METRO MANILA FLOODED TODAY: RED ALERT ISSUED (DETAIL COVERAGE)

Update 05:25
Special messgae from Mahar Lagmay, project director of government’s Project Noah (Nationwide Operational Assessment of Hazards)
“Please wake up now and move away from the low lying areas along Marikina River including Tumana and Provident”
He said residents had up to two hours to evacuate.

Update 04:30
Yellow warning signal issued for Metro Manila. 2.5- 7.5mm/hr rains are expected in Metro Manila within the next three hours.

Update 02:55
Water level at Marikina River is now at 20.6 meters. Goverment officials have urged the residents to move away from the swollen Marikina River.

Update August 9; 02:00
These are the list of evacuation centers in Marikina City
From Malanday (Parang Elementary School; Malanday Elementary School)
From Concepcion (H. Baustisa Elementary School; Concepcion Integrated School; Concepcion Elementary School; Marikina Elementary School and St. Nicolas School)
From Tumana (Tumana Elementary School; Parang Elementary School)

Update
Below is an aerial photo taken from a Philippine Air Force helicopter of Caloocan City, one of many heavily flooded areas in Metro Manila. (Source GMA)

 

Update 04:15
Following Metro Manila Manila Development Authority, “Almost all roads in Marikina are now passable to all types of vehicles.”

Update 03:35
Three people died in Valenzuela after drowning in the flood caused by the heavy rains. Three victims include one child and two adults.

Update 10:30
Classes in the flood-prone University of Santo Tomas will remain suspended tomorrow (Thursday) too.
The official notice from the Office of the Secretary General is like this:
“Classes on August 9, 2012 (Thursday) in ALL LEVELS are suspended. Please be guided accordingly”

Update 10:00
-A  40-year old man died in recent floods in Manila. Diego San Jose, a resident of Barangay Panghulo, Malabon was found dead.
-17 out of the 21 barangays in Malabon are still flooded.

Update
Below is a satellite image as of 6:32 a.m. Wednesday which shows no tropical cyclone existing within the Philippines (a good news). A code ‘green’ rainfall warning is issued for Metro Manila where light to moderate rain is expected.

 

Update
-Flooding and landslides in Philippines killed 15 people and displaced 130,000 other.
-Eight people, including five children, were killed when a landslide buried three houses in a village in the Manila suburb of Quezon City.
-Floods and landslides were caused by heavy rains in the Philippine capital Manila and several provinces.
-All the Government offices, courts and schools were suspended in Manila and nine northern provinces due to severe disaster.
-About 58,237 people are taking shelters in evacuation centers.

Update
The following routes are still flooded
* Chino Roces from Don Bosco to Makati Square, not passable;
* Barangay San Antonio: Bagtikan to St. Paul but passable;
* Chino Roces from Don Bosco to Makati Square, not passable;
* Barangay Pembo: Waling Waling but passable;
* SSH cor. Gil Puyat, not passable;
* SSH cor. Gil Puyat, not passable;
* JP Rizal from Camia to Estrella, not passable;
* Bangkal: P. Binay From Bonifacio to Gen.Capinpin, not passable;
* EDSA P. Tuazon Tunnel, not passable;
* Marcos Highway: Kingsville to Filinvest , not passable to all types of vehicle;
* Marcos Highway-Masinag; waist deep, not passable to all types of vehicle;
* Cainta Junction; waist deep, not passable to all types of vehicle.

SOURCE

Flooding in Metro Manila, Philippines

-Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) has upgraded rainfall warning from green to red in Metro Manila.
-Water level high at the La Mesa reservoir in Quezon City. Hundreds of residents near the Marikina River were evacuated. Evacuated people are living in Concepcion Integrated School , Bulelak Gym , H. Bautista Elementary School, Malanday Elementary School, Concepcion Elementary School, Sta. Elena Chapel (Lambak), Nangka Elementary School , Filipinas Village Gym and Sampaguita Gym.
-Recent rainfalls are caused by southwest monsoon. More heavy to intense (10.0 to 30.0 mm/hr) rainfall is forecast over the rest of Metro Manila today. Click for detail coverage on Metro Manila floods.
Read more:
Heavy flooding in Metro Manila, Philippines
Serious flooding expected in Metro Manila today 
Flooding in Maguindanao, Philippines
Recent natural disasters in Philippines

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Waterworld: Region hit by third typhoon in a week: half of Manila swamped by floods as high as 3 meters

Posted by The Extinction Protocol: 2012 and beyond

August 7, 2012 – PHILIPPINES – Shanghai and the nearby coastal province Zhejiang have evacuated 456,000 people as China prepares for its third typhoon in less than a week. The emergency measures were taken after Typhoon Haikui turned Manila, the Philippines capital into “Waterworld,” killing 50 people. The typhoon is expected to make landfall in Zhejiang province, just south of Shanghai, late Tuesday or early Wednesday, the China Meteorological Administration said. Shanghai officials fear the storm could be the worst since 2005, when Typhoon Matsa killed seven people in the city, state media said. The city aimed to move 200,000 people to more than a hundred shelters by Tuesday evening; government officials were quoted as saying. The Shanghai government ordered outdoor construction sites shut down and cancelled summer classes for children until the typhoon had eased. Authorities in Zhejiang were also rushing to get people out the path of the storm, with 256,000 residents of the province evacuated so far, state media said. More than 30,000 ships had rushed to shelter in ports. The typhoon was packing winds of up to 151 kilometres per hour and could bring up to 400 millimetres (16 inches) of rain to some areas, it said. The eastern provinces of Jiangsu and Anhui would also be affected. China is still recovering from Typhoons Damrey and Saola, which hit over the weekend. Those storms brought heavy rains that killed 23 and left nine missing. Xinhua said the heavy rains that came with the typhoons triggered mudslides and flooding, affecting hundreds of thousands of people. Typhoon Haikui’s torrential rains submerged much of the Philippine capital and surrounding areas on Tuesday, forcing nearly 270,000 people to flee their homes with more flooding expected in the north of the country as a tropical storm passes through the region, officials said. Steady rains for the past 10 days, killing more than 50 people, are set to continue until Wednesday, the Philippines weather bureau said. “It’s like Waterworld,” said Benito Ramos, head of the Philippines national disaster agency, referring to a Hollywood movie about a flooded world. Schools , financial markets, and public and private offices were ordered shut, including outsourcing firms whose corporate clients are mainly from the United States and Europe. Disaster officials said over half of Manila was swamped by floods as high as three metres, worsened by a high tide and the release of water from dams in surrounding provinces. President Benigno Aquino, in an emergency meeting briefly interrupted by a power failure at the main army base in Manila, ordered officials to exert maximum effort to aid residents in flooded areas. Officials have deployed army troops, police and emergency workers with rubber boats and amphibious trucks. –Telegraph

China Expands Its Maritime Territorial Claims (Dispatch)

Published on Jul 24, 2012 by STRATFORvideo

Stratfor East Asia analyst John Minnich discusses China‘s expansion of maritime territorial claims in the South China Sea and the security and energy implications for countries such as Vietnam and the Philippines.
For more analysis, visit: http://www.Stratfor.com

China Has Deployed ‘Combat Ready’ Patrols To The South China Sea

Robert Johnson

www.china

After months of mounting tensions that flared up with the Philippines at the Scarborough Shoal in April, China announced it’s sending “combat ready” naval and aerial patrols to the Spratly Islands. 

Jojo Malig at ABS-CBNews reports the Chinese Defense Ministry said the planes and ships will be sent to “protect Beijing’s interests” in the area.

From ABS-CBNews:

Defense Ministry spokesman Geng Yansheng said China will “resolutely oppose any militarily provocative behavior” from other countries also claiming ownership of the Spratlys.

“In order to protect national sovereignty and our security and development interests, the Chinese military has already set up a normal, combat-ready patrol system in seas under our control,” he said.

“The Chinese military’s resolve and will to defend territorial sovereignty and protect our maritime rights and interests is firm and unshakeable,” Geng added. Vietnam has launched regular air patrols over the Spratly Islands.

Vietnam and the Philippines are also claiming territory in the region which is believed to hold significant deposits of energy reserves.

This deployment comes just a week after China denounced Vietnam’s law claiming the Paracel and the Spratly’s are its own.

Reuters reports the South China Sea could be the biggest flashpoint for confrontation in Asia, a prediction that becomes only more severe as the U.S. tries to restore its influence in the region.

To that end the situation is made even more interesting with the U.S. – Philippine exercise called Cooperation Afloat Readiness and Training (CARAT) set to commence July 2.

The exercises will continue until July 10 with the U.S. Navy deploying two ships and the Philippines sending four more.

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/china-has-deployed-combat-ready-patrols-to-the-south-china-sea-2012-6#ixzz1zE8UM0sx

The US Will Re-Open Massive Philippine Bases Not Occupied Since The Cold War

Robert Johnson

 

Wikipedia Commons Subic Bay

With the U.S. moving the majority of its naval fleet to the Pacific, commanders are eagerly looking for invitations to park the planes and ships that will be pouring into the region. 

Travis Tritten at Stars and Stripes reports that the Pentagon has apparently been fanning the old flame of friendship with the Philippines and will be re-opening two bases it left in 1991 — Subic Bay and Clark Air Base.

The U.S. had a falling out with the island nation in the early nineties and pulled out of the bases, which were then built-up by a series of private developers and builders. How useful what’s left is a matter of debate, but the locations used to be major centers of operation for American forces in the Pacific.

Clark Air Base and its military reservation are 244 square miles of land that played a vital role for the U.S. during the Vietnam war and is capable of hosting the largest of America’s military aircraft.

Subic Bay played an even greater role in U.S. operations and until the withdrawal in 1991 it was the largest American overseas military base in the world. The waters at Subic Bay should have no problem hosting U.S. submarines and the largest of naval ships.

The Philippines has been embroiled in a major dispute with China in the nearby Spratley Islands and Beijing is unlikely to be happy with this news.

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/the-us-is-reopening-massive-philippine-military-bases-not-used-since-the-cold-war-2012-6#ixzz1xGsziML0

US to move majority of warships to Asia-Pacific

Posted by EU Times on Jun 2nd, 2012

The US is set to reposition its Navy fleet with the majority of its warships to be assigned to the Asia-Pacific by 2020. But this military strategy has nothing to do with US-Chinese rivalry in the region, the defense secretary assures.

The US would reposition its Navy so that 60 per cent of its warships would be assigned to the Asia-Pacific region by 2020, compared to about 50 per cent now, US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta told senior civilian and military leaders from about 30 Asia-Pacific nations at an annual security forum in Singapore.

“Some view the increased emphasis by the United States on the Asia-Pacific region as some kind of challenge to China. I reject that view entirely,” he said. “Our effort to renew and intensify our involvement in Asia is fully compatible… with the development and growth of China. Indeed, increased US involvement in this region will benefit China as it advances our shared security and prosperity for the future.”

But in laying out core US principles in the region, Panetta made clear Washington opposed any attempt by Beijing to make unilateral moves in its push for territorial rights in the oil-rich South China Sea.

Panetta’s comments came at the start of a seven-day visit to the region to prove to its Asian allies that it intends to remain a crucial military and economic power in the region to counterbalance China’s growing influence.

The trip includes stops in Vietnam and India, and comes at a time of renewed tensions over competing sovereignty claims in the South China Sea, with the Philippines, a major US ally, and China in a standoff over the Scarborough Shoal near the Filipino coast.

The US aims to reassure its allies that Washington would act to counterbalance China’s growing influence on the South China Sea as part of its foreign policy known as the “pivot to Asia”. Panetta said the US will be committed to alliances instead of new permanent bases and mentioned treaties with Japan, South Korea, Thailand, the Philippines and Australia as well as partnerships with India, Singapore, Indonesia and others.

Panetta also said Washington also would work to increase the number and size of bilateral and multilateral military training exercises it conducts in Asia-Pacific. Officials said last year the US carried out 172 such joint drills in the region.

Panetta reiterated he was committed to a “healthy, stable, reliable and continuous” military-to-military relationship with China, but underscored the need for Beijing to support a system to clarify rights in the region and help to resolve disputes.

“China has a critical role to play in advancing security and prosperity by respecting the rules-based order that has served the region for six decades,” he said.

President Obama unveiled the new US defense strategy at the start of the year. The US leader stressed that the shift in focus to Asia comes amid increasing concern at the Pentagon over China’s strategic goals. Beijing begins to field a new generation of weapons that American officials fear are designed to prevent US naval and air forces from projecting power into the Far East.

In response, Beijing warned the US to be “careful in its words and actions and do more that is beneficial to the development of relations between the two countries and their militaries.”

The Chinese Foreign Ministry stated the expanded US military presence in Asia was based on a miscalculation of Beijing’s intent to modernize its military defenses.

“The accusation targeting China in the document has no basis, and is fundamentally unrealistic,” the Foreign Ministry proclaimed back in January, shortly after the release of Washington’s new strategy. “China adheres to the path of peaceful development, an independent and peaceful foreign policy and a defensive national defense policy.”

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