Typhoon Leaves 21 Dead or Missing, 20,000 Displaced in Philippines

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Tuesday, July 09, 2002

Typhoon Leaves 21 Dead or Missing, 20,000 Displaced in Philippines

A total of 21 individuals including five South Koreans have been rendered dead or missing since Typhoon "Gloria" (international coded Chata'an) hit the Philippines on Saturday night.

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A total of 21 individuals including five South Koreans have been rendered dead or missing since Typhoon "Gloria" (international coded Chata'an) hit the Philippines on Saturday night.

The chance for the missing ones to be recovered alive has been very thin. In addition to the fatalities, some 30 people were alsoinjured, and around 20,000 were forced to leave their submerged residence, the Philippine Star on-line news reported on Monday.

Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has directed disaster coordination authorities and the Philippine Air Force to step up on the rescue work. At least two provinces have declared state of calamity because of the flooding and landslides.

Classes at all schools were suspended, and brief power outages happened in some areas in Manila as strong winds entwisted power lines and prompted automatic safety devices to switch off, officials said.

Many of the evacuees were packed into temporary camps set up inschool buildings and government facilities. Most of them were urban poor squatting on land beside open sewers and rivers.

Three of the 18 already confirmed dead were South Korean tourists who drowned when their boat capsized in rough waters south of Manila on Saturday, while two of the missing ones were also South Koreans on the overturned boat. An unidentified Filipino is also missing.

"Gloria", packing winds of up to 170 km an hour, poured torrential rains on this Southeast Asian archipelago on its way tosouthern Japan. Weather experts said they are expecting more rainfall in the next two or three days as another low-pressure area spotted to the northeast of the country is likely to turn into a new typhoon.

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