Typhoon Phanfone kills at least 16 in Philippines
Manila: A typhoon that swept across remote villages and popular tourist areas of the central Philippines on Christmas Day claimed at least 16 lives, authorities said Thursday.
Typhoon Phanfone, with winds of 195 kilometres (120 miles) an hour, tore roofs off houses and toppled electric posts as it cut across the Philippines on Wednesday.
With the internet and mobile phone networks still cut off in some badly damaged areas, a full assessment of Phanfone's damage was not immediately possible on Thursday morning. But at least 16 people had been confirmed killed in villages and towns in the Visayas, the central third of the Philippines, according to disaster agency officials.
Phanfone also hit Boracay, Coron and other holiday destinations that are famed for their white-sand beaches and popular with foreign tourists.
The airport at Kalibo, which services Boracay, was badly damaged, according to a Korean tourist who was stranded there and provided images to AFP.
"Roads remain blocked, but some efforts have been made to clear away the damage. It's pretty bad," Jung Byung Joon said via Instagram messenger.
"Everything within 100 meters of the airport looks broken. There are a lot of frustrated people at the airport as flights have been cancelled.
"Taxis are still running but it's windy and still raining so no one wants to leave the airport, including me. " Though much weaker, Phanfone tracked a similar path as Super Typhoon Haiyan -- the country's deadliest storm on record which left more than 7,300 people dead or missing in 2013.
"It's like the younger sibling of Haiyan. It's less destructive, but it followed a similar path," Cindy Ferrer, an information officer at the Western Visayas region's disaster officer, told AFP.
Tens of thousands of people in the mostly Catholic nation had been forced to evacuate their homes on Wednesday, ruining Christmas celebrations.
Many others were not able to return to their families, with ferries and plane services suspended. Among those killed Phanfone was a police officer who was electrocuted by a toppled electric post while patrolling.
The Philippines is the first major landmass facing the Pacific typhoon belt, and is hit by an average of about 20 major storms a year.
Many of the storms are deadly, and they typically wipe out harvests, homes and infrastructure, keeping millions of people perennially poor.
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BJP govt 'going beyond limits' in imposing Hindi, says TN CM, slams naming arch as 'Kartavya Dwar'
Chennai (PTI): Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin on Wednesday lashed out at the BJP government at the Centre allegedly for "going beyond limits" in imposing Hindi and condemned the move to name the Tiruchirappalli railway divisional office entrance arch in that language.
The entrance arch of the railway divisional office, Tiruchirappalli, was named 'Kartavya Dwar' (Gate of Duty) recently, sparking a political row on language imposition in the state.
Taking strong exception to it, the chief minister claimed that the Union BJP government has embarked on a "vile" Hindi imposition of writing the Hindi name in Tamil and English under the pretext of promoting "one language, three scripts."
"They have written Kartavya Dwar at the entrance arch of the Tiruchirappalli division office of the Railways. The attempt to impose Hindi on Tamil and English names should be abandoned and proper Tamil names should be included immediately," Stalin said in a post on the social media platform ‘X.’
Otherwise, the BJP government will have to feel the heat of the Tamils, he warned.
The Centre had already imposed the name 'Bhavishya Nidhi Bhavan' for the Provident Fund Offices (EPFO) and was giving Sanskrit names in English for the new criminal laws.
"The name of the Union Water Resources Ministry has become 'Jal Shakti' and the 100 days employment guarantee scheme named after Mahatma Gandhi was renamed. The bitterness and arrogance is increasing," he pointed out.
"We need to teach these people who are trying to undermine the self-respect of Tamils a proper lesson," Stalin, who is the president of the DMK, said.
