Typhoons: Asia's megastorms

Thursday, May 25, 2006; Posted: 5:38 a.m. EDT (09:38 GMT)





HONG KONG, China (CNN) -- Tropical cyclones are heat engines formed over the vast expanses of water that form the world's oceans.

The energy released by a single cyclone system could, if there were a means to harness, provide enough power to supply a city for several years.

Around the world tropical cyclones are given different names.

Over the north Atlantic and East Pacific, they are called hurricanes; over the West Pacific, they are called typhoons; and over the Indian, they are called cyclones.

But they are all essentially the same phenomenon.

They form initially as thunderstorms over warm and humid tropical oceans with an unstable atmosphere.

A rotating mechanism induced by the rotation of the Earth -- the same effect that makes water spiral down a plughole -- causes the clouds to spin and become a tropical cyclone.

Weak vertical wind shear in the atmosphere is required for the clouds to develop high up into an area known as the tropopause, some 10 kilometers aloft.

Good ventilation by an upper-level anticyclone then keeps the whole storm engine running.

In Asia, tropical cyclones are classified into 4 groups according to maximum sustained winds near the center:

- Tropical depressions (less than 62 kilometers per hour)

- Tropical storms (63-87 kilometers per hour)

- Severe tropical storms (88-117 kilometers per hour)

- and typhoons (more than 117 kilometers per hour).

Different weather agencies have slightly different classifications.

For example, the US Joint Typhoon Warning Center does not have severe tropical storms, but 'super typhoons' with maximum sustained winds over 240 kilometers per hour.

Tropical cyclones over the northern hemisphere generally move in a west-northwestward direction.

The movement will be affected by other weather systems such as the sub-tropical ridge, westerly trough, or interaction with another tropical cyclone.

As these systems are constantly changing in location and intensity, the movement of tropical cyclones can vary greatly and it is always a challenge for weather agencies to produce an accurate prediction.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/asiapcf/05/25/typhoons/index.html?section=cnn_latest

Indonesia earthquake kills at least 2,700

By IRWAN FIRDAUS, Associated Press Writer
20 minutes ago

YOGYAKARTA, Indonesia - A powerful earthquake flattened homes and hotels in central Indonesia early Saturday as people slept, killing at least 2,700 and injuring thousands more in the nation's worst disaster since the 2004 tsunami.

The magnitude-6.2 quake struck at 5:54 a.m. near the ancient city of Yogyakarta, 250 miles east of the capital, Jakarta, as most people were sleeping, causing death and damage in many nearby towns.

The quake's epicenter was close to the rumbling Mount Merapi volcano, and activity increased soon after the temblor. A large burst spewed hot clouds and sent debris cascading some two miles down its western flank.

Bambang Dwiyanto of the Energy and Mineral Ministry said the two events did not appear to be directly related but warned that Saturday's earthquake could trigger a larger eruption.

"It will influence the activities of Mount Merapi, particularly in the lava dome," said Dwiyanto, head of the ministry's geological division.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060527/ap_on_re_as/indonesia_earthquake

P - Sat May 27, 7:50 AM ET A powerful earthquake killed thousands of people and flattened homes and buildings in central Indonesia early Saturday, May 27, 2006. The quake is the country's worst disaster since the 2004 Asian tsunami, officials said.

Reuters - Sat May 27, 6:07 AM ET A deadly earthquake shook the area around the ancient royal city of Yogyakarta, Indonesia early on Saturday morning. (Graphics/Reuters)

Reuters - Sat May 27, 7:03 AM ET A security officer stands guard in front of a damaged mall after an earthquake in Yogyakarta, central Java May 27, 2006. An earthquake that shook the area around Indonesia's ancient city of Yogyakarta early Saturday morning has killed at least 2,276 people, a government official said. REUTERS/Crack Palinggi

Powerful Indonesia quake kills over 3,700

By IRWAN FIRDAUS, Associated Press Writer
8 minutes ago

BANTUL, Indonesia - Desperate relatives searched rubble for survivors Saturday after a powerful earthquake flattened nearly all the buildings in this rice-farming town while residents slept, killing more than 3,500 people on Indonesia's densely populated Java island.

he magnitude-6.3 quake wounded thousands more and was the nation's worst disaster since the 2004 tsunami. It also triggered fears that a rumbling volcano nearby would erupt.
The earthquake struck at 5:54 a.m. near the famed Borobudur temple complex, caving in roofs and sending concrete walls crashing down. Thousands were wounded. Survivors screamed as they ran from their homes, some clutching bloodied children and the elderly.
The worst devastation was in the town of Bantul, where 80 percent of the homes were destroyed and more than 2,000 people killed. Residents started digging mass graves almost immediately, with family members sobbing and reading the Quran beside rows of corpses awaiting burial beneath a blazing sun.
Village heads recorded their names so the victims could be added to the official death toll. Subarjo, a 70-year-old food vendor, sobbed next to his dead wife, his house destroyed.
"I couldn't help my wife ... I was trying to rescue my children, one with a broken leg, and then the house collapsed," he said. "I have to accept this as our destiny, as God's will."
It was the recent in a series of disasters to strike Indonesia — from the 2004 tsunami that ravaged Aceh province to a widening bird flu outbreak to the threat of eruption from nearby Mount Merapi.
The United States responded with an emergency allocation of $500,000 for assistance to victims.

........

Close to 1 million tourists visit the temples every year.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060528/ap_on_re_as/indonesia_earthquake

Hunt for survivors after Indonesia quake kills around 4,000

by Bhimanto Suwastoyo
26 minutes ago


BANTUL, Indonesia (AFP) - Rescue workers dug desperately through rubble Sunday for survivors of Indonesia's earthquake as weeping relatives buried victims of the disaster which killed about 4,000 people.

Thousands of troops and emergency rescue teams joined volunteers who clawed at debris with their bare hands at the scene of Saturday's quake in Central Java, but power blackouts and heavy rain at dusk hampered efforts.

In hard-hit Bantul district south of the provincial capital Yogyakarta, the stench of bodies filled the air as soldiers used a backhoe to dig through the rubble in one neighbourhood that was completely levelled by Saturday's temblor.

The top priority in the flattened district was to "evacuate victims still trapped in the rubble, using heavy equipment," said Gendut, a provincial health official.

Residents said at least two people remained trapped in the debris.

Yuni, a woman in her 40s, searched frantically for her uncle, who lived with a maid at a house that had collapsed.

"We are resigned and willing to let him go. Our only hope is that we can find his body so we can bury him properly," she told AFP.

Bodies were still being pulled from the wreckage of homes as grieving families hurriedly buried their dead in makeshift graves in simple ceremonies as they read verses from the Koran.

There was confusion late Sunday over the death toll, with two hotlines from the same government ministry giving different figures.

Officials at one hotline run by the social affairs ministry revised down the death toll to 3,875, attributing the revision to a miscount by local authorities.

But another hotline run by the same ministry put the toll at 4,611, and those working there insisted their tally was correct.

Indonesia appealed for foreign aid. "This is a humanitarian disaster. Any country that can contribute, we are grateful for it," said Foreign Minister Hassan Wirayuda in Malaysia.

Hospitals struggled to cope with some 20,000 injured, many of whom spent the night outside, and relief workers rushed food and medical supplies to some of the 200,000 people left homeless.

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies issued an emergency appeal for nearly 10 million dollars and separate multi-million dollar aid pledges poured in from overseas.

Aid workers said the immediate priority was to treat the injured, but warned that dwindling supplies of food and water and a lack of housing could pose long-term challenges.

"Clearly the top priority right now is the treatment of injured people," UNICEF spokesman John Budd told AFP.

"There are three hospitals in Bantul and five in Yogyakarta -- all are overwhelmed and they are not even treating the slightly injured any more," he said.

Anton Susanto, a member of the UNICEF assessment team already in the quake zone, said 30 to 40 percent of those injured were children, with many suffering from head wounds and broken bones.

"People are just laid out everywhere," he said. "People are still very, very traumatised. Frequent aftershocks are still going on."

More than 470 aftershocks shook parts of Java, further terrifying residents who were afraid to return to their homes.

Adding to the fear, Mount Merapi -- a volcano north of the quake's epicenter -- continued to simmer after weeks of spewing lava and heat clouds that saw 20,000 people evacuated from their homes amid a major eruption alert.

Most of the major damage and casualties from the quake occurred in towns and villages in the lush green farming belt south of the ancient city of Yogyakarta, with a population of 1.5 million.

Susanto said survivors were streaming into the city from worse-affected areas in search of aid and shelter.

As volunteers distributed food, bottled water, tents, tarpaulins and baby kits, troops battled to repair cracks in Yogyakarta's airport runway to speed the arrival of aid.

But some survivors complained help was coming too slowly.

"Since yesterday, no district officials have come to check on us," Tugio, whose hamlet of Plesetan was razed, told AFP.

The 6.3-magnitude quake also damaged the Prambanan compound of Hindu temples but the nearby Borobudur Buddhist temple complex was left unscathed.

It toppled intricately carved columns and dislodged numerous massive concrete blocks at Prambanan, built in the ninth and 10th century.

It was Indonesia's third major disaster in 18 months, following the 2004 Asian tsunami catastrophe which killed 168,000 in Sumatra and another quake that killed more than 600 people in Nias in March last year.

The Jakarta government has earmarked 50 billion rupiah (5.5 million dollars) for relief operations.

Offers of help came from around the world including the United States, Pakistan, Canada, China, Britain, Saudi Arabai, South Korea and France. Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, Japan, Turkey and Norway despatched emergency medical teams.

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan led those expressing grief.

"The secretary general is deeply saddened by the loss of life, the hundreds of injuries and the destruction suffered by the people of Indonesia," a UN spokesman said.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060528/wl_afp/indonesiaquake_060528141826;_ylt=AhmuvBnzwOuQVpjE7Prbjt_9xg8F;_ylu=X3oDMTA2ZGZwam4yBHNlYwNmYw--

Indonesia declares emergency after quake kills 4,600

Reuters - Sun May 28, 3:17 PM ET

BANTUL, Indonesia - Indonesia's government declared a state of emergency after a quake killed more than 4,600 people, and rescue workers raced against time on Monday in the hope of finding survivors under the debris of razed homes. Some 35,000 buildings around the city of Yogyakarta were reduced to rubble when a 6.3 magnitude earthquake struck at the crack of dawn on Saturday.

http://news.yahoo.com/fc/world/indonesia

Last Updated: Sunday, 28 May 2006, 12:38 GMT 13:38 UK

Yogyakarta: A city rich in culture




The city of Yogyakarta is one of Indonesia's most important - rich in history and culture and a major tourist attraction.
The ancient royal capital in Yogyakarta province lies in south-central Java, about 440km (275 miles) south-east of Jakarta, and is one of Indonesia's largest cities.

Visitors flock to sample its culture and visit two great religious monuments within 30km of the city itself.

The Buddhist temple of Borobudur, a Unesco world heritage site, is arguably the jewel in the province's crown.

Built in the 9th century, the impressive stone structure measuring 34.5 metres (113 feet) is South East Asia's largest Buddhist monument, but was hidden for centuries under layers of volcanic ash from the nearby Mount Merapi volcano.



It was rediscovered in 1814 by British colonial administrator Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles, and after a restoration programme in the 1970s and 1980s, it has become both a major centre of Buddhist pilgrimage and a key tourist attraction.

Nearby on the Prambanan plain is the Prambanan Hindu temple. Comprising about 250 separate temples, the complex - also dating back to the 9th century - is the largest temple complex in Java.

The temple complex, also listed by Unesco as a world heritage site, was reported to have been badly damaged by the quake.

Initial surveys showed collapsed stone walls and statues lying scattered around the site, although the main building was said to have remained intact.

A hotel worker near the Borobudur temple said the monument was undamaged, although some nearby structures had collapsed, according to Reuters news agency.

But the French news agency AFP said photographs indicated the ancient site had suffered some damage, with some of its many intricate religious carvings falling to the ground.

Theatre and music

In the centre of Yogyakarta city, the Sultan's Palace and the adjacent water castle also attract crowds of visitors.




The Sultan's Palace, or Kraton, was founded in 1755 by Prince Mangkubumi, and is surrounded by a densely-populated neighbourhood.

The city itself is home to about 1.5 million people, while the province - the only Indonesian province still formally ruled by a pre-colonial sultanate - has a population of about three million.

The city, which is divided into 14 districts, is well known for its rich culture, including its leather shadow puppets - or Wayang Kulit, traditional gamelan music, and dance.

It is also an important centre of contemporary art, and a school of Indonesian modern painting is named after the city.

Silver and leather work and batik are among the specialities of Yogyakarta craftsmen.

The city is also known as an important centre of higher education in Indonesia, attracting students from across the country.

Yogyakarta province is one of Indonesia's most densely-populated, with the majority of its inhabitants living off the land, producing crops including rice, peanuts, sugar and cocoa.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/5023390.stm

Indonesian quake toll jumps past 5,000


AP - 44 minutes ago

BANTUL, Indonesia - The death toll from a 6.3-magnitude earthquake in Indonesia rose by more than 800 Monday to 5,137, according to the government. Meanwhile, emergency aid began arriving, but officials said the supplies were not reaching survivors quickly enough. The government's Social Affairs Ministry said the revised death toll included previously uncounted bodies buried in mass graves immediately after the quake.

http://news.yahoo.com/fc/world/indonesia

Eruption of Mount Merapi still possible


By IRWAN FIRDAUS, Associated Press Writer
6 minutes ago

MOUNT MERAPI, Indonesia - Villagers living on Mount Merapi's slopes watched as it spit out searing clouds of smoke and lava Monday amid warnings a large eruption was still possible in the aftermath of Indonesia's powerful earthquake.

Activity the volcano has increased since Saturday's earthquake, with hot clouds spewed out an average of 150 times a day, compared with 50 times before, said Subandriyo, chief of the Merapi volcanology and monitoring office.

The rumbling volcano expelled lava and hot clouds Monday morning, sending debris tumbling 2 1/2 miles down the mountain, he said.

"The earthquake has caused instability in the lava dome," said Subandriyo, who like many Indonesians uses only one name. "There is still a chance that a big eruption might occur."

Mount Merapi, which means "Fire Mountain," is one of the world's most active volcanos and has erupted scores of times in the last 200 years, often with deadly results.

The 9,800-foot volcano has been rumbling and spewing smoke and lava for weeks. Residents in the danger zone were ordered to evacuate earlier this month, but scores have remained, and say its latest activity has done little to change their minds.

"For us, life is going on as usual. This morning I tended the crops, some corn plants, and now I'm hauling grass to feed my cows," said Bardi as he headed down the mountain with a mound of grass. "I'm not afraid of Merapi."

Chew Soon Hoe, an associate professor of engineering geology at the National University of Singapore, said Merapi's renewed activity and the earthquake are related. Both are in the same subduction zone — the area where one tectonic plate slides under another plate — along a boundary between the Euro-Asia plate and the India-Australia plate, he said.

"This ocean plate ... is the cause of the recent earthquake and volcanic activity in Indonesia," Chew said. "Because it is very near, the energy released by the quake will accelerate or perturb the activity of the volcano."

David Booth, a seismologist with the British Geological Survey, disagreed, saying the quake would not necessarily cause the volcano to erupt. He said the plates that shifted to cause the earthquake did not necessarily open cracks in the surface that would be needed to cause a volcanic eruption.

"Volcanoes are all about creating pathways for the magma to move up to the surface," Booth said in a telephone interview. "It's like a lemonade bottle having been shaken. There is enormous pressure there. But if there isn't a pathway to the surface, then the pressure will stay contained."

___

Associated Press writers Tanalee Smith in Singapore and Mike Casey in Bangkok contributed to this report.

AP - Mon May 29, 10:24 AM ET Activity on Indonesia's Mount Merapi, shown here in this file photo from May 14, 2006, has increased since an earthquake elsewhere in the country on Saturday, experts say, and a large eruption is still possible. (AP Photo/Ed Wray, File)

AP - Tue May 30, 4:22 AM ET U.S. soldiers arrive at the Adi Sucipto airport in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, Tuesday, May 30, 2006. About 20 U.S. Marines arrived on two military cargo planes in the historic city of Yogyakarta and unloaded heavy lifting machinery and a portable field hospital, as Malaysians, Chinese and Japanese joined Indonesian teams providing medical care and emergency supplies to some 200,000 people left homeless.(AP Photo/Achmad Ibrahim)

China's worst storm in decades arrives


By GILLIAN WONG, Associated Press Writer
58 minutes ago

BEIJING - The most powerful typhoon to hit China in five decades slammed into its southeastern coast Thursday, destroying hundreds of homes and battering the region with rain and wind after more than 1.3 million people were evacuated, state media reported. At least two people were killed.

Typhoon Saomai was the eighth major storm to strike China in this summer's unusually violent typhoon season. Torrential rains were forecast in the next three days as it churned inland across crowded areas where Tropical Storm Bilis killed more than 600 people last month.

Saomai, with winds up to 135 mph, made landfall at the town of Mazhan in coastal Zhejiang province at 5:25 p.m. and was moving northwest at 12 mph, the Xinhua News Agency said, citing weather officials.

Xinhua said two people were killed in the city of Fuding, while 80 people were injured and more than 1,000 houses toppled in and around Mazhan.

Saomai was the most powerful typhoon to hit China since the founding of the communist government in 1949, Xinhua said, citing the Zhejiang provincial weather bureau.

Before its arrival, at least 760,000 people were evacuated from flood-prone areas of Zhejiang and 569,000 from the neighboring coastal province of Fujian, Xinhua said. It said a total of 70,000 ships had returned to port in the two provinces.

The area is about 950 miles south of Beijing, the Chinese capital, which was not affected by the storm.

In Hong Kong, airport officials said Thursday that 10 flights between Hong Kong and Taiwan and the mainland city of Fuzhou had been canceled and 16 flights delayed as of midafternoon.

In the central and southern Philippines, two people died and seven others were reported missing after giant waves and heavy rains generated by the typhoon battered coastal villages this week, officials said.

More than 200 houses built on stilts were destroyed as waves up to 10 feet tall ravaged the coast of Bongao, the capital of southern Tawi-Tawi province, before dawn Wednesday, provincial Gov. Sadikul Sahali said. A child died and another was reported missing, he said.

"There is floating debris everywhere," Sahali said.

Elsewhere, a man was killed as big waves washed away about 200 shanties in seaside villages in Talisay city on central Cebu island early Wednesday, the civil defense office said.

Saomai passed across the Japan's Okinawa island group on Wednesday with winds up to 89 mph, prompting airlines to cancel 141 flights and affecting 24,000 passengers.

China's weather bureau had forecast unusually heavy typhoon action this summer, saying warmer than normal Pacific currents and weather patterns over Tibet would create bigger storms and draw them farther inland.

Bilis triggered flooding and landslides as far inland as Hunan province, hundreds of miles from the coast.

Most of the deaths happened in areas away from coastal communities that have elaborate dike networks and a long history of evacuating flood-prone areas.

Typhoon Prapiroon lashed China's southern coast last week, killing at least 80 people in floods and landslides in Guangdong province and neighboring Guangxi.

Even as Saomai stormed ashore, Chinese forecasters were already closely watching Tropical Storm Bopha, which trailed behind it farther out in the Pacific. Bopha crossed Taiwan overnight with sustained winds of 40 mph but no major damage or casualties were reported.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060810/ap_on_re_as/asia_typhoon

Group: 54,700 dead, missing in N. Korea

By KWANG-TAE KIM, Associated Press Writer
1 hour, 26 minutes ago



SEOUL, South Korea - A South Korean aid group claimed Wednesday that massive floods in North Korea last month left about 54,700 people dead or missing and some 2.5 million homeless. The figure is by far the highest toll reported from floods that hit the impoverished communist country in mid-July.

The Seoul-based private aid agency Good Friends claimed it has "many sources" inside North Korea but didn't say where it obtained the information, which could not be independently confirmed because the North tightly controls media and information.

Good Friends' previous reports of activities inside the isolated country have been confirmed by South Korean government sources, although some of the aid group's figures have been disputed.

North Korea's official media have reported that "hundreds" were killed in the floods, without giving specific numbers.

Choson Sinbo, a newspaper published by a pro-North Korean association linked to the North, said this month that the floods killed at least 549 people and left 295 others missing.

Officials with South Korea's Red Cross and Unification Ministry, North Korea's economic cooperation office in Beijing and other agencies could not immediately be reached for comment Wednesday.

Representatives of Good Friends refused to elaborate on their report, saying they feared their sources would face government reprisal.

The agency said the floods destroyed more than 230 bridges and inundated hundreds of thousands of acres of farmland, further straining the North's ability to feed its population.

North Korea has relied on foreign food handouts since the mid-1990s, when famine caused by natural disasters and decades of mismanagement is believed to have killed up to 2 million people.

"Food prices are skyrocketing as food distribution has become nearly impossible" due to the floods, the agency said.

The agency also claimed the North, to curb possible unrest, prevented those left homeless from traveling.

A South Korean citizens' group said last week that North Korea had requested help from the South to cope with the devastation from the floods.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060816/ap_on_re_as/nkorea_floods

AFP/File - Thu Aug 17, 10:20 AM ET Farmers work their land in Dashuigou (Big Water Gulch), on a plateau beside the Tai Hang Mountains(rear) on the outskirts of Zhangjiakou. Areas of western China are enduring their worst drought in 50 years, with at least 14 million people suffering from a shortage of drinking water.(AFP/File/Frederic J.Brown)

http://news.yahoo.com/photo/060817/photos_wl_pc_afp/62d2ec283540eac19c6447e2d06e0309

AFP/Graphic - Fri Sep 29, 7:03 AM ET Graphic showing the path of Typhoon Xangsane. Emergency workers were mounting a massive clean-up operation after the strongest typhoon to pound Manila in a decade left a trail of devastation, at least 40 people dead and millions more without power before heading toward Vietnam.(AFP/Graphic)

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Vietnam set to evacuate before typhoon

By TRAN VAN MINH, Associated Press Writer
Fri Sep 29, 10:39 AM ET


HANOI, Vietnam - Vietnam prepared to evacuate thousands of people from the central coast Friday as a powerful typhoon approached from the Philippines, where it killed at least 48 people and left dozens missing.

Typhoon Xangsane was briefly downgraded to a tropical storm as it moved toward the South China Sea, but regained strength, packing winds of 75 mph and gusts of up to 93 mph, the Philippine weather bureau reported.

The typhoon is expected to make landfall in Vietnam on Sunday, with the eye of the storm likely to hit Danang and the neighboring province of Quang Ngai, said Bui Minh Tang, director of the country's national weather forecast center.

"It's as powerful as Typhoon Chanchu," he said, referring to the May storm that killed 20 Vietnamese fishermen and left more than 250 people missing.

In the Philippines, financial markets, schools and government offices in the capital Manila remained closed for a second day Friday since Xangsane slammed ashore late Wednesday.

Most of the deaths occurred in Laguna province south of Manila where at least 33 people were killed in landslides and flash floods, provincial social welfare director Ernesto Montecillo said. Another 29 people were missing in the same province and more than 70,000 people fled their homes.

Montecillo said portions of the northern and southern slopes of Mount Makiling eroded, sending mud and boulders down on at least three hillside shanties, killing 10 people. Rescue workers were still digging for four other people.

The casualty figures and the number of evacuees were based on partial reports from 23 of the 30 towns and cities in the province. "The numbers will surely increase when we get reports from other municipalities," Montecillo said.

Among dozens of missing were at least 30 people in General Trias town, about 25 miles south of Manila. Police officer Quintin Trinidad said only one body had been recovered.

The entire northern island of Luzon, including Manila, was left without power on Thursday but electricity was restored to 36 percent of customers by Friday, the state-run National Transmission Corp. reported.

Chinese state media said the typhoon was likely to skirt Hainan, the country's southernmost island and a popular tourist destination. Strong winds and heavy rains were expected, however.

Xangsane, the Laotian word for elephant, is the 10th typhoon this season.

Associated Press Writer Oliver Teves contributed to this report from Manila.

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http://www.thanhnien.com.vn/Xahoi/2006/9/29/164177.tno

This NOAA satellite image shows Typhoon Xangsane's eye midway between the Philippines and Taiwan, with a band of bad weather extending Northeast along the Ryukyu Island chain into Japan:



http://www.avsim.com/hangar/utils/mvchallenges/mvtyfoon/MVtyfoon.html

Vietnam evacuates thousands in path of typhoon

By Nguyen Nhat Lam
2 hours, 20 minutes ago

HANOI (Reuters) - Vietnam evacuated tens of thousands of people on the central coast and halted domestic flights ahead of the expected landfall of Typhoon Xangsane late on Saturday or early Sunday, officials said.

The typhoon killed at least 61 people and left a trail of destruction in the Philippines. It was expected to pound the 1,000-km (600-mile) coastline of central Vietnam which prepared for torrential rains, flooding and landslides.

Vietnam Television reported more than 200,000 people in four central provinces had been evacuated in the biggest such operation in three decades.

"The wind is getting stronger and stronger here, we expect the storm to make landfall late tonight or very early tomorrow morning," said an official of the flood and storm prevention committee in the central city of Danang.

"We have closed the airport and completed the evacuation of all people living in vulnerable areas." State-run VTV showed footage of residents in Quang Nam province using sandbags and digging tunnels to hide from the storm.

Vietnam Airlines said it had grounded all domestic flights until Sunday while international flights would be re-routed to avoid the storm.

The typhoon was expected to pass through the historic city of Hue just north of Danang, the southeast Asian country's fourth largest city, and Quang Ngai, 130km south of Danang.

Weather officials said the storm would skirt the coffee-growing area of the Central Highlands. Vietnam is the world's second largest coffee grower after Brazil.

Authorities were calling in all fishing vessels and urging them to take shelter. State media quoted the National Flood and Storm Prevention Committee as saying it was unable to make contact with about 500 fishing vessels still at sea.

Xangsane, which means "elephant" in the Lao language, was a category 4 storm in the South China Sea on Saturday that can carry winds of 211-250 km (132-156 miles) per hour, according to www.tropicalstormrisk.com.

The Vietnam national weather center said the typhoon's winds were measured at up to 149 kph and it was moving west at 20 kph. It forecast waves as high as 10 metres.

The storm tracking site forecast the typhoon to hit the coast of mostly rural, densely-populated Vietnam at about 1800 GMT on Saturday (1 a.m. on Sunday in Vietnam).

In May, 267 people, mostly fishermen, were killed or were unaccounted for after typhoon Chanchu struck Vietnam's central coastline. Vietnam's storm forecast system and preparations were criticised for failing to forecast the direction of the storm.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060930/wl_nm/weather_vietnam_dc_2

Typhoon Xangsane Is Forecast to Strike Hue, Vietnam, by Noon

By Francisco Alcuaz Jr.

Oct. 1 (Bloomberg) -- Typhoon Xangsane, which left at least 61 dead when it hit the Philippines three days ago, is forecast to hit Hue, Vietnam, by noon, according to a U.S. Navy forecast.

Xangsane was 144 miles (232 kilometers) east southeast of the Vietnamese coastal city at 3 a.m. local time, moving toward it at about 10 miles (16 kilometers) per hour, according to a report on the Naval Pacific Meteorology and Oceanography Joint Typhoon Warning Center Web site. It will weaken into a ``significant tropical cyclone'' when it hits land, the forecast said. Xangsane had sustained winds of 105 miles per hour, making it a Category 2 storm on the five-tier Saffir-Simpson scale, according to forecasters.

As of last night, 200,000 people in four central Vietnamese provinces had been evacuated, the biggest such operation in 30 years, Reuters reported.

Reuters and Vietnamese newspapers said the typhoon was expected to bring rains that would cause flooding and landslides.

Xangsane is the 18th storm of this year's Pacific cyclone season. Last year, about 50 people were killed when eight typhoons and tropical storms made landfall in Vietnam, Nguyen Tien Toan, a senior official at the National Committee for Flood and Storm Control in Hanoi, said on Sept. 29.

Airports and airlines suspended operations, Reuters said. Still, Xangsane probably won't hit the coffee-growing area of Vietnam, the world's second-largest coffee exporter after Brazil, the report said.

To contact the reporters on this story: Francisco Alcuaz Jr. in Manila at falcuaz@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: September 30, 2006 21:46 EDT

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601080&sid=aTQyxCXIwTqo

http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/159376main_xangsane_lg.jpg

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http://www.voanews.com/vietnamese/2006-09-30-voa6.cfm

Sunday, 1 October 2006, 08:27 GMT 09:27 UK

Typhoon Xangsane hits Vietnam




Typhoon Xangsane has lashed the central Vietnamese city of Danang and damaged hundreds of homes on the neighbouring coastline, knocking out power.
Trees were uprooted and boats capsized as heavy rain and winds of up to a 180km/h (110mph) hit Danang.

Houses along the coast had their roofs blown off and electricity poles were knocked down causing power cuts.

Typhoon Xangsane pounded central and northern Philippines earlier this week, killing at least 30 people.

"It is too dangerous to go outside right now," an official in Danang told Reuters news agency. "We have also closed the city to traffic."

Authorities have reinforced sea defences and evacuated abut 200,000 residents.

But hundreds of fishermen are still at sea and at least one person has been injured.

National carrier Vietnam Airlines said it had cancelled 48 domestic flights.

Trains with thousands of passengers were reportedly stuck in the region.

Localised damage

The provincial governor of nearby Thua Thien Hue province, Nguyen Xuan Ly, said five people were injured by falling debris. He said nearly 1,000 soldiers and police had been mobilised to help.



However the BBC's Bill Hayton in Hanoi says the effects of the typhoon seem localised so far, with the towns of Hue and Quang Ngai - about 100km (60 miles) to the north and south respectively - reporting conditions that were not too bad.

Xangsane caused severe damage in the Philippines, leaving many roads and bridges impassable. Dozens of people are still missing there.

The typhoon was the strongest to hit the capital, Manila, in 11 years, weather officials said.

Government offices and schools there remained closed on Friday as emergency crews worked to fix power lines and clear fallen debris.

More than 60,000 people have reportedly been affected by the aftermath of the typhoon - landslides, floods and wind damage to agriculture and infrastructure.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/5394626.stm

Sunday, October 1, 2006 10:05:21 Vietnam (GMT+07)

Typhoon Xangsane forecast to strike imperial city by noon

Typhoon Xangsane hit central Danang city late lastnight
Typhoon Xangsane, which left at least 61 dead when it hit the Philippines three days ago, is forecast to hit Vietnam central ancient Hue capital by noon, according to a US Navy forecast.

Xangsane was 144 miles (232 kilometers) east southeast of the Vietnamese coastal city at 3am local time, moving toward it at about 10 miles (16 kilometers) per hour, according to a report on the Naval Pacific Meteorology and Oceanography Joint Typhoon Warning Center Web site.

It will weaken into a “significant tropical cyclone” when it hits land, the forecast said.

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http://www.thanhniennews.com/travel/?catid=7&newsid=20666

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Sunday, October 1, 2006 15:58:26 Vietnam (GMT+07)

Typhoon kills 6, injures 51 in Vietnam

Vietnamese people are evacuated in Vietnam's central resort city of Danang
Typhoon Xangsane barreled into central Vietnam later on Saturday, killing six and injuring tens of people, while cutting electricity and many telephone lines, according to the Vietnamese rescue operation.

Six people died and 51 people were injured in four provinces, the first reports released by the rescue operation said.

Strong winds uprooted trees and destroyed roofs in the central city of Danang, where the Han river broke its banks for several hours, an AFP journalist witnessed Sunday.

Air and train travel across the country was disrupted.

Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Sinh Hung said authorities evacuated around 300,000 people ahead of the storm, which dumped heavy rains on several heavily-populated areas of central Vietnam, including the region's popular tourist beach resorts.

"I think this will be one of the biggest storms to hit Vietnam in the past few decades," Le Huy Ngo, head of the steering committee on flood and storm control, told AFP at the rescue center in Danang.

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http://www.thanhniennews.com/society/?catid=3&newsid=20680


Typhoon Xangsane Lashes Vietnam, Leaves Three Dead (Update3)

By Nguyen Dieu Tu Uyen and Francisco Alcuaz Jr.

Oct. 1 (Bloomberg) -- Typhoon storm Xangsane lashed Danang City and neighboring Quang Nam province this morning, destroying homes, roads, farms and boats and cutting power in central Vietnam. Three people were killed and 72 injured, Vietnam Television said.

Xangsane was 15 miles (24 kilometers) west of Danang and traveling further inland as fast as 12 miles per hour at 10 a.m. local time, Vietnam's Meteorological Office said on its Web site. Winds at the center ranged from 55 mph to 72 mph. It weakened on hitting land, prompting its downgrade to a severe tropical storm from a typhoon, Central Meteorological Office director Bui Minh Tang said. "The storm's eye left Vietnam and entered Laos early this afternoon", he said in a telephone interview.

"Losses are big, but I'm afraid that there will be more and more losses", Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Sinh Hung said on state TV from Danang, the nation's fourth-largest city.

Xangsane, which means elephant in Laotian, is the 18th storm of this year's Pacific cyclone season. Last year, about 50 people were killed when eight typhoons and tropical storms made landfall in Vietnam. Xangsane struck the Philippines three days ago, leaving at least 76 people dead, that country's Office of Civil Defense said today.

River Rising

Vietnam state TV showed flooded residential areas and rice fields and uprooted trees. It reported that parts of Ho Chi Minh highway, one of the main transportation arteries, had collapsed. About 4,000 people were cut off on an island off Quang Nam.

The Huong River was rising, threatening the ancient imperial capital of Hue, Nguyen Xuan Ly, chairman of the Hue People's Committee, said in a telephone interview. About 3,500 homes were destroyed or lost all or parts of their roofs.

Xangsane also "seriously damaged'' Hoi An, a United Nations cultural heritage site, Ho Thi Thanh Lam, vice chairwoman of the Quang Nam People's Committee, said in a separate interview. The roofs of many houses were torn off and ``a lot of ships anchored at port have been broken because of the strong waves,'' Lam said.

More than 200,000 people were evacuated from Danang City and seven provinces, Van Phu Chinh, head of the flood and storm control committee for the central provinces, said in an interview.

Vietnam Airlines said some flights to Danang and other destinations in central Vietnam had been canceled. It planned to resume service between Hanoi in the north and Ho Chi Minh in the south at 2 p.m. local time.

To contact the reporters on this story: Nguyen Dieu Tu Uyen in Hanoi at unguyen1@bloomberg.net ; Francisco Alcuaz Jr. in Manila at falcuaz@bloomberg.net

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601080&sid=aXeEWHSelKMQ

http://www.thanhnien.com.vn/Xahoi/2006/10/1/164397.tno

Sunday, October 1, 2006 15:58:26 Vietnam (GMT+07)

Typhoon death toll up to 16 in Vietnam



The most beautiful road along the sea in central Danang city was seriously damaged
At least 16 people were killed and dozens more injured when Typhoon Xangsane hit central Vietnam at the weekend, lashing the area with heavy rain, state television VTV has said.

Rescuer officials in the central city of Danang, which was hard hit by the massive storm, had put the death toll at six late Sunday.

The National Steering Committee for Flood and Storm Prevention said nearly 200 people were injured.

At least 300,000 people were evacuated ahead of the arrival of the typhoon on Sunday, which might have saved lots of lives.

Sixteen were killed, VTV said.

Sources in Danang said officials would release a new toll at about 10:00am (03:00 GMT) today, based on field reports from rescuers.

Xangsane - which packed maximum sustained winds of 148 kilometers (90 miles) an hour early Sunday, according to the Hong Kong observatory - has already claimed the lives of at least 76 people in the Philippines.

Source: AFP

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http://www.alertnet.org/thefacts/reliefresources/TSR/200618W_18W.htm

Tuesday, October 3, 2006 11:14:13 Vietnam (GMT+07)




A powerful typhoon that slammed into Vietnam's central coast over the weekend killed at least 41 people and forced tens of thousands from their homes, AP quoted disaster officials as saying Tuesday.
Typhoon Xangsane hit the port city of Danang especially hard. Twenty-six people were killed in Danang, most when their homes collapsed, city disaster official Huynh Van Thang told AP.

The toll could rise as reports of casualties were still coming in from districts where communications were poor.

In neighboring province of Quang Nam, 12 people were killed, deputy provincial governor Nguyen Ngoc Quang said Tuesday.

Two people were killed and another was still missing in Quang Tri province, and another was killed in Quang Binh province, according to the National Floods and Storms Control Committee.

Before wreaking havoc in Vietnam, Xangsane struck the Philippines late last week, killing at least 78 people and leaving 69 missing.

In Vietnam, many in hard-hit areas found their homes demolished, while others discovered they still had foundations upon which to rebuild. Virtually everyone along the coast from Danang to the ancient city of Hoi An will have some rebuilding to do.

"When I returned home, there was nothing left," Pham Thi Thanh of Son Tra District in Danang said Monday. "Luckily, all my four family members are safe."

Soldiers were mobilized to help villagers clean up and repair their homes, officials said.

Source: AP

http://www.thanhniennews.com/society/?catid=3&newsid=20725

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Central Vietnam suffers mass destruction from typhoon Xangsane

Thousands of houses in four hard hit provinces were damaged
At least 16 people died, and thousands of houses collapsed or had their roofs blown off after typhoon Xangsane swept through central Vietnam Sunday, state television VTV said Monday.

http://www.thanhniennews.com/society/?catid=3&newsid=20680

TYPHOON XANGSANE CLAIMS 30 LIVES IN VIETNAM, US$401MLN IN DAMAGE

Wednesday October 4, 2006, 12:55 pm

HANOI, Oct 4 Asia Pulse - The death toll from Typhoon Xangsane, which battered central Vietnam on Oct. 1, had risen to 30 by 7 am Oct. 3, including 26 deaths in Da Nang city, according to the Central Board for Storm Prevention.

In addition, one person was reported missing and 269 others injured by the most powerful storm to hit the country in the past ten years.

The total loss in property was estimated at over 6.437 trillion VND (US$401 million).

Typhoon Xangsane demolished and swept away over 6,200 houses, unroofed over 200,000 others, and damaged over 5,200 hectares of rice and other crops. About 280 ha of water surface for aquaculture were inundated, 786 docked ships were sunk, and many roads and irrigation works destroyed.

However, the typhoon's devastation, especially regarding human lives and ships, was restricted thanks to drastic preparedness of all localities and close coordination of agencies and sectors, according to Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Sinh Hung.

To overcome the aftermath, the Deputy PM instructed local authorities to give urgent assistance to families of the dead, injured and those having lost houses, ensuring no person be hungry or homeless.

He also asked for young forces to join the army in rebuilding infirmaries and schools to provide people with health care services and help children return to school.

The State will provide medicine for disinfection and disease treatment, and varieties of animals and plants for production, restore irrigation works, telecom networks and particularly rural roads for transport and relief work.

(VNA)

http://au.biz.yahoo.com/061004/17/wzo7.html

Death toll from Typhoon Xangsane rises to 169 in Philippines and Vietnam

Updated 10/4/2006 9:17 AM ET




Tran Thi Em, 77, cries amidst the rubble of her house that was destroyed by Typhoon Xangsane in Danang, Vietnam, on October 2, 2006.

HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — Floods triggered by heavy rains submerged tens of thousands of Vietnamese homes Wednesday in the aftermath of Typhoon Xangsane, which killed at least 169 people in Vietnam and the Philippines, officials said.
Vietnam's toll from the storm, which slammed into the country's central coast on Sunday, rose to 59 killed and four missing. The Philippines, which bore the brunt of the storm last week, reported 110 dead and 79 missing, as officials in both countries continued to tally the casualties and assess the damage.

In the central Vietnamese port city of Danang, 22 people were killed and four were missing, said disaster official Huynh Van Thang. Officials previously had said 26 people were killed by the typhoon, most by collapsing homes.

Another 14 people were killed in neighboring Quang Nam province, eight in Ha Tinh, four each in the provinces of Nghe An, Quang Tri and Thua Thien Hue, and three in Quang Binh province, disaster officials in these provinces said.

The damage is estimated at $625 million, according to the National Floods and Storms Control Committee.

Some 15,000 houses were destroyed and 244,000 others were damaged in nine affected central provinces, the committee's report said.

Students had to stay at home as most schools in Danang were damaged by the typhoon, Thang said. Authorities hoped to reopen the schools by the weekend.

Although rains had stopped on in most central provinces by Tuesday, heavy rains continued Wednesday in the provinces of Ha Tinh and Nghe An, unleashing floods that caused some of the newly reported deaths, officials said.

Phan Nguyen Tung, a disaster official in Ha Tinh province, said rivers in the province are still rising slowly and are expected to peak Thursday.

Nearly 10,000 homes were submerged, many in up to 10 feet of water, he said.

The national government announced it will provide 1,500 tons of rice and $3.1 million to the flood victims.

More than 200,000 people were evacuated ahead of the typhoon and that has helped to minimize casualties, officials have said.

http://www.usatoday.com/weather/storms/2006-10-03-asia-typhoon_x.htm?csp=34