Estimation of Risks from Climate Change Systems. 'This is a low-cost but high-impact solution, one that's both scientifically informed and locally owned,' Tordesillas told AFP. Professor Basanta Adhikari from Nepal's Tribhuvan University, who is involved in the project, said that similar systems were already in use in several other countries, including the United States and China. 'We are monitoring landslide-prone areas using the same principles that have been applied abroad, adapted to Nepal's terrain,' he told AFP. 'If the system performs well during this monsoon season, we can be confident that it will work in Nepal as well, despite the country's complex Himalayan terrain.' In Nepal, it is being piloted in two high-risk areas: Kimtang in Nuwakot district and Jyotinagar in Dhading district. Early warnings Tamang's data is handled by technical advisers like Sanjaya Devkota, who compares it against a threshold that might indicate a landslide. 'We are still in a preliminary stage, but once we have a long dataset, the AI component will automatically generate a graphical view and alert us based on the rainfall forecast,' Devkota said. 'Then we report to the community, that's our plan.' The experts have been collecting data for two months, but will need a data set spanning a year or two for proper forecasting, he added. Eventually, the system will deliver a continuously updated landslide risk map, helping decision makers and residents take preventive actions and make evacuation plans. The system 'need not be difficult or resource-intensive, especially when it builds on the community's deep local knowledge and active involvement', Tordesillas said. Asia suffered more climate and weather-related hazards than any other region in 2023, according to UN data, with floods and storms the most deadly and costly. And while two-thirds of the region have early warning systems for disasters in place, many other vulnerable countries have little coverage. In the last decade, Nepal has made progress on flood preparedness, installing 200 sirens along major rivers and actively involving communities in warning efforts. The system has helped reduce flooding deaths, said Binod Parajuli, a flood expert with the government's hydrology department. 'However, we have not been able to do the same for landslides because predicting them is much more complicated,' he said. 'Such technologies are absolutely necessary if Nepal wants to reduce its monsoon toll.' — AFP
Free Malaysia Today
2 days ago
- Free Malaysia Today
Tsunami waves reach Hawaii after huge quake rattles Russia
A kindergarten was damaged in Kamchatka but most other buildings withstood the quake. (Russian emergency ministry/AP pic) LOS ANGELES : A powerful magnitude 8.8 earthquake off Russia's Far Eastern Kamchatka Peninsula triggered tsunami waves of up to 5m and sparked evacuation orders in Hawaii and across the Pacific today. The shallow earthquake damaged buildings and injured several people in the remote Russian region, while much of Japan's eastern seaboard – devastated by a 9.0 magnitude earthquake and tsunami in 2011 – was ordered to evacuate. In Hawaii, coastal residents were told to get to high ground or the fourth floor or above of buildings, and the US coast guard ordered ships out of harbours as the tsunami approached. 'Take Action! Destructive tsunami waves expected,' the Honolulu department of emergency management said on X. Shortly after 6am, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said 1m to 1.2m waves were impacting the Hawaiian islands. Hawaii governor Josh Green said so far no waves of consequence hit the islands but all flights in and out of Maui were cancelled. Tsunami waves struck parts of Kamchatka, partially flooding the port and a fish processing plant in the town of Severo-Kurilsk and sweeping vessels from their moorings, regional officials and Russia's emergency ministry said. 'Today's earthquake was serious and the strongest in decades of tremors,' Kamchatka governor Vladimir Solodov said in a video posted on the Telegram messaging app. Russian scientists said it was the most powerful quake to hit the region since 1952. Russia's ministry for emergency services said on Telegram that a kindergarten was damaged but most buildings withstood the quake. No serious injuries or fatalities have been reported. The US geological survey said the earthquake was shallow at a depth of 19.3km, and centred 119km east-southeast of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, a city of 165,000. It revised the magnitude up from 8.0 earlier, and reported a series of strong aftershocks up to a magnitude of 6.9. A resident in the city of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky said the shaking rumbled for several minutes. 'I decided to leave the building,' said Yaroslav, 25. 'It felt like the walls could collapse any moment. The shaking lasted continuously for at least three minutes.' Warnings across the Pacific Tsunami alarms sounded in coastal towns across Japan's Pacific coast today. (AP pic) Tsunami alarms sounded in coastal towns across Japan's Pacific coast and evacuation orders were issued for tens of thousands of people. Workers evacuated the stricken Fukushima nuclear plant, where a meltdown following the 2011 tsunami caused a radioactive disaster, operator Tepco said. Footage on public broadcaster NHK showed scores of people on the northern island of Hokkaido on the roof of a building, sheltering under tents from the beating sun, as fishing boats left harbours to avoid potential damage from the incoming waves. Automaker Nissan Motor suspended operations at certain domestic factories in Japan to ensure employee safety, Kyodo news agency reported. Three tsunami waves had been recorded in Japan, the largest of 1.3m, officials said. Japan's chief cabinet secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi said there were no injuries or damage reported so far, and no irregularities at any nuclear plants. Tsunami waves of between 1m to 3m can be fatal for people who are swept away, said NHK. They can also cause flooding and damage wooden buildings, with people at risk of being killed by large drifting objects, according to the Japan Lifesaving Association. The US tsunami warning system also warned of 'hazardous tsunami waves' spreading across the Pacific. Waves reaching more than 3m were possible along some coasts of Russia, the northern Hawaiian islands and Ecuador, while waves of 1m to 3m were possible in countries including Japan, Hawaii, Chile and the Solomon Islands, it said. Smaller waves were possible along coastlines across much of the Pacific, including the US West Coast. 'Due to a massive earthquake that occurred in the Pacific Ocean, a Tsunami Warning is in effect for those living in Hawaii,' US president Donald Trump said in a social media post. 'A Tsunami Watch is in effect for Alaska and the Pacific Coast of the United States.' 'Ring of fire' Several people in Kamchatka sought medical assistance following the quake, Oleg Melnikov, regional health minister, told Russia's TASS state news agency. In Severo-Kurilsk in the northern Kuril islands, south of Kamchatka, tsunami waves exceeded 3m, with the largest up to 5m, Russia's RIA news agency reported. Alexander Ovsyannikov, the town's mayor, said four tsunami waves had passed. He urged residents to assess damage to their homes and not to use gas stove heating until inspections had been carried out, in order to avoid a risk of carbon monoxide poisoning. Power to the Sakhalin region had been cut off due to damage to the electricity grid, RIA said, citing the regional governor. Kamchatka and Russia's Far East sit on the Pacific Ring of Fire, a geologically active region that is prone to earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. The Russian Academy of Sciences said it was the strongest quake to hit the region since 1952. 'However, due to certain characteristics of the epicentre, the shaking intensity was not as high… as one might expect from such a magnitude,' said Danila Chebrov, director of the Kamchatka branch of the geophysical service, on Telegram. 'Aftershocks are currently ongoing… Their intensity will remain fairly high. However, stronger tremors are not expected in the near future. The situation is under control.'
Malay Mail
3 days ago
- Malay Mail
Russian TV shows buildings swept away as tsunami hits coast
MOSCOW, July 30 — Russian state television today aired footage of a tsunami wave sweeping through a coastal town in the far east of the country, carrying buildings and debris into the sea. An 8.8 magnitude megaquake struck off the coast of Russia's far eastern Kamchatka peninsula earlier, prompting evacuations and tsunami alerts across parts of the Pacific coast. In Severo-Kurilsk, a Russian town of about 2,000 people some 350 kilometres (217 miles) southwest of the earthquake's epicentre, tsunami waves crashed through the port area and submerged the local fishing plant, according to authorities. The town lies on the northern Kuril island of Paramushir, just south of the Kamchatka peninsula. The waves, which were up to four metres high in some areas, reached as far as the town's World War II monument about 400 metres from the shoreline, according to Mayor Alexander Ovsyannikov. Most of the town lies on higher ground safe from flooding, he added. 'Everyone was evacuated. There was enough time, a whole hour. So everyone was evacuated, all the people are in the tsunami safety zone,' he said at a crisis meeting with officials earlier. 'Everyone acted quickly' The Kremlin said 'all warning systems' had worked properly. 'Thank God, there were no casualties,' spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters including AFP. An expedition group from the Russian Geographical Society was on the neighbouring island of Shumshu when the tsunami swept away their tent camp. 'When the wave hit, all we could do was run to higher ground. It's very difficult to do that in boots on slippery grass and in fog,' group member Vera Kostamo told Russian tabloid Komsomolskaya Pravda. 'All the tents and structures were swept away by the wave, and our belongings were scattered across the beach for hundreds of metres,' she added. 'We have no casualties, everyone acted quickly, but we lost all our belongings.' Authorities in the Sakhalin region, which includes the northern Kuril Islands, declared a state of emergency. The regional seismic monitoring service said the earthquake was the region's strongest since 1952. 'Strong aftershocks with a magnitude of up to 7.5 should be expected,' it added. — AFP
