Super-typhoon kills 13 in Philippines

 
Super-typhoon Nanmadol left at least 13 people dead after hitting the Philippines, and the toll is expected to rise as hopes of finding those missing fade, the civil defence chief said on Monday.
More than 61,000 people are still evacuated from their homes after Nanmadol, the strongest storm to hit the country this year, lashed the northern edge of the main island of Luzon on the weekend, causing landslides and floods.

The 13 killed were mostly buried in landslides, including two children in northern Baguio who were killed in an avalanche of garbage at the city dumpsite, said head of civil defence operations Benito Ramos.

Eight other people are still missing across the country, feared washed away at sea, in raging rivers, or buried under garbage, he told AFP.

"The missing are most likely dead but we are still searching for them, it is unlikely they are still alive after two or three days," he said.

Ramos said the dead and missing in garbage dumps were scavengers who made their living foraging for items to salvage, despite the risk that storms could cause the mountain of trash to cascade down upon them.

The problem is widespread in the impoverished Philippines where people refuse to leave dangerous areas because they need to scratch out a living, he said.

"We know which areas get flooded, which areas are landslide-prone. Every time there is a calamity like the storm, these areas always get flooded then we evacuate the people but afterwards, they come back."

Large parts of northern Luzon still remain without power after Nanmadol hit with gusts of up to 230 kilometres (145 miles) per hour starting on Saturday, the civil defence office added.

The typhoon, named after an ancient site in Micronesia, weakened after clipping Luzon and has moved away from the Philippines, towards Taiwan and China.

Taiwanese authorities have evacuated about 8,000 people, closed down schools and halted rail services as Nanmadol made landfall Monday and swept across some of the island's most densely populated areas.

An average of 20 storms and typhoons, many of them deadly, hit the Philippines annually. The last storms, Nock-ten and Muifa, left at least 70 dead when they hit in July.

Src : smh.com.au

Japan to accept Burmese refugees from Umpiem camp

New Delhi (Mizzima) – Japan will accept the first batch of Burmese refugees from Umpiem refugee camp, the second largest refugee camp on the Thai-Burmese border, in September 2013.

Camp officials, said: “In September 2012, Japan will scrutinize the list of refugees. In September 2013, they [the first batch of refugees] will leave from the camp [for Japan],” Saw Wah Htee, the chairman of the Umpiem refugee camp committee, told Mizzima.

Relevant Japanese officials and officials of the Mae Sot [on the Thai side of the Moei River opposite Myawaddy] branch of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) visited the refugee camp in Tak Province in July and met with 200 refugees who are interested in resettling in Japan. Earlier, Japan accepted refugees from the Mae La refugee camp, the largest on the Thai-Burmese border.

The Japanese government has not disclosed that how many refugees it will accept. Currently, more than 25,000 people live in the Umpiem refugee camp located 75 km south of Mae Sot. Among them, 11,404 people are recognized by the UNHCR and the remainder have applied for refugee status with the UNHCR. Japan said that it would not accept people over age 60 or the handicapped. There are 140 refugees over age 70, and 100 who are handicapped in the Mae La camp, according to officials.

“There are three options for the refugees; going back to Burma, living in Thailand and resettling in a resettlement country. Among them, resettling in a resettlement country is the only option for a brighter future,” said Saw Wah Htee.

He said most refugees would like to resettle in the US; to resettle in Japan requires a longer time. The Umpiem refugee camp was set up in 1999; it has 16 quarters. More than 10,000 refugees from the camp have resettled in resettlement countries; 75 percent of them went to the US and the rest have resettled in Australia, New Zealand, Sweden, Norway, Canada and England.

Recently, Thai authorities gave instructions to officials at the Umpiem camp to compile a list that included four areas; the number of refugees who want to return Burma, the number of Burmese refugees who have already arrived in resettlement countries, the number of refugees who have applied to resettlement countries and the number of refugees who want to continue to live in Thailand.

Saw Wah Htee said that they had prepared a list with the education backgrounds of refugees and had made a list of people who were born in Thailand. A final list will be submitted to camp officials by September 7. Because of the instructions, refugees in the camp are concerned that Thai authorities will close the camp sometime in the future.

 Src  : Mizzima