Nov 25,2004
Issue No. XXXXII
www.nidm.net
EARTHQUAKE
NORTH ITALY HIT BY 5.2 RICHTER QUAKE, HOSPITAL
EVACUATED
ROME (AFP) Nov 25, 2004
An earthquake measuring 5.2 on the Richter Scale shook northern Italy late
Wednesday, causing damage and leading to the evacuation of a hospital in Salo
on the shore of Lake Garda where the epicentre was located, firemen said.
The tremor, which occurred just before midnight (2259 GMT), was felt all over the
north of Italy.
In Venice two men were slightly injured by falls caused by panic, the firemen
said.
In Salo, where 200 firemen were called out, the hospital was evacuated as a
precautionary measure and several buildings were damaged, national fire service
chief Mario Morcone said.
In the country's economic capital Milan, many people rushed out into the streets
but no damage was immediately apparent.
MODERATE EARTHQUAKE NEAR THE COAST OF
ECUADOR
A moderate earthquake occurred at 16:19:50 (UTC) on Wednesday, November
24, 2004. The magnitude 5.0 event has been located in NEAR THE COAST OF
ECUADOR.
MILD QUAKE SHAKES ALBANIA, NO REPORTS OF
CASUALTIES
TIRANA (AFP) Nov 23, 2004
A mild earthquake measuring 4.6 on the Richter scale shook the southeastern
Albanian district of Orgocka and surrounding towns early Tuesday, the
seismological institute said.
No casualties were reported but a number of houses were damaged.
The earthquake struck at 3:26 am (0226 GMT), also hitting the towns of Korca,
Permet and Gjirokaster.
In neighboring Greece, the Athens seismological observatory said the quake
measured 5.5.
It located the epicenter near the town of Permeti, in southern Albania, some 400
kilometers (250 miles) northwest of the Greek capital.
TYPHOON
DEATH TOLL FROM PHILIPPINE TYPHOONS COULD
SURPASS 160: OFFICIALS
MANILA, 25 November 2004 - The death toll from two typhoons that hit the
country within a week rose to 79 yesterday and officials warned that the number
could double as 86 others were reported missing.
Several provinces in the eastern and central parts of the country reeled under the
impact of the storms, which destroyed at least 11,000 houses, damaged 25,000
more, and affected more than 300,000 people.
Sixty-one of the fatalities were attributed to tropical storm Unding (Muifa'), which
also left 80 mostly fishermen missing, as it cut a wide swath of destruction from
the eastern region of Bicol toward the central islands of Mindoro and Romblon.
Another 18 people died and six went missing in flash floods and a landslide from
storm Violeta (international name: Merbok) that dumped torrential rains over the
provinces of Aurora and Nueva Ecija northeast of Manila early on Tuesday, the
Office of Civil Defense (OCD) said.
But Aurora officials yesterday that the toll in Dingalan town which was hardest hit
had climbed to 22.
Dingalan Mayor Jaime Ylarde said they were expecting the number of fatalities to
increase, noting that more bodies under logs and debris were being recovered.
The initial list cited 15 dead in Dingalan, two in Ma. Aurora town, and one in San
Luis town, Governor Bellaflor Angara-Castillo said.
More than 4,000 people have sought refuge at the municipal hall, elementary and
high school buildings, and church converted into evacuation centers in Dingalan.
The only road linking Dingalan to Nueva Ecija remained blocked by rocks and
soil but the Department of Public Works and Highways had begun clearing the
road.
Violeta dissipated in the Cordillera mountain range overnight Tuesday, the
weather bureau PAGASA said.
The typhoon toppled trees, electricity and telephone lines, and damaged crops, a
report by the OCD said.
Neri Amparo, operations chief at the Office of Civil Defense, said much of the
damage in Nueva Ecija and Aurora occurred when uprooted trees and illegally
cut logs, washed away by the floods, smashed into homes and destroyed a
major bridge that led to the worst-hit town of Dingalan, about 110 kilometers
northeast of Manila.
Authorities said yesterday they were concerned about the fate of the missing
people, most of whom were fishermen or tugboat operators from nearly 50 boats
that were capsized or sunk by Unding.
They include 42 fishing boats off Mindoro Island and two tugboats off Romblon,
four small bancas (outriggers) off the town of San Francisco southeast of Manila,
and one boat off the northwestern town of Infanta.
The coast guard said it rescued 11 and retrieved one dead crewman from the
tugboats, but there have been no news from those aboard the smaller vessels.
Coast guard spokesman Lt. Armando Balilo said a rescue teams were still
searching yesterday for four people missing from the tugboat Tina, which
capsized in the Tablas Strait between Mindoro and Romblon.
He said people have been known to survive for 10 days from shipwrecks in the
tropical waters of the Philippines, "especially if they have provisions."
He was not ruling out the possibility some of the missing may have been taken
aboard passing ships, although there have been no reports from these vessels.
Red Cross Appeal
Meanwhile, the Philippine National Red Cross (PNRC) appealed for help to
provide relief assistance to tens of thousands of affected families.
Food, water, medicine, clothes and even cash were among the urgent concerns,
Sen. Richard Gordon, PNRC chair, said in a media briefing yesterday at the
agency's headquarters in Manila.
"Essentially, we are appealing to the general public. Red Cross resources are
spread thin, with this magnitude of calamity we ask for you to help us, direct it to
Red Cross, let us help our countrymen," Gordon said.
"It's better if you could give money so that, at least, the Red Cross could organize
the purchase of what we need.
"But if you want to give food, medicine, rice and other useful things, they would
be welcome," he said.
AVALANCHES
AVALANCHES IN THE RUSSIAN CAUCASUS KILL
THREE BORDER GUARDS
MOSCOW (AFP) Nov 24, 2004
Three Russian border guards were killed when avalanches swept through the
Russian Caucasus, while eight others were pulled alive from the snow, agencies
reported citing local security services.
Two border guards were killed as they were driving a snowplough over a
mountain road in the Nazran region in the Russian republic of Ingushetia. A third
man survived, reported Ria Novosti.
Meanwhile, rescue teams found eight border guards who had gone missing
during a supply trip in Northern Ossetia, but one of them had already succumbed
to the cold, the Itar-Tass agency said.
More than 20 avalanches were recorded in less than 24 hours in the Russian
republic bordering Georgia.