The Philippines need your help

[nancyk58]

WITH ‘DRAGON WOMAN’ OUT, RP CLIMATE TEAM LOSES TEETH

 

(By PIA FAUSTINO, GMANews.TV - 12/16/2009 | 01:05 AM )

 

COPENHAGEN, Denmark – On the eve of President Gloria Arroyo’s arrival for the most important meeting on climate change in over a decade, the Philippine delegation is in apparent disarray. Some of the country’s foremost climate change experts suddenly found themselves excluded, including diplomat and negotiator Bernaditas de Castro Muller, nicknamed “dragon woman" by her adversaries for her toughness.

 

Meanwhile, it is still unclear who is part of the official Philippine delegation, with some experts already in Copenhagen when they learned that they were excluded. Without accreditation, some of them could not enter the Bella Center, the conference venue, for several days. Some Filipinos are literally out in the cold, with freezing temperatures outside the center where the unaccredited line up and huddle. Heavy snow is expected in Copenhagen this week.

 

While the final list of delegates, including those accompanying Arroyo as she touches down here on Wednesday, is still a mystery, it is already widely known who has been omitted.

 

Aside from Muller, other key persons removed from the Philippine delegation included Joyceline Goco of the Inter-agency Committee on Climate Change at the Environmental Management Bureau of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, as well as Dr. Rodel Lasco, an internationally-renowned forestry expert and member of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Representatives from a number of civil society groups were also removed.

 

EXCLUSION OF A HARD LINER

The most stunning omission was Muller, who has more than 20 years of negotiating experience and has become famous in climate change circles for her hard-line stance towards rich countries, hence her nickname, mentioned with grudging respect by Western peers.

 

Muller, a retired Philippine diplomat now based in Switzerland, has been one of the most vocal negotiators in calling for developed countries to fulfill their obligations under the Kyoto Protocol (1997) to fully fund emission reduction and climate adaptation efforts in poor countries.

 

Muller’s role in negotiating for the interests of the developing world “cannot be underestimated," said Lim Li Lin, legal adviser to the Malaysia-based NGO Third World Network. “You really have few negotiators with the institutional memory and depth of understanding about the process, convention, and issues being discussed here. Clearly, [Mrs. Muller] was seen as a threat to the developed countries who have a lot atstake in these negotiations." Muller has since been "adopted" as an adviser by Sudan, enabling Muller to continue negotiating on behalf of the G77 bloc of 130 poor countries but without waving the Philippine flag.

 

Without an official explanation, conspiracy theories abound about Muller’s exclusion from her country's delegation, including US pressure to have the “dragon woman" removed.

 

“A lot of things have changed in the Philippine position since Hillary (Clinton) visited the country (in November)," said Ma. Teresa Nera-Lauron of Ibon Foundation, one of several Filipino NGOs currently in Copenhagen to observe the talks. “We believe that [the President’s] visit here with other world leaders will only affirm the Philippines’ support of the US position in the climate talks."

 

Lauron said that that the President’s arrival on Wednesday will be met with protests by Filipino civil society groups currently here in Copenhagen.

 

Muller herself has not commented on her exclusion but a close associate of Muller, Elenita Dano of the Third World Network, told GMANews.TV: “We received information from a number of sources that it was (President Arroyo) herself who decided that Ditas should not be in the Philippine delegation in Copenhagen."

 

Presidential Adviser on Climate Change Heherson Alvarez rejects the notion, saying: “The President doesn’t know Mrs. Muller and the cutting process undertaken by the executive office was arbitrary. Presidents are not aware of the nitty-gritties," said Alvarez. Alvarez said that the staff of the office of the Executive Secretary slashed the recommended list of delegates in order to keep the delegation “lean."

 

“In previous climate talks I have been the one preparing the list of negotiators but because this time the President is the head of delegation, because of protocol I had to give way to her."

 

Alvarez has served as the Philippines’ chief negotiator to the yearly U.N. climate talks since his appointment in 2008.

 

PHILIPPINE POSITION ON CARBON EMISSIONS

Philippine civil society groups have expressed concern that these recent developments, particularly the non-inclusion of Muller in the delegation, may signal a shift in the government’s previous position that developed countries need to make “deep and early cuts" in carbon emissions.

 

Last November, Mrs. Arroyo said during a cabinet meeting in Bohol that the Cabinet must form a position that “does not insist on deep and early cuts but must be binding." Calling it useless to push for “ambitious reductions" in carbon emissions when rich countries such as the US and China are not willing to commit, the President said that “cuts and amounts should not be sticking points" but that sacrifices must be made to get binding commitments.

 

With its small carbon footprint and meager political clout, the Philippines is not considered an influential country in climate change negotiations. However, the Philippine delegation has traditionally played a leadership role within the G77 bloc of 130 poor countries by taking on progressive positions championed by knowledgable Filipino negotiators like Muller and Tony la Viña of the Ateneo School of Government (who remains on the Philippine delegation).

 

However, recent actions of the Philippine government may now bring into question the Philippines’ relationship to the rest of G77. “We really hope this does not signify a change in position for the Philippines government because it would be a real shame if the Philippines went from being a leader in the G77 to becoming a country that is creating problems within G77 and undermining the positions of developing countries," said Lin of the Third World Network.

 

The G77 bloc is already plagued by rumors of rifts between larger developing nations, the most vulnerable and least developed nations, and oil-producing countries.

 

Alvarez however has assured that the Philippine government has not changed its stance on deep and early cuts: “Our position on deep and early cuts still stands and any suggestions to the contrary, that the Philippines is reneging or budging on this, are not true."

 

DEAL OR NO DEAL?

Regardless of troubles within the Philippine delegation, the slow progress in the climate talks makes it seem unlikely that developing countries will get the kind of deal they hope for in Copenhagen. Until now, rich and poor countries are still wrestling over major issues: by how much and how fast developed nations must cut emissions, what emerging economies like China, India, and Brazil must do to slow the growth of their own emissions, and how much money rich countries should channel to the poorest countries to cover the costs of shifting to low-carbon economies and coping with climate impacts.

 

Developing countries are indignant over what they perceive as developed countries’ reluctance to set emission targets high enough to avoid the worst consequences of climate change. On the other hand, developed countries have insisted that emerging economies must also promise to set carbon reduction targets.

 

On Monday, talks were suspended when developing countries under the G77 bloc walked out of negotiations in protest of the refusal of developed countries to discuss new emission reduction targets under the next phase of the Kyoto Protocol. Talks only resumed when informal discussions assured the boycotting countries that talks on emission reductions would go on.

 

HGS/ GMANews.TV

[nancyk58]

I have received this important mail after having taken action (as described below) - please do accordingly.

 

" Thanks for telling your friends!‏

 

From: Avaaz.org ([email protected])

Sent on 16 December 2009 15:12:05

 

Thanks for taking action - now can you invite your friends, families and colleagues to join us? Each one that joins doubles your impact on these crucial negotiations.

 

Over 10 million of us have already joined the call for a real climate deal - but this is crunch time! Let to add millions more this week.

 

Please forward this link to everyone you can:

 

http://www.avaaz.org/en/save_copenhagen/97.php?cl_tta_sign=87f57d097e49b04dadbe93db0e6989e3

 

Thanks again for all you do!

 

--------

 

Here again the original email you can forward to your friends:

 

Dear Friends,

 

With three days to go, the crucial Copenhagen summit is failing.

 

Tomorrow, the world's leaders arrive for an unprecedented 60 hours of direct negotiations. Experts agree that without a tidal wave of public pressure for a deal, the summit will not stop catastrophic global warming of 2 degrees.

 

Click below to sign the petition for a real deal in Copenhagen -- the campaign already has a staggering 10 million supporters - let's make it the largest petition in history in the next 72 hours! Every single name is actually being read out at the summit -- sign on at the link below and forward this email to everyone!

 

http://www.avaaz.org/en/save_copenhagen/97.php?cl_tta_sign=87f57d097e49b04dadbe93db0e6989e3

 

An Avaaz team is meeting daily with negotiators inside the summit who will organize a spectacular petition delivery to world leaders as they arrive, building a giant wall of boxes of names and reading out the names of every person who signs. With the largest petition in history, leaders will have no doubt that the whole world is watching.

 

Millions watched the Avaaz vigil inside the summit on TV yesterday, where Archbishop Desmond Tutu told hundreds of delegates and assembled children:

 

“We marched in Berlin, and the wall fell.

"We marched for South Africa, and apartheid fell.

"We marched at Copenhagen -- and we WILL get a Real Deal.”

 

Copenhagen is seeking the biggest mandate in history to stop the greatest threat humanity has ever faced. History will be made in the next few days. How will our children remember this moment? Let's tell them we did all we could.

 

http://www.avaaz.org/en/save_copenhagen/97.php?cl_tta_sign=87f57d097e49b04dadbe93db0e6989e3

 

With hope,

 

Ricken, Alice, Ben, Paul, Luis, Iain, Veronique, Graziela, Pascal, Paula, Benjamin, Raj, Raluca, Taren, David, Josh and the whole Avaaz team.

 

-------------------

 

ABOUT AVAAZ

Avaaz.org is an independent, not-for-profit global campaigning organization that works to ensure that the views and values of the world's people inform global decision-making. (Avaaz means "voice" in many languages.) Avaaz receives no money from governments or corporations, and is staffed by a global team based in Ottawa, London, Rio de Janeiro, New York, Buenos Aires, and Geneva.

 

I hope that you are ready to take action as described here and will do so!

 

Thanks in advance!

 

NANCY

[nancyk58]

UPDATES OF THE SITUATION IN SOUTHEAST ASIA ON 17 DECEMBER 2009 and NEWS FROM THE UN CLIMATE SUMMIT / COP15

 

News from the UN CLIMATE SUMMIT on Thursday, 17 December 2009:

 

Many world leaders came to Copenhagen to negotiate at the UN Climate Summit COP15 (officially called "the UN Climate Change Convention" - also mentioned as such in the Danish Queen's welcome speech). The Queen said that she hoped that the summit would end up in a positive and convincing deal. She wished her guests good luck in achieving a good deal. Among the guests I saw (on TV) Hillary Clinton, the American Secretary of State, Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel, the French President Nicolas Sarkozy, the Filipino President Arroyo and England's Prime Minister Gordon Brown. The latter has also been a good support for the Danish prime minister who has only had this job for about ½ year succeeding the current Nato Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen. Some of the Queen's guests including the Danish chairwoman of two task groups, Connie Hedegaard cancelled their participation in the Queen's state dinner at Christiansborg Castle being busy with meetings and negotiations. Two Green Peace activists succeeded in reaching the Red Carpet - a man and a guest dressed up so that they looked like the other guests, and they arrived in a leased/hired car (a limo, I think). When stopped by the police, they showed a banner with the text: "Politicians talk - leaders ACT".

 

TV2 News referring to a confidential UN paper: A treaty along the expected lines would bring about an increase of 3 degrees (instead of only 2 degrees) and half of all species in the world is endangered and ½ billion people will experience that their homes will be flooded, and many of them will become climate refugees!

 

 

ARROYO: PHILIPPINES MOST IN DANGER FROM CLIMATE CHANGE

 

(By YASMIN ARQUIZA and PIA FAUSTINO, GMANews.TV -12/18/2009 | 02:21 AM )

 

COPENHAGEN – Addressing the climate summit here Thursday, President Arroyo stressed the vulnerability of the Philippines to extreme weather events, but curiously stopped short of joining the clamor from other developing countries for increased international funding that will allow poor nations to cope with the negative impact of climate change.[/B]

 

Arroyo cited a United Nations study that showed the Philippines as one of the top 12 countries in the world facing the greatest risk from hurricanes and other natural disasters.

 

“In fact we top the list of nations most in danger of facing more frequent and more intense storms when the impact of climate change intensifies," she said.

 

Mrs. Arroyo noted that the recent destruction from tropical cyclones Ondoy and Pepeng caused an estimated $4.4 billion in damage to the country’s most populous regions of metropolitan Manila and urban centers in the northern Philippines.

 

A copy of her draft speech distributed by a palace official earlier called for “scaled-up, new, and additional sources of support for adaptation" and supported the demand from developing countries “for the allocation of at least 1 per cent of Annex 1 GDP to finance adaptation for developing countries." However, these were dropped in her final speech.

 

Annex 1 refers to industrialized countries that have signed up to legal commitments to reduce their carbon emissions under the Kyoto Protocol, in view of their historical role in polluting the atmosphere since the start of the industrial era two centuries ago.

 

RICH NATIONS NEED TO REDUCE EMISSIONS

She called on rich countries to curb greenhouse gas emissions and assist poor countries in coping with climate change, but did not mention any specific figures.

 

“For an equitable outcome, developed countries need to lead in reducing emissions. A robust financial mechanism must also be established to meet the needs of the costs of adaptation for developing countries and for effective development and transfer of technology," Arroyo said.

 

An unprecedented 119 heads of state and governments arrived in Denmark this week to increase pressure on negotiators to reach agreement on new measures to curb greenhouse gas emissions after 2012, when the first commitment period for binding targets under the Kyoto Protocol expires.

 

Mrs. Arroyo, who has been criticized by conservation activists for pushing the growth of the mining industry at the expense of the natural environment, urged other countries to look at the worldwide economic crisis as an opportunity to consider eco-friendly solutions.

 

“It is time to harmonize economic development with environmental protection in a new global order where they are not mutually exclusive, but where they are ideally synonymous," she added.

 

“It is time all countries of the world owned up to our collective responsibilities," she stressed.

 

Despite the Philippines’ low pollution levels, Mrs. Arroyo said the government has set a goal for the further reduction of its greenhouse gas emissions.

 

“Our emission is only 1.6 tons per capita and we are further committed to deviate by 20 per cent from our business as usual emissions growth path," Mrs. Arroyo said.

 

The Philippines contributes a minuscule 0.3 percent of the world’s carbon emissions despite the fact that it is the 12th most populous nation on earth, according to the World Resources Institute (WRI). This means that the average Filipino generates less than a ton of carbon emissions per year, or less than what an average citizen from a developed country produces in a month. (Link: http://www.gmanews.tv/story/176639/countdown-to-copenhagen-climate-talks-face-deadlock

 

ADAPTATION FUND

Additional money for the Adaptation Fund, a financial mechanism for the benefit of developing countries that are suffering from extreme weather events as a consequence of climate change, is one of the sticking points in the current climate talks.

 

The Adaptation Fund is taken from a two per cent levy on Clean Development Mechanism projects, a strategy under the Kyoto Protocol that allows industrialized countries to meet their carbon targets by financing environment-friendly initiatives in developing countries.

 

As of September, revenues from the levy have reached more than $20 million, according to a financial report from the Adaptation Fund board.

 

Developing nations have said the current levels of funding are hardly enough to relocate affected villages, build more resilient infrastructure, and undertake other measures that will help them cope with changing weather patterns as a result of atmospheric pollution from energy-intensive activities in rich countries.

 

African countries have proposed “new, substantial and sustained public funding from developed countries, with an annual scale not less than 2.5 % of the GNP of developed countries" in the climate summit.

 

Around $250 billion per year is needed to finance global action in adapting to climate change and reducing carbon emissions, according to official estimates from the United Nations secretariat in charge of the conference.

 

Mrs. ARROYO EMPHASIZED THE NEED TO REACH AN AGREEMENT ON CLIMATE CHANGE.

 

“We come to Copenhagen in partnership with other nations to find a way to meet the harsh impacts of climate change and avert a global climate crisis," she said. “We cannot afford to leave Copenhagen without a deal, and a deal based on common but differentiated responsibilities," she added.

 

– GMANews.TV

 

 

CLINTON: US WOULD HELP RAISE BILLIONS ON CLIMATE

 

(12/17/2009 | 09:20 PM - GMA NEWS.TV)

 

COPENHAGEN – As hopes faded for a strong climate deal, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton sought to put new life into flagging U.N. talks Thursday by announcing the U.S. would join others in raising $100 billion a year by 2020 to help poorer nations cope with global warming.

 

She made the offer contingent on the conference's reaching a broader agreement, including on the issue of "transparency," demanding a Chinese commitment to allow some kind of oversight to verify its actions to control emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.

 

The Chinese thus far have resisted what they see as a potential intrusion on their sovereignty. But without that, Clinton told reporters, "there will not be the kind of concerted global action that we so desperately need."

 

Clinton's arrival and announcement in snowy Copenhagen ratcheted up the U.S.-Chinese diplomatic dueling that has been dominated the two weeks of climate talks. The negotiations end Friday with a summit gathering of President Barack Obama, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and more than 110 other national leaders.

 

For China's part, a Foreign Ministry spokeswoman in Beijing told reporters Thursday that developed countries should show "more sincerity" in the talks here.

 

Environment ministers, having taken over from lower-level negotiators, were getting down to final hours of talks Thursday in hopes of producing partial agreements to put before Obama, Wen and the others leaders.

 

Such accords might include long-term goals for financing climate aid, raised by Clinton, and monitoring of emissions controls.

 

The Danish hosts had envisioned a comprehensive Copenhagen deal listing emissions cuts by richer nations, other restraints on the production of greenhouse gases by major developing countries, and a plan to help finance poorer countries adapt to global warming. It was to have served as a framework for a treaty to be completed next year.

 

"As it looks now, we will not get the deal that we had hoped for," said a Danish official, who is not authorized to speak publicly about the talks and asked not to be named.

 

But British Prime Minister Gordon Brown was among those stressing the time left, not the time lost.

 

"We can, by working together over the next 48 hours, reach agreement that will help the planet move forward for generations to come," he told reporters.

 

Two weeks of detailed talks on a range of issues — from emissions commitments, to preventing deforestation, to transferring clean-energy technology — reached an impasse on Wednesday when developing nations objected to the process that produced a core draft document.

 

In a reprise of a perennial complaint at the annual conferences, the poorer nations complained they were being excluded from the drafting of the text, that "northern" — read wealthy nations' — views were being imposed on the "south," or developing nations.

 

The Clinton offer on long-term climate financing for developing countries reflected an amount — $100 billion — that Britain's Brown has previously suggested, to help poorer countries build sea walls against rising oceans, cope with unusual drought and deal with other impacts of climate change, while also financing renewable-energy and similar projects.

 

"It's good there's now been a statement of support for a clear number on long-term finance," U.N. climate chief Yvo de Boer said of the U.S. offer. "This discussion will have to take place with other parties, whether they feel that sum is adequate."

 

Expert studies, by the World Bank and others, have estimated the long-term climate costs for poorer nations, from 2020 or so, would likely total hundreds of billions of dollars a year. China and other developing countries say the target should be in the range of $350 billion.

 

More immediately, the conference has been discussing a short-term climate fund to help developing countries — a $10-billion-a-year, three-year program. European Union leaders last week committed to supplying $3.6 billion a year through 2012. On Wednesday, Japan, seeking to "contribute to the success" of Copenhagen, announced it would kick in $5 billion a year for three years.

 

U.S. funding is hovering at only around $1 billion this year, and Clinton, when asked did not specify how much Washington would contribute to the "fast start" package.

 

"We'll do our proportion of `fast start'," the secretary of state said.

 

De Boer commented afterward, "I'm keenly looking forward to hearing what the U.S. contribution to that fund will be."

 

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, meanwhile, said the U.S. must improve its offer of emission cuts and stressed the urgency of reaching a concrete climate agreement in Copenhagen.

 

"I have to be honest, an offer by the United States to cut only 4 percent from 1990 levels is not ambitious enough," Merkel told lawmakers in Berlin before heading off to Copenhagen. "I believe this Copenhagen conference is the primary touchstone for whether we will succeed in setting a new path of global development, of sustainability."

 

The EU has pledged a 20 percent emissions cut that could increase to a 30 percent cut if other developed nations also make far-reaching pledges. - AP

 

Part I of III

[nancyk58]

http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/denmark_52177.html

 

Copenhagen event brings young people and global leaders together to discuss climate change

 

By Kate Donovan and Guillaume Simonian

 

COPENHAGEN, Denmark, 16 December 2009 – As world leaders struggled to 'seal the deal' on climate change in the plenary halls of the Bella Center, six young people from across the world met with the Danish Government and humanitarian leaders to make their concerns be known.

 

The event was held as part of Humanitarian Day, which United Nations agencies, international organizations, non-governmental organizations and the Children in a Changing Climate Coalition organized to raise awareness around the devastating impact of climate change on people who are vulnerable to disasters.

 

The children and young people asked the assembly whether their children will be able to live the traditional way of life that some of them have known. Will schools be built to withstand increasingly unpredictable seasons, slashing rains and high winds? And they asked what they can do to get governments to listen to them as they try to adapt to a world increasingly vulnerable to climate change.

Oxfam recently estimated that the number of people affected by climate-related disasters will climb to 375 million annually by 2015.

 

NO EASY ANSWERS

Ivalu, 14, from Greenland, spoke of the melting snow in her country, the disappearance of the traditional way of life for many hunters and fishermen, who often migrate to the cities. She asked what world leaders are doing and what she can do to affect change herself.

 

"So far there are no easy answers to this problem," said Head of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Sir John Holmes when asked about preserving peoples’ way of life. "What we can do is help people adapt to climate change."

 

Holmes and other speakers stressed local action as a key solution, including reforestation, agricultural development and reducing the impact of

disasters through preparedness, such as protecting water sources.

 

HIGH PROFILE PARTICIPANTS

The dialogue between the young people, from China, Indonesia, Kenya, Netherlands and Senegal, took place in the Politiken Centre. Panelists included Ulla Tørnæs, Denmark’s Minister for Development Cooperation; Bekele Geleta, Secretary General, International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies; Jet Li, Founder of the One Foundation and WHO Goodwill Ambassador; Mary Robinson, President of the Realizing Rights Initiative and former President of Ireland; Josette Sheeran, Executive Director, World Food Programme; and Sir John Holmes. The event was moderated by Charlotte Petri Gornitzka, Secretary General of the International Save the Children Alliance.

 

WFP Executive Director Sheeran noted that young people are mystified by what adults are doing and emphasized that their plight is an immediate one. "We have to jointly bring together emergency action and solutions," she said. "We are hearing a simple plea."

 

One girl complained that schools are being flooded, students and materials soaked because of poor infrastructure and increasing rains, and she blamed her government for ignoring the problem. "They prefer to raise symbolic buildings rather than schools that would withstand disasters," she said. "We need to educate children…we don’t need to promote symbols."

 

INVOKE THE CRC

Mary Robinson encouraged young people to invoke the Committee on the Rights of the Child which monitors progress towards the implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child as a way to leverage their power with officials.

Several speakers noted the power of young people as agents of change, especially their ability to join forces through the Internet and mobile phones to communicate powerful messages.

 

"Children always asked me what to do, but they already know," said Jet Li. "Information is powerful and lots of young kids are active and already have a powerful voice."

--------------------------

 

DANISH OFFICIAL: HOPES FOR CLIMATE DEAL SLIM

 

(12/17/2009 | 07:09 PM - GMA NEWS.TV)

 

COPENHAGEN – World leaders starting flooding into Copenhagen on Thursday, even as a Danish official acknowledged that hope was running out for a comprehensive climate deal because the negotiations between rich and poor countries were deadlocked.

 

The official said the Danish hosts of the U.N. conference had not given up though it appeared unlikely that their ambitious plan for the conference would be fulfilled.

 

"As it looks now, we will not get the deal that we had hoped for," said the official, who is not authorized to speak publicly about the talks and asked not to be named.

 

Denmark started the two-week U.N. conference — the largest and most important meeting on climate change in history — hoping to crafting a comprehensive framework to curb the greenhouse gas emissions that cause global warming and provide funds for poor countries to deal with climate change.

 

They wanted to get agreement on all the main elements so that a treaty could be signed next year.

 

But so far the talks have been marked by sharp disagreements between China and the United States — the world's top carbon polluters — and a yawning chasm between rich and poor nations over what should be done.

 

Still unresolved are the questions of emissions targets for industrial countries, billions of dollars a year in funding for poor countries to contend with global warming, and verifying the actions of emerging powers like China and India to ensure that promises to reduce greenhouse gas emissions are kept.

 

European officials have called for a breakthrough in the final stretch of the conference, which is set to end Friday.

 

"We are in a crisis of the negotiation. We have to overcome the blockage in the discussion and negotiations," German Environment Minister Norbert Roettgen said. "We still have time: 36 or 48 hours. We need the political will to overcome this."

 

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said he believed the conference would still reach an agreement.

 

"We can, by working together over the next 48 hours, reach agreement that will help the planet move forward for generations to come," he said.

 

Leaders arriving Thursday included Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Germany's Angela Merkel, France's Nicolas Sarkozy, among many others. - AP

 

Part II of III

[nancyk58]

DEADLOCK LOOMING IN CLIMATE CHANGE NEGOTIATIONS

 

(12/17/2009 | 01:44 PM - GMA News.TV)

COPENHAGEN - Negotiations to combat global warming entered a fraught 11th day Thursday with diplomatic deadlock looming and barely a day left before President Barack Obama and more than 100 other leaders hope to sign a historic agreement to control greenhouse gas emissions.

 

Poorer nations stalled Wednesday's negotiations in resistance to what they saw as efforts by the rich to impose decisions falling short of strong commitments to reduce greenhouse gases and to help those countries hurt by climate change.

 

Conference observers said, however, that negotiators still had time to reach agreements.

 

Outside the meeting site in Copenhagen's suburbs, police fired pepper spray and beat protesters with batons as hundreds of demonstrators sought to disrupt the 193-nation conference, the latest action in days of demonstrations to demand "climate justice" — firm steps to combat global warming. Police said 260 protesters were detained.

 

Earlier, behind closed doors, negotiators dealing with core issues debated until just before dawn without setting new goals for reducing greenhouse gas emissions or for financing poorer countries' efforts to cope with coming climate change, key elements of any deal.

 

"I regret to report we have been unable to reach agreement," John Ashe of Antigua, chairman of one negotiating group, told the conference.

 

In those talks, the American delegation apparently objected to a proposed text it felt might bind the United States prematurely to reducing greenhouse gas emissions before Congress acts on the required legislation.

 

US envoys insisted, for example, on replacing the word "shall" with the conditional "should."

 

Later, faced with complaints from developing nations about such changes, the Danish leaders of the talks crafted what they hoped would be a compromise text.

 

Even before that was circulated, however, the unhappy nations — the Group of 77 and China — met separately to decide on a position.

 

"They are unhappy about these texts being handed to them from above," an African delegate said outside the meeting, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media.

 

The latest dispute highlighted the undercurrent of distrust developing nations have for the richer countries in the long-running climate talks.

 

But veteran observers said it was too early to give up on the talks, which are supposed to end Friday with Obama and the other leaders approving a final agreement.

 

"A lot of things are in play," said Fred Krupp of the U.S. Environmental Defense Fund. "This is the normal rhythm of international negotiations."

 

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez echoed the protesters' sentiments when he told the assembly: "If the climate was a bank, a capitalist bank, they would have saved it."

 

There were some steps forward, too.

 

The United States, Australia, France, Japan, Norway and Britain pledged $3.5 billion in the next three years to a program aimed at protecting rain forests. The US portion was $1 billion.

 

US Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said the money would be available for developing countries that come up with ambitious plans to slow and eventually reverse deforestation — an important part of the talks because it's thought to account for about 20 percent of global greenhouse emissions.

 

The talks so far have been marked by sharp disagreements between China and the United States, and between rich and poor nations. Still unresolved are the questions of emissions targets for industrial countries, billions of dollars a year in funding for poor countries to contend with global warming, and verifying the actions of emerging powers like China and India to ensure that promises to reduce greenhouse gas emissions are kept.

 

Addressing the full conference, Swedish Environment Minister Andreas Carlgren, speaking for the European Union, urged the US and China to raise their emissions-reduction targets.

"The world needs more and we are confident that you have the ability to deliver more," he said of the two countries.

 

After nine days of largely unproductive talks, the lower-level delegates were handing off the disputes to environment ministers in the two-week conference's critical second phase.

 

Connie Hedegaard, a former Danish climate minister, resigned from the conference presidency to allow Danish Prime Minister Lars Loekke Rasmussen to preside as a higher-ranking official at the formal Wednesday-Friday segment involving heads of state and government. She was to continue overseeing closed-door negotiations.

 

Organizers still hope to break deadlocks that threaten to leave the meeting with no major accomplishments to be presented to Obama, Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao and the other leaders arriving for Friday's finale.

 

The lack of progress disheartened many, including small island states threatened by rising seas.

"We are extremely disappointed," said Ian Fry of the tiny Pacific nation of Tuvalu. "I have the feeling of dread we are on the Titanic and sinking fast. It's time to launch the lifeboats."

 

Others were far from abandoning ship.

"Obviously there are things we are concerned about, but that is what we have to discuss," Sergio Barbosa Serra, Brazil's climate ambassador, told The Associated Press. "I would like to think we can get a deal, a good and fair deal."

 

Governments had weeks ago given up hope of concluding a finished treaty at Copenhagen and aimed instead at establishing a framework for negotiating more formal agreements next year.

 

Much of the uncertainty in the Copenhagen talks stems from how slowly the first US legislation to cap carbon dioxide emissions is moving through Congress.

 

Passage of a US climate change bill is expected no earlier than next spring — and many other nations are unwilling to make their final commitments until the US does.

 

A sponsor of that climate legislation, US Sen. John Kerry, a Democrat from Massachusetts, was not discouraged about the fitful negotiations.

 

"My sense is we can get this done," he told the AP as he visited the conference.

 

Hundreds of protesters marched on the suburban Bella Center, where lines of riot police waited in protective cordons. Some demonstrators said they wanted to take over the global conference and turn it into a "people's assembly."

 

As they approached police lines, they were hit with pepper spray. TV pictures showed a man being pushed from a police van's roof and struck with a baton by an officer.

 

Tens of thousands rallied in the Danish capital last weekend, demonstrating growing public awareness of the worldwide danger of ever-rising temperatures.

 

Scientists say global warming will lead to the extinction of plant and animal species, the flooding of coastal areas from rising seas, more extreme weather, more drought and more widespread diseases.

 

The draft texts being debated behind closed doors hinge on four key issues, with negotiating views generally divided between rich nations and developing ones:

 

— Emissions. Industrialized nations are under pressure to cut back even more on emissions of carbon dioxide and other global-warming gases, while major developing countries such as China and India are being pressed to rein in emissions growth. Environmentalists and poorer nations say richer countries should reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by 40 percent or more by 2020, compared with 1990 levels, to avoid serious climate damage. The EU has pledged 20 percent, and possibly 30 percent. The US has offered only a 3 percent to 4 percent cut.

 

— Financing. Richer nations have discussed a "prompt-start" package of $10 billion a year for three years to help developing nations adjust to the impact of global warming and switch to clean energy. Developing nations want to see commitments by wealthy nations for years more of long-term climate aid financing. Expert studies say hundreds of billions of dollars will be needed each year, and the developing nations are trying to establish stable revenue sources, such as a global aviation tax.

 

— Monitoring. The US and developed nations want some kind of international verification of emissions actions by developing nations. China, India and others are resisting what they consider potential intrusions on their sovereignty.

 

— Legal Form. For Europe, Japan and other developed nations, new, deeper emissions cuts will take the form of an extension of quotas under the 1997 Kyoto Protocol. The US, which rejected Kyoto and wants to remain outside it, is likely to be included in a separate package that also deals with major developing countries. The level of legal obligation on each "track" may vary, particularly since the big developing countries — China and India — do not want to be bound by any international treaty to carry out their pledges of emission cuts. They prefer voluntary goals. - AP

 

In Copenhagen, tensions overflow into the streets

 

PIA FAUSTINO, GMANews.TV12/17/2009 | 09:27 AM

 

COPENHAGEN, Denmark - As ministers and heads of state from all over the world pour into Copenhagen for the final stretch of the climate talks, tensions heated up between political activists, the United Nations staff, and the Danish police.

 

The demonstrations were orchestrated around the Danish capital, and even penetrated the Bella Center.

 

Meanwhile, various international environmental NGOs such as the Friends of the Earth have been unexpectedly denied access to the Bella Center.

 

Meanwhile, rumors began to swirl about the reasons for Connie Hedegaard's resignation as president of the conference. Hedegaard, former Danish climate minister, resigned from the conference presidency to allow her boss, Danish Prime Minister Lars Loekke Rasmussen to preside.

 

At around 12 noon Wednesday (Denmark), some 150 activists walked out of the Bella Center to protest what they see as world leaders' unwillingness to seal a deal that will protect the world's most vulnerable people.

 

When the activists attempted to join another group of protesters outside the Bella Center, Danish police threatened to arrest them and violence nearly erupted. The Danish government recently passed a law allowing police to conduct "preemptive" arrests for acts of civil disobedience. - SD, GMANews.TV

 

------------------------------

 

http://www.redcross.org/portal/site/en/menuitem.94aae335470e233f6cf911df43181aa0/?vgnextoid=2f447ca307c85210VgnVCM10000089f0870aRCRD

 

Five Years After Indian Ocean Tsunami, Millions of Survivors Assisted and Moving On With Their Lives

 

American Red Cross tsunami recovery program to finish in 2010

National Headquarters

2025 E Street, N.W.

Washington, DC 20006

http://www.redcross.org

 

Contact: Public Affairs Desk

FOR MEDIA ONLY

[email protected]

Phone: (202) 303-5551

 

WASHINGTON, Tuesday, December 15, 2009 — Nearly five years after the Indian Ocean tsunami killed more than 230,000 people and destroyed entire communities, hundreds of thousands of houses have been rebuilt, life has returned to normal and communities are more prepared for future disasters.

 

The more than 9.0 magnitude earthquake and subsequent tsunami, which hit 12 countries from Southeast Asia to East Africa in December 2004, caused more than $8 billion in damages and affected nearly 5 million people.

 

Even as it responded to the emergency, the American Red Cross was already making plans to meet long-term needs, such as rebuilding houses, providing water and sanitation systems, and reigniting the local economy by getting people back to work.

 

“When I saw the devastation and the emotional trauma people were dealing with, I knew it would take a long time to get people back on their feet and for communities to recover,” says Gerald Anderson, senior director of the Tsunami Recovery Program for the American Red Cross.

 

After consulting with survivors and local leaders about what was needed to help communities rebuild and recover, the American Red Cross decided to focus on six key program areas – water and sanitation, psychosocial support, health, shelter, livelihoods and disaster preparedness.

 

Over the past five years, the American Red Cross and its partners were able to assist 4 million people through more than 80 relief and recovery projects.

 

These efforts included:

 

Building or repairing more than 16,200 temporary and permanent houses

 

Providing nearly 200,000 people with improved access to clean water

 

Giving loans, livelihood resources or job training to more than 91,000 people

 

Protecting 111 million people through disease prevention activities, such as vaccinating children against measles

 

Helping more than 780,000 people overcome the emotional trauma caused by the tsunami

 

“Not only have communities been rebuilt, they have been built with a sustainable future in mind,” Anderson said. “From the onset we designed our programs to make communities stronger, safer and better prepared by considering the environmental impact of our work and giving people the skills and training to know how to respond to future emergencies.”

 

Involving people at the community-level has been at the heart of American Red Cross recovery efforts in tsunami-affected countries. Men, women and children in more than 580 communities and schools have been trained to know what to do if another disaster occurs. Local volunteer disaster teams have mapped the hazards their communities face, have been trained in emergency first aid and have conducted mock disaster response drills.

 

The American Red Cross received $581 million to help the affected communities rebuild and recover. As of November 30, $517 million of these funds have been spent, with the remainder already programmed to finish existing recovery projects by the end of 2010.

 

Even as the American Red Cross finishes its tsunami recovery work, the work of the local Red Cross continues. American Red Cross partner national societies, such as the Indonesian Red Cross, will continue to help communities prevent, prepare for and respond to future emergencies.

 

Experts are available for interview in Washington, DC, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Thailand and the Maldives. Video, photos and additional information are available upon request.

Contact Eric Porterfield for more information: [email protected] or 202-701-3309.

 

About the American Red Cross:

The American Red Cross shelters, feeds and provides emotional support to victims of disasters; supplies nearly half of the nation's blood; teaches lifesaving skills; provides international humanitarian aid; and supports military members and their families. The Red Cross is a charitable organization — not a government agency — and depends on volunteers and the generosity of the American public to perform its mission. For more information, please visit http://www.redcross.org or join our blog at http://blog.redcross.org.

 

Part III of III

[nancyk58]

I really hope for some kind of agreement at the UN Climate Change Convention in Copenhagen - but the chances do not seem good - that's really sad because the major players know each other's views and have talked for years and years. If they cannot come to an agreement know, they never can/will.

 

While they talk and hesitate some islands states disappear for good (permanently covered by water). But they are still negotiations going on (just now between the Chinese and American President), so let's hope for a miracle ...

[nancyk58]

After a long day at the UN Climate Summit where a total collapse was expected / threatening, a non-binding deal called the "Copenhagen outcome" has been agreed upon tonight. This deal might be more a declaration of intent than an agreement.

 

USA's president Obama and the Chinese president had 3 hard and long meetings - the problem was the set-up of a control mechanism that the Chinese would not accept, but the USA insisted upon. There was American concern about the American competitiveness if the USA had to reduce its CO2 reductions, whereas China did not need to reduce its CO2 reductions. The USA finally had to give in, and then an American-Chinese deal was made. Later Obama informed the major players of the deal with China.

 

Upon pressure from the Swedish EU presidency there was a meeting between 26 countries during which "the non-binding Copenhagen Outcome" was made.

 

Some leaked contents: Every second year each country must publish a report of its CO2 emissions. In January a group of countries must publish their first report of their goals for CO2 emission reduction.

 

In 6 month there will be another climate meeting to be held in Germany.

 

When the meeting between the 26 countries making "the Copenhagen outcome" was over, Obama addressed the press. And then he drove to the airport.

 

On the telly I saw Air Force One take off - and I ran to my window and saw a big airplane moving upwards towards Sweden - it must have been Air Force One and I followed it making a turn and then flying westwards above my building. That gave me goosebumps.

[nancyk58]

LATEST NEWS FROM THE UN CLIMATE CHANGE CONFERENCE / COP15 IN COPENHAGEN FROM 6 TO 18 DECEMBER 2009

 

The final declaration is a compromise drafted by 25 major countries including China, The USA, the major EU countries German, France and England as well as India, Brazil and South Africa.

 

A majority of the 193 countries participating in the summit have now taken note of this document. There was a lot of debate and discussion of the final document, and according to the media Cuba, Sudan, Bolivia, Nicaragua and the oil producing country Venezuela blocked the process towards the acceptance of the final document for several hours, and I do not think that these few countries signed it.

 

In particular the Maldives supported the Copenhagen declaration, later adopted as "the Copenhagen Accord" and laid pressure on the Plenary Assembly to accept the final document.

 

It is a legally non-binding deal called "the Copenhagen Accord", and it sets no goal for the reduction in the emission of greenhouse gases whether in 2020 nor in 2050. A new climate meeting is to be held in 6 month's time in Bonn in Germany. And in one years time COP16 will be held in Mexico.

 

I was a bit surprised that the country Maldives which is threatened - it might disappear for good in a few years (overflooded / under water) was in favour of the final document, but I understand that the Maldives saw it as a first step towards a legally binding agreement. And that is also what was said on the final press conference at the UN climate summit by Yvo de Boer, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, who also functioned as the deputy / vize chairman of the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen aka. COP15.

 

 

Yvo de Boer (born June 12 1954) is the current Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change

 

 

Yvo de Boer called the Copenhagen Accord "an important first step" and "a political agreement" coming into effect at once. The next step is to make the result a legally binding agreement for the countries signing it. Hopefully this will happen in 2010. COP16 will be held in Mexico in 2010, but already in May or June 2010 there will be an extra meeting - a COP15b.

 

NANCY (based on Danish and German text-TV and the last UN press conference at the climate summit)

[nancyk58]

NEWSLETTER from Avaaz.org about the result of the UN Climate Summit - posted 20.12.09

 

NEWSLETTER from Avaaz.org about the result of the UN Climate Summit - posted 20.12.09

 

COPENHAGEN: "THE ELEPHANT IS MOVING"‏

 

From: Ricken Patel - Avaaz.org ([email protected])

Sent on 20. december 2009 23:01:13 to Nancy Boysen

 

Dear friends,

 

It's been a tough ending to an amazing week. In all-night negotiations, leaders have reached a weak agreement in Copenhagen that fails to set the emissions targets needed to prevent catastrophic global warming. The agreement was stronger on funding, but it was not binding, and set no urgent deadline to sign a real climate treaty. Big polluters like China and the US wanted a weak deal, and potential champions like Europe, Brazil and South Africa didn't fight hard enough to stop them.

 

But while leaders failed to make history, people around the world did. In thousands of vigils, rallies and protests, hundreds of thousands of phone calls, and millions of petition signatures, an unprecedented movement rose to this moment. After hearing the result of the talks, one member from Africa wrote "It takes a lot to get an elephant moving, but when you do it is hard to stop...the elephant is moving..."

 

Despite the outcome, Copenhagen has built the movement that can win the fight to save our planet.

 

Join a global, instant translation multilingual live chat where we can all exchange words of wisdom for the road ahead:

 

http://www.avaaz.org/en/after_copenhagen

 

In just the last week, we've organized thousands of vigils and events in 140 countries, an enormous multi-million person petition, and dozens of national phone calling campaigns that made thousands of phone calls. We've generated thousands of news articles, organized peaceful petition-reading sit-ins at key government buildings, and ran several high level stunts and events at the summit itself.

 

Last Wednesday UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown requested an emergency conference call with Avaaz members, telling 3000 of us: "You have driven forward the idealism of the world...do not underestimate the impact on the leaders here". Nobel Laureate Desmond Tutu personally appealed to us to take up the torch of causes past and never give up.

 

This weekend we saw that the fight to save our planet cannot be won at a single summit. But we also learned what we're capable of, when we all come together. If we stay together, nothing can stop us.

 

http://www.avaaz.org/en/after_copenhagen

 

With hope and gratitude,

 

Ricken, Ben, Paul, Alice, Luis, Milena, Iain, Pascal, Graziela, Paula, Benjamin, Veronique, Taren, Sam, Raj, Raluca, Yura, Saravanan, Vladimir, Josh, David and the entire Avaaz team.

 

PS - There were some opening champagne in Copenhagen today. The polluting industry lobbyists and corporations -- those who have captured our democracies and divided our leaders -- celebrated their victory. They operated quietly in the shadows, but their voices were loud in some politicians' ears. As they drank their champagne their one concern may have been us - the potential of our new people-powered movement. In fact, they're already launching an attempt to silence us, and next week, we'll take our fight to the heart of this powerful polluter lobby - watch out for the email...

---------------------------------------

 

Want to support Avaaz? We're entirely funded by donations and receive no money from governments or corporations. Our dedicated online team ensures even the smallest contributions go a long way -- donate here.

 

ABOUT AVAAZ Avaaz.org is an independent, not-for-profit global campaigning organization that works to ensure that the views and values of the world's people inform global decision-making. (Avaaz means "voice" in many languages.) Avaaz receives no money from governments or corporations, and is staffed by a global team based in Ottawa, London, Rio de Janeiro, New York, Buenos Aires, and Geneva.

[nancyk58]

UPDATES FROM 19 TO 21 DECEMBER 2009

 

MAYON ACTIVITY ESCALATES; LAVA FOUNTAINS RISE ABOVE CRATER

 

(12/21/2009 | 10:07 AM - GMA News.TV)

 

(Updated 5:30 p.m.) Mayon Volcano in Albay province has exhibited increased activity in the past 24 hours, with red hot lava continuously flowing down along three gullies and lava fountains rising above its crater, state volcanologists said on Monday.

 

In its 7 a.m. bulletin, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) also said booming and rumbling sounds were being heard since Sunday night, in what appears to be an imminent eruption.

 

"Red hot lava also continuously flowed down along the Bonga-Buyuan, Miisi and Lidong gullies. Lava fountains rising approximately 200 meters above the crater were observed. The lava front has now reached about five kilometers downslope from the summit along the Bonga-Buyuan gullies," it added.

 

Bonga, Buyuan, Miisi and Lidong are villages on the southeastern side of the volcano.

 

In the last 24 hours, about 1,942 volcanic earthquakes were detected while the sulfur dioxide emission rate remained high at 6,089 tons per day. Audible booming and rumbling sounds were likewise reported in the eastern flank of the volcano on Sunday afternoon.

 

Phivolcs said ALERT LEVEL 4 remains hoisted over Mayon Volcano, meaning a hazardous eruption is possible within days. Level 5 is when a major eruption has begun.

 

The cone-shaped volcano began emitting red-hot lava and puffing columns of ash last week. It belched a plume of grayish ash half a mile (nearly a kilometer) into the sky Sunday, and lava has flowed about 4.5 kilometers down the mountainside, said Albay Gov. Joey Salceda.

 

A major eruption can trigger pyroclastic flows — superheated gas and volcanic debris that can race down the slopes at very high speed, vaporizing everything in their path. There can be more extensive ejections of ash, which can drift toward nearby townships.

 

In Mayon's major eruptions in recent years, such pyroclastic flows have reached up to six kilometers down from the crater on the volcano's southern flank — a farming region where most residents have been evacuated as of Monday.

 

Mayon last erupted in 2006, when about 30,000 people were moved. Another eruption in 1993 killed 79 people.

The first recorded eruption was in 1616 but the most destructive came in 1814, killing more than 1,200 people and burying a town in volcanic mud. The ruins of the church in Cagsawa have become an iconic tourist spot.

 

NO NEED TO SUSPEND FLIGHTS YET

Despite the danger from Mayon’s impending eruption, Phivolcs director Renato Solidum Jr. said there was no need to suspend flights at Legazpi Airport in Albay, at least for now.

 

"No, we’d leave that to the Civil Aviation Office," he said on radio dzBB, when asked if Phivolcs would recommend the suspension of flights. He said the activity at Mayon is not significant enough to affect aircraft passing through Albay, at least for now.

 

CAT-AND-MOUSE GAME

As of Monday morning, Salceda said a total of 9,217 families or 44,394 people from the municipalities of Camalig, Daraga, Malilipot, Sto. Domingo, Ligao, Guinobatan, and the cities of Legazpi and Tabaco have been evacuated since last week.

 

Army troops and police have also intensified patrols to enforce a round-the-clock ban on villagers moving within an eight-kilometer danger zone around the 8,070-foot (2,460-meter) mountain, Salceda said.

 

Army checkpoints have been set up and patrols have been intensified to ensure residents will not sneak back to check on their homes and farms, as some have done in recent days, he added.

 

Salceda said residents are used to playing a "cat and mouse" game with Mayon, a popular tourist attraction because of its near-perfect cone shape.

 

Residents who briefly returned to their homes within the danger zone Sunday morning to check on their belongings reported hearing eerie rumbling sounds. Some were seen by journalists tending to their farms within the prohibited zone near Guinobatan town.

 

Among the residents forcibly evacuated by Army soldiers from Mayon’s danger zone were two elderly residents. Radio dzBB’s Allan Gatus reported the two, initially identified as Ananias Llobic, 82; and Jimmy Lloreta, 65, were unable to flee their homes due to their medical conditions.

 

The report said Llobic was deaf and had difficulty walking, while Lloreta was a paralytic with high blood condition. The two were brought to an evacuation center aboard an ambulance.

 

P1-M DONATION

Moved by the plight of the evacuees, acting Defense Secretary Norberto Gonzales would donate P1 million from his own pockets to be spent for Christmas gifts for the locals, according to a report by GMA News’ Mariz Umali on QTV's Balitanghali.

 

This, even as Gonzales lauded the provincial government for its preparatory measures as Mayon threatens to erupt anytime soon.

 

"The danger that the volcano is posing is real, but it seems like everything is under control because of the very good organization that the coordinating council of Albay has been doing for years. This should be a model for us in other parts of the country," he said.

 

HOLIDAY BLUES

To help the evacuees cope with having to spend the holidays away from home, Salceda said authorities would prepare Christmas parties for their temporary residents. Singing contests and movie screenings are among the line-up of entertainment for the evacuees.

 

Salceda was quoted as saying that the money to be donated by the defense chief would be used to buy gifts for some 25,000 children taking refuge in various evacuation centers in the affected municipalities and cities near Mayon.

 

In a joint conference on Monday with the Regional Disaster Coordinating Council and the Provincial Disaster Coordinating Council, Salceda also called on medical practitioners to help attend to the evacuees.

 

The report said President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo called during the conference to check on the condition and needs of the evacuees. She said the national government would ensure that all the evacuees’ needs are met.

 

The Department of Health has likewise set aside P3 million pesos to be spent for supplies needed to prevent an outbreak of contagious diseases among the evacuees.

 

-with a report from Sophia Dedace, Carmela Lapeña and AP/RSJ/NPA, GMANews.TV

 

ALBAY EVACUEES ASSURED OF SAFE DRINKING WATER

 

P1.8M WORTH OF MEDICINES PURCHASED FOR MAYON EVACUEES

 

MAYON ALERT LEVEL RAISED TO 4; ERUPTION SEEN WITHIN DAYS

 

(12/20/2009 | 03:33 PM - GMA News.TV)

 

State volcanologists on Sunday afternoon raised the alert status of Mayon Volcano in Albay province, Bicol to 4 after noting rumbling sounds in Sto. Domingo town, saying a major eruption is possible within days.

 

"This is to notify the public that the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) is now raising the alert status of Mayon Volcano from alert level 3 to alert level 4. This means that a hazardous explosive eruption is possible within days," the agency said on its Web site at 2:30 p.m.

 

To ensure public safety, Phivolcs said it was recommending an extended danger zone from the summit of 8 kilometers at the southern sector and 7 kilometers at the northern sector.

 

"Areas just outside of this extended danger zone should prepare for evacuation in the event explosive eruptions intensify," it added.

 

Radio dzBB's Allan Gatus earlier reported that Phivolcs Bicol-based monitoring head Julio Sabit had cited rumbling sounds heard in Santa Misericordia village in Santo Domingo town.

 

Sabit also said Phivolcs had monitored at least 463 quakes from 5 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Sunday. He said the danger zone, which stands at a maximum of 8 km, might be expanded to 10 km.

 

Alert Level 4 means a "hazardous eruption" is imminent / possible within day. Phivolcs characterizes this as INTENSE UNREST.“At Alert Level 4, we are talking of a hazardous eruption in a matter of days," said Phivolcs resident volcanologist Ed Laguerta at a press conference in Albay.

Phivolcs said characteristics of Alert Level 4 include persistent tremors and many low frequency earthquakes, and a sustained increase or abrupt decrease in sulfur dioxide emission levels. Other signs include intense crater glow, and incandescent lava fragments in the summit area.

 

Phivolcs' last bulletin on Mayon indicated 222 volcanic quakes and tremors recorded by the seismic network in the last 24 hours as of 7 a.m. on Sunday.

 

The advancing lava flow has now reached about 4.5 kilometers down the slope from the crater along Bonga-Buyuan Gully, it added.

 

Also, sulfur dioxide emissions increased to 7,024 from 2,034 tons per day.

 

As of Saturday, about 8,442 families or 40,093 persons have been evacuated since Monday last week from Camalig, Malilipot, Sto. Domingo, Ligao and Guinobatan towns and from the cities of Legazpi and Tabaco.

 

PAST ERUPTIONS

Phivolcs’ website on MAYON ERUPTIONS said the volcano has had at least 40 eruptions since February 1616. The most destructive eruption occurred on Feb. 1, 1814, when pyroclastic flows, volcanic lightning and lahar affected Camalig, Cagsawa, Budiao, Guinobatan and half of Albay. At least 1,200 persons died.

The second most destructive eruption was from June 4 to July 23, 1897 as pyroclastic and lava flows, lahar and volcanic lightning killed 350 persons.

On July 20-24, 1766, pyroclastic and lava flows destroyed Malinao and damaged Cagsawa, Guinobatan, Budiao, Polangui and Ligao. There were 39 casualties.

On July 7, 1853, 34 died as ash, pyroclastic flow and lahar affected Camalig, Guinobatan, Ligao, Oas, Polangui, Malilipot, Bacacay and Cagsawa.

Meanwhile, from Feb. 2 to April 4, 1993, pyroclastic and lava flows killed 77 and injured five.

Mayon erupted again from July to October 2006. In August 2006, the government ordered the evacuation of people living near the volcano. On Oct. 3, 2006, Phivolcs downgraded the threat level to alert level 2. Twenty-two days later, it downgraded the status to alert level 1. But on Nov. 30 of that year, typhoon Durian caused mudslides of volcanic ash and boulders from the slopes of Mayon Volcano, burying at least a thousand.

 

LBG/NPA, GMANews.TV

 

ALBAY BRACES FOR NEW YEAR ERUPTION OF MOUNT MAYON

 

(12/20/2009 | 12:50 PM - GMA News.TV)

 

It would be the mother of all fireworks. An eruption of Mayon Volcano looms for the New Year, as state volcanologists cited hot molten rocks nearing the crater and continuous lava flows.

 

Anticipating an influx of tourists, the government has set up a viewing center in Legaspi City, even as thousands of residents expect to remain in evacuations centers throughout the holidays.

 

“The time frame we see indicates the volcano may erupt on New Year’s Day or immediately after that. The eruption may come in two weeks," said July Sabit, Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) Bicol monitoring chief, in an interview on dzBB radio.

 

He said the sulfur dioxide emissions had gone up to 7,000 tons daily from about 2,000 tons as of last Saturday.

Lava flows coming from the crater had reached 4.5 kilometers down the volcano’s slope, he added.“This means fresh magma is climbing up the crater. We cannot describe for sure what the activity is all about, but we are certain that it is intensifying," Sabit said. But the volcanic activity, he added, was still inadequate for Phivolcs to raise the present alert level from 3 to 4.

It raised the alert level to 3 last December 16 after noting a sustained increase in volcanic activity in the past weeks

 

INFECTIOUS DISEASES THREATEN MAYON EVACUEES

 

(SOPHIA M. DEDACE, GMANews.TV - 12/20/2009 | 12:14 PM)

 

The Albay provincial government is bracing for a possible rush of health problems brought by overcrowding in evacuation centers, where more than 40,000 residents have taken refuge as the threat of Mayon Volcano's eruption looms.

 

In a statement sent through e-mail on Sunday morning, Albay Gov. Joey Salceda said cases of cough and colds with fever have been observed among evacuees. Four cases of sore eyes were also recorded in Tabaco City.

 

As of Saturday, about 8,442 families or 40,093 persons have been evacuated since Monday last week from Camalig, Malilipot, Sto. Domingo, Ligao and Guinobatan towns and from the cities of Legazpi and Tabaco.

 

“The cool weather is increasing the risks for colds and other related diseases. Albay authorities keep in mind that the zero-casualty goal can be compromised by health risks in evacuation centers," Salceda said.

 

About 50,000 face masks and P1.8 million worth of medicines and medical supplies from the Health department would be distributed on Sunday, the governor said, adding that the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) would also donate medicines.

 

WATER AND SANITATION

Salceda said the local government was doing its best to ensure that evacuees have access to clean water and proper sanitation, but some evacuations centers have limited water supply.

 

Only three evacuation centers in Camalig, Daraga and Guinobatan towns have sufficient water supply and facilities such as faucets, water tanks and comfort rooms for men, women and people with disabilities.

 

Aside from medicine donation, the Unicef has also donated 1,000 units of family water kits and 1,000 community water kits. A water purifying machine that can clean 30,000 liters of water per hour was also set up, but Salceda did not say which town or city was using it.

 

The provincial government had requested the Social Welfare department for 5,000 water jugs.

 

MENTAL STRESS

With less than a week before Christmas, Salceda said some evacuees have begun showing signs of “boredom and discomfort."

 

A team of volunteers from the Health and Social Welfare departments, he said, is crafting a psychosocial care program to help evacuees cope with the situation in evacuation centers.

 

He said Guinobatan Mayor Juan Garcia II had even suggested showing of movies every night at evacuation centers to help displaced residents fight the stress of having to spend the holidays away from home.

 

Salceda also said the government might tap volunteers from the Social Welfare department and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority for livelihood and personality development training at evacuation centers.

 

— LBG/NPA, GMANews.TV

 

CHECKPOINTS SET UP IN DANGER ZONES AROUND MAYON

 

GOVT: BRACE FOR MAYON's HAZARDOUS EXPLOSION

 

AS MAYON EXPLOSION LOOMS, BICOLANOS TRY TO SALVAGE CHRISTMAS SPIRIT

 

(12/19/2009 | 04:00 PM - GMA News.TV)

 

As Mount Mayon plays Grinch, at least 8,000 families in 23 evacuation centers in Albay, Bicol, are settling in for Christmas away from home. Government relief goods, in fact, are being packaged as noche buena packs, so certain are officials that the danger will not pass any time soon.

 

Albay Governor Jose Salceda has ordered local authorities to start packing up to 10,000 Christmas meals for the displaced families. This is aside from the daily ration of five kilos of rice to each family.

 

Early Saturday morning, Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) secretary Esperanza Cabral also made the rounds of evacuation centers in Legazpi City and Guinobatan, Camalig, and Daraga towns. “They accept that they are in clear danger," she said, but added that they still looked “happy".

 

According to Cabral, around P442,446 worth of relief support/augmentation assistance for the displaced families were released through the provincial DSWD office of Albay. The DSWD will also preposition some P98 million worth of relief items to augment its standby calamity fund of PP22 million.

 

Relief items included 2,400 one-liter bottles of mineral water (worth P52,800); 88 boxes of biscuits (P47,520); 413 boxes of noodles (P158,592); 1,000 family food packs (P153,534) and 3,000 face masks (P30,000).

 

Cabral said she has also released P500,000 to DSWD-FO V in addition to its P300,000 standby funds and P1.65 million worth of pre-positioned food supplies (P450,251) and non-food items (P1.2 million) for release to the affected population.

 

The Philippine National Red Cross (PNRC) has also joined the relief effort, providing potable drinking water for the evacuees, seminars on proper hygiene, and an upcoming medical mission before Christmas.

 

On a more sober note, Cabral noted that the evacuees still lack some basic needs. She said that the public schools used to house the evacuees are not congested, with each classroom accommodating an average of five to six families or 20-25 people, but are lacking adequate bathroom facilities.

"We do not know if they will still feel happy in evacuation centers after maybe three months," Cabral said.

 

Mount Mayon has been spewing ash plumes 2 km high and lava flows 4 km downslope from the crater since RENEWED VOLCANIC ACTIVITY early Monday.

- Nikka Corsino/TJD, GMANews.TV

[nancyk58]

POST II on 21 December 2009 (Post I was about the MAYON Volcano)

 

CHINA: CLIMATE TALKS YIELDED ‘POSITIVE’ RESULTS

 

(12/20/2009 | 09:33 PM - GMA News.TV)

 

BEIJING – China, the world's largest emitter of greenhouse gases, lauded Sunday the OUTCOME of a HISTORIC U.N. CLIMATE CONFERENCE that ended with a NONBINDING AGREEMENT that urges major polluters to make deeper emissions cuts — but does not require it.

 

The international climate talks that brought more than 110 leaders together in Copenhagen produced "significant and positive" results, Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi said.

 

Disputes between rich and poor countries and between the world's biggest carbon polluters — China and the United States — dominated the two-week conference. Tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets to demand action to cool an overheating planet.

 

The meeting ended Saturday after a 31-hour negotiating marathon, with delegates accepting a U.S.-brokered compromise. The so-called Copenhagen Accord gives billions of dollars in climate aid to poor nations but does not require the world's major polluters to make deeper cuts in their greenhouse gas emissions.

 

GERMAN CHANCELLOR Angela MERKEL defended the much-criticized outcome as a FIRST STEP that paves the way for action. Merkel was quoted Sunday as telling the Bild am Sonntag newspaper that "Copenhagen is a first step toward a new world climate order — no more, but also no less."

 

Merkel said that "anyone who just badmouths Copenhagen now is engaging in the business of those who are applying the brakes rather than moving forward."

 

Yang said the positive outcomes of the conference were that it upheld the principle of "common but differentiated responsibilities" recognized by the Kyoto Protocol, and made a step forward in promoting binding emissions cuts for developed countries and voluntary mitigating actions by developing countries.

 

"Developing and developed countries are very different in their historical emissions responsibilities and current emissions levels, and in their basic national characteristics and development stages," Yang said in a statement. "Therefore, they should shoulder different responsibilities and obligations in fighting climate change."

 

He said the conference also created a CONSENSUS on key issues such as long-term global emissions reduction targets, funding and technology support to developing countries, and transparency. He did not go into details.

 

"The Copenhagen conference is not a destination but a NEW BEGINNING," Yang said.

 

China has said it will rein in its greenhouse gas output, pledging to reduce its carbon intensity — its use of fossil fuels per unit of economic output — by 40 to 45 percent.

 

The Copenhagen Accord emerged principally from President Barack Obama's meeting with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and the leaders of India, Brazil and South Africa. But the agreement was protested by several nations that demanded deeper emissions cuts by the industrialized world.

 

Its key elements, with no legal obligation, were that richer nations will finance a $10 billion-a-year, three-year program to fund poorer nations' projects to deal with drought and other impacts of climate change, and to develop clean energy.

 

A goal was also set to mobilize $100 billion a year by 2020 for the same adaptation and mitigation purposes.

 

In a U.S. concession to China and other developing nations, text was dropped from the declaration that would have set a goal of reducing global emissions by 50 percent by 2050. Developing nations thought that would hamper efforts to raise their people from poverty. - AP

 

Climate talks end with eye on next year

 

Gas could be the cavalry in global warming fight

 

PHILIPPINES SUPPORTS ‘WEAK’ COPENHAGEN PACT

 

(PIA FAUSTINO, GMANews.TV - 12/19/2009 | 09:31 PM)

 

COPENHAGEN - The Philippines has thrown its SUPPORT behind the Copenhagen accord, a NON-BINDING climate agreement criticized for its weak provisions and the non-transparent, non-inclusive process by which it was formulated.

 

Brokered by the United States – the world’s largest polluter until overtaken by China two years ago – the informal accord called for countries to work at keeping the global temperature rise to below two degrees.

 

The accord was also criticized for “lacking ambition in reducing carbon emissions."

 

If world temperatures grow warmer by more than two degrees, polar ice caps would melt, bringing a global sea level rise of more than six meters. As a result, rising sea levels may submerge parts of Bangladesh, the Netherlands, and other countries.

 

The informal and non-binding Copenhagen Accord, which did not go through the normal negotiating procedures of the United Nations-sponsored conference, was also brokered by Ethiopia, Brazil, India, China, South Africa, and the Philippines.

 

The same document also called for financing of $30 billion to be provided by rich countries for the most vulnerable nations between 2010 and 2012, with $100 billion dollars “from a wide variety of sources" to be secured after 2020. [See: Philippines most in danger from climate change ]

 

During the emotionally-charged plenary session on Friday night after US President Barack Obama announced the Copenhagen Accord, the Philippines' Heherson Alvarez announced the adoption of the accord as Vice Chairman of the Climate Change Commission and acting head of the Philippine delegation to the climate talks.

 

“We support the adoption of the Copenhagen Accord," Alvarez said. “We welcome the efforts made by the group of leaders who negotiated it in the spirit of exploring collective actions. However, we need to constantly and consistently stress the critical importance of TRANSPARENCY, BROADER CONSULTATION, and CONSENSUS in these international negotiations."

 

However, poor nations, including Sudan, Tuvalu, Bolivia, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Venezuela and Cuba, did not share Alvarez's sentiments.

 

Ambassador Lumumba di Aping from Sudan called the document ‘murderous’ since a two degree rise in temperature spells climate disaster for the African continent.

 

He said that the document is “the single most disturbing document" in the history of the climate talks and asked it be stricken from United Nations’ records.

 

Veteran negotiator Bernaditas Castro-Muller, the fierce Filipino spokeswoman for the largest bloc of 132 developing nations in the climate talks, also called the climate deal damaging to the interests of developing countries. [See: Climate change deal damaging to poor nations, Filipina expert says]

 

Muller was removed from the Philippine delegation to the climate talks by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo on the eve of the opening of the Copenhagen summit. [See: Sudan adopts key negotiator excluded by RP in climate talks]

 

The move raised suspicions among civil society groups that Mrs. Arroyo was softening her position on climate change to please the United States.

 

Muller was later "adopted" by Sudan to enable her to continue negotiating for developing nations.

 

In the meantime, after endorsing the accord, Alvarez also said that work must be done to improve the document. He encouraged scaling up the carbon reduction targets to keep global temperatures below 1.5 degrees rather than two degrees. Alvarez also stressed the importance of reaching a legally-binding agreement within six months or the latest by the next UN climate summit to be held in Mexico City next year.

 

“Let us have a common resolve not to repeat what happened in our processes where for years, we exchanged positions and waited until the last two weeks, indeed the last few days, to begin serious negotiations," he said.

 

RJAB, Jr./GMANews.TV

[nancyk58]

UPDATES ON THE 22 DECEMBER 2009

 

CHINA BLASTS CLAIM IT 'HIJACKED' CLIMATE TALKS

 

(12/22/2009 | 10:49 AM - GMA News.TV)

 

BEIJING — China dismissed Tuesday a British editorial accusing it of "hijacking" the UN-sponsored climate talks in Copenhagen as baseless and politically motivated.

 

British climate change minister Edward Miliband's editorial singled out Beijing as the culprit behind the talks' near collapse.

 

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said the piece seemed designed to sow discord among developing nations.

 

She said the comments by an individual British politician — not mentioning Miliband by name — were an attempt to "shirk the obligations of developed countries to their developing counterparts and foment discord among developing countries, but the attempt was doomed to fail."

 

Miliband wrote in The Guardian newspaper Sunday that most countries — developed and developing — supported binding cuts in emissions, but that "some leading developing countries currently refuse to countenance this."

 

"We did not get an agreement on 50 percent reductions in global emissions by 2050 or on 80 percent reductions by developed countries. Both were vetoed by China, despite the support of a coalition of developed and the vast majority of developing countries," he wrote. "We cannot again allow negotiations on real points of substance to be hijacked in this way," he wrote.

 

Jiang said those responsible for the editorial should "correct their mistakes, fulfill their obligations to developing countries in an earnest way, and stay away from activities that hinder the international community's cooperation in coping with climate change."

 

The Copenhagen Accord emerged principally from President Barack Obama's meeting with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and the leaders of India, Brazil and South Africa. But the agreement was protested by several nations that demanded deeper emissions cuts by the industrialized world.

 

On Monday, Wen praised the outcome of the talks and China's role in achieving it. He told the official Xinhua News Agency that China "played an important and constructive role in pushing the Copenhagen climate talks to earn the current results, and demonstrated its utmost sincerity and made its best effort."

 

- AP

 

 

EUROPE FEELS LEFT OUT IN COLD ON CLIMATE DEAL

 

(12/22/2009 | 07:30 AM - GMA News.TV)

 

LONDON – It's a climate deal that has Europe feeling left out in the cold.

The continent that used to take the lead in advocating climate action is now taking the lead in climate complaining. And it's not just upset with the results, but the process itself.

 

Europe's goals were generally not met, and Danish Prime Minister Lars Loekke Rasmussen, host of the U.N.-sponsored climate talks in Copenhagen, was shoved aside as president of the conference in favor of Philip Weech of the Bahamas.

 

When a deal was reached, those in the room were heads of state from Africa, North and South America and Asia — not Europe.

 

The unhappiness extends to Europe's business community, which worries that a failure to agree to international emissions cuts could put them at a competitive disadvantage.

 

Since Europe had already agreed to binding emission cuts, "they needed the United States and developing countries to agree to binding reductions, which they didn't because the United States couldn't without the United States Congress acting," said Fred Krupp, president of the Environmental Defense Fund in the US. The developing countries didn't agree because the US didn't, he added.

 

The Copenhagen Accord emerged principally from President Barack Obama's meeting with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and the leaders of India, Brazil and South Africa. But the agreement was protested by several nations that demanded deeper emissions cuts by the industrialized world.

 

The US-brokered compromise calls for reducing emissions to keep temperatures from rising more than 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) above preindustrial levels.

 

The agreement's key elements, with no legal obligation, were that richer nations will finance a $10 billion-a-year, three-year program to fund poorer nations' projects to deal with drought and other impacts of climate change, and to develop clean energy. A goal was also set to mobilize $100 billion a year by 2020 for the same adaptation and mitigation purposes.

 

The nations attending the U.N. conference agreed by consensus on a compromise to "take note" of the accord, instead of formally approving it.

 

Robert Orr, the U.N. policy coordination chief, said a document will shortly be opened for signatures from all countries, and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged all to sign and work toward a legally binding treaty in 2010.

 

Politicians are blaming CHINA and other DEVELOPING COUNTRIES for cutting the heart of out of the climate deal, with Britain accusing Beijing of vetoing a deal for mandatory emission cuts and an EU official complaining that some Latin American countries had held the entire conference hostage.

 

"Never again should we face the deadlock that threatened to pull down those talks," British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Monday. "Never again should we let a global deal to move towards a greener future be held to ransom by only a handful of countries."

 

British climate change minister Ed Miliband wrote in The Guardian newspaper that most countries — developed and developing — supported BINDING cuts in emissions, but that "some leading developing countries currently refuse to countenance this." He singled out Beijing as the culprit behind the talks' near-collapse.

 

"We did not get an agreement on 50 percent reductions in global emissions by 2050 or on 80 percent reductions by developed countries. Both were vetoed by China, despite the support of a coalition of developed and the vast majority of developing countries," Miliband wrote.

 

CHINA SAW IT DIFFERENTLY

"China has played an important and constructive role in pushing the Copenhagen climate talks to earn the current results, and demonstrated its utmost sincerity and made its best effort," Wen told the official Xinhua news agency.

 

"These are hard-won results made through joint efforts of all parties, which are widely recognized and should be cherished," he said.

 

EU officials returned from Copenhagen disappointed by the MEAGER OUTCOME of the conference and angry that countries such as NICARAGUA, BOLIVIA, SUDAN and VENEZUELA kept the rest from signing a more ambitious global pact.

 

The EU claimed a climate leadership role for Europe by promising in March 2007 to cut its emissions by 20 percent by 2020, compared with 1990, and by 30 percent if others, notably the United States, followed suit. While that has not happened, the EU sticks by its emissions cuts of 20 percent and 30 percent.

 

But Europe's role is not what it could have been or used to be, said Jorgen Delman, a China studies professor at Copenhagen University.

 

"They didn't play the role they could have played," Delman said. "But I think it was clear that the US and China would be dominant. The European Union as a bloc was not in a position to be a dominant player."

 

Europe's problem was that it offered too much, too soon in negotiations, and was essentially taken for granted, experts said. In addition, when it comes to emissions of greenhouse gases, all of Europe combined isn't as a big a player as the US or China. The biggest emitter in Europe is Germany, and it is behind India, Russia and Japan.

 

"Europe could shut down and it really wouldn't matter" in terms of the types of significant emission cuts, said John Christensen, head of the U.N. Environment Program's center for energy, climate and sustainable development, based in Denmark.

 

Another problem was that Denmark's leaders made "various mistakes" early in the bureaucratic process that slowed things down and annoyed some African nations, Christensen said. That led to Rasmussen stepping down.

 

Not all in Europe were critical. German Chancellor Angela Merkel defended the summit's outcome as a first step that paves the way for action. She added that "anyone who just badmouths Copenhagen now is engaging in the business of those who are applying the brakes rather than moving forward."

 

European companies said they were "disappointed by the limited outcome" of the climate talks that did nothing to demand that other regions match rules that punish polluters in Europe — which they fear will force heavy energy users such as steel and chemicals to quit the 27-nation bloc.

 

"The Copenhagen Accord has not brightened the prospect for a global level-playing field in the future," said a press release from BusinessEurope, which represents some 20 million companies.

 

"On the contrary, European companies have to pay for their emissions under the EU Emission Trading Scheme and are as exposed to carbon leakage as they were before Copenhagen," it said.

 

The companies also say they "strongly regret" that the US, China and others "only repeated their limited mitigation commitments."

 

They called for them to swiftly move toward a legally binding agreement "because companies need predictability to develop the new green solutions on which a future low-carbon economy will depend."

 

Europe's steel industry federation Eurofer said that in the name of remaining competitive, the EU should avoid increasing its target to reduce emissions to 30 percent by 2020 until industries in other parts of the world make similar cuts. - AP

[Tonsu]

So many people continue to need our help in the Philippines. I know it's a busy time of year, but if you can just spare a moment to think about these families in great peril, or even a $ or 2...anything you can afford...you will be saving lives.

[Tonsu]

Bump with Christmas goodwill in mind. Most of us are comfortable in our homes, but many of these people are still in great danger of disease, and have no homes anymore anyway...

[nancyk58]

Updates on the 22 and 24 December 2009

 

MAGNITUDE-5.1 QUAKE ROCKS PARTS OF N LUZON

 

(12/22/2009 | 07:51 AM - GMA NEWS.TV)

 

Residents in some parts of Northern Luzon were jolted before dawn Tuesday after a magnitude-5.1 quake hit the region.

 

The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) recorded the quake at 3:59 a.m., according to a report by radio dzBB's Carlo Mateo.

 

Phivolcs traced the epicenter of the quake at 10 km from Tabuk town in Kalinga province. It added that the quake was tectonic in origin.

 

Citing initial reports reaching him, Phivolcs director Renato Solidum Jr. said the quake was felt at Intensity III in Baguio City and Intensity II in Tuguegarao City in Cagayan, and in Laoag and Pasuquin towns in Ilocos Norte.

 

Solidum said they are now verifying reports of possible damage to property in affected areas.

 

Meanwhile, a report by the United States Geological Service said the quake was at magnitude 5.4, with the epicenter at 45 km west-northwest of Ilagan, Isabela.

 

It said the epicenter was also 135 km northeast of Baguio City; 140 km southeast of Laoag City; or 300 km north of Manila.

 

LBG, GMANews.TV

 

I found no relevant articles to post on 23 December at 23:45 on GMA NEWS.TV, but there was a picture of "the MAYON volcano having a minor eruption".

 

 

MAGNITUDE-3.4 QUAKE JOLTS S. LUZON RESIDENTS

 

(12/24/2009 | 08:22 AM - GMA News.TV)

 

A PREDAWN MAGNITUDE-3.4 QUAKE jolted residents of some parts in SOUTHERN LUZON on CHRISTMAS EVE, but state seismologists said NO DAMAGE TO PROPERTY is expected.

 

The quake with tectonic origin was recorded at 4:41 a.m., according to Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) seismologist Erlington Oliveri.

 

“It is a shallow quake but it is enough to wake up light sleepers," he said in an interview on dzBB radio.

 

Citing initial information, he said the quake was felt at Intensity IV in Los Baños in Laguna and Lipa City in Batangas province.

 

The quake was also felt at Intensity II in Lucban in Quezon province.

 

Phivolcs initially traced the epicenter of the quake to 18 km northwest of San Pablo City in Laguna province. “There was no initial report of damage to property," Oliveri said.

 

LBG, GMANews.TV

 

------------------------

TROOPS TRY TO KEEP VOLCANO EVACUEES SAFE

 

(12/24/2009 | 09:57 AM - GMA News.TV)

 

LEGAZPI, Philippines – Police and soldiers donned Santa hats and red clown noses and belted out songs in crammed evacuation centers in hopes of keeping 47,000 displaced residents from sneaking back to their homes on the slopes of a lava-spilling volcano.

 

Despite the risk of an imminent explosive eruption of the 8,070-foot (2,460-meter) Mayon, which has been oozing lava and blasting ash for a week, some residents weary of temporary shelters are conspiring to go back to their abandoned villages for traditional Christmas Eve family gatherings. Others want to retrieve their livestock or harvest crops.

 

"We are not used to spending Christmas in the evacuation center," said Ramon Ayala, 48, whose home lies within a five-mile (eight-kilometer) zone around Mayon that authorities emptied last week when the volcano started rumbling.

 

"We and many others plan to spend Christmas Eve in our homes," Ayala said. Authorities are determined to make sure it does not happen.

 

"I have set a very high bar, which is zero casualty," said Gov. Joey Salceda of Albay province in the central Philippines. "If there's a lull and you step back into the danger zone, you'll immediately be escorted out."

 

Mayon volcano has erupted nearly 40 times over 400 years, sending people packing for months at a time. But never has it happened during the most important event in the Philippine calendar — Christmas time, which is associated with family, food, friends and songs.

 

To keep the blues away, dozens of police officers dressed in Santa hats and clown costumes, crooned songs and led dancing to a popular pop tune in one school. In another area, soldiers handed toys to children.

 

The government tapped police, army, navy and air force personnel to organize bingo and other games, show movies on big projectors, hold concerts and Bible readings — "anything that will entertain the evacuees," said Jukes Nunez, a provincial disaster management official.

 

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo visited the area Wednesday.

 

Although Mayon has been in a mild eruption phase since last week, chief state volcanologist Renato Solidum said it may be getting ready for something more powerful. But he said the explosion would not be as big as that of Mount Pinatubo in the northern Philippines in 1991, considered one of the biggest eruptions of the last century. About 800 people were killed.

 

Mayon shot up columns of ash at least 66 times in the last 24 hours, one reaching almost a mile (1 kilometer) into the cloudy sky, accompanied by 1,051 volcanic earthquakes — slightly less than the previous day, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology said.

 

State volcanologist Ed Laguerta said lava ejected since last week amounted to nearly 706 million cubic feet (20 million cubic meters) — less than half of what Mayon spilled during the last eruption of 2006. Lava flows reached about 3 miles (5 kilometers) from the crater.

 

"The earthquakes and tremors, the gas output and those rumbling and booming sounds and series of mild ash explosions ... are the parameters which point to a higher percentage of a hazardous eruption happening," Laguerta said.

 

Solidum said Mayon's alert level, currently at one step below a hazardous eruption, will be raised if taller ash columns appear together with the rolling of rocks and ash.

 

The 47,000 evacuees account for nearly all residents living along Mayon's steep slopes, but soldiers were still checking villages to make sure no holdouts were hiding in their homes, said Nunez. Residents who attempt to sneak back will be stopped at checkpoints, he said.

 

AP

 

 

TROOPS RUSH TO MOVE HOLDOUTS FROM MAYON

 

(12/24/2009 | 06:53 PM - GMA News.TV)

 

LEGAZPI, Philippines — Philippine troops went house to house Thursday threatening to use force to move hundreds of residents from the steaming slopes of a lava-spilling volcano. Some farmers begged to stay to guard their livestock while their families spent Christmas Eve in a shelter.

 

Volunteers distributed games and ice cream to children in some 45 evacuation centers and were preparing meals to try to restore some holiday cheer.

 

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo ordered officials to search for all those still refusing to leave their farms within a 5-mile (8-kilometer) danger zone around Mayon volcano in the central Philippines.

 

Security forces were under orders to use force if necessary to ensure no one is hurt by flowing lava or red-hot rocks, said Jukes Nunez, a provincial disaster management official.

 

Volcanologists warned the weeklong moderate eruption of the 8,070-foot (2,460-meter) Mayon could escalate within days as the volcano belched out 20 gray ash columns Thursday, some of them a mile (1.5 kilometers) high.

 

In Mabinit, a village within Mayon's danger zone, some of the farmers pleaded with soldiers accompanied by human rights workers to allow one man in each household to guard belongings while their families are in evacuation shelters farther away.

 

"We can't just leave our livestock and belongings because they may be stolen, so we asked the military to allow the men to stay behind," said Nelson Esquivel, 53. "I will just run down when the volcano erupts."

 

Military spokesman Capt. Razaleigh Bansawan said the men were given time to tend to their farms and gather belongings, but all of them were later moved out and Mabinit was sealed off.

 

He said the evacuation of about 1,000 people in seven other villages within the zone was ongoing. People were complying, he added.

 

Government workers have fanned out across some 45 schools and gymnasiums with games, movies and music concerts, hoping to keep 47,000 evacuees entertained over Christmas holidays, a time when many in this majority Roman Catholic country are missing traditional family gatherings in their homes.

 

Children in one evacuation center gleefully lined up for ice cream Thursday, and other activities were taking place to keep them busy.

 

Dinner packs of noodles, apples, oranges and corned beef will be distributed at the shelters later Thursday for Christmas Eve dinner, said Nunez. - AP

[nancyk58]

The Philippines need your help!

 

UPDATES ON 25 DECEMBER 2009

 

EVACUEES, family keep presidential bets busy on Christmas

 

AIE BALAGTAS SEE, GMANews.TV - 12/25/2009 | 12:19 AM

 

Albay evacuees and family time. These kept the presidential hopefuls in the 2010 elections occupied on Christmas Eve.

 

Former President Joseph Estrada and Senators Richard Gordon and Manuel Villar Jr. distributed relief goods to thousands of evacuees in Albay province before officially taking a break from politics for the Yuletide season.

I hope viewers would feel the Christmas spirit not by receiving but by giving," Gordon said in a report aired over GMA News' "24 Oras."

 

At least 45,000 evacuees in Albay province will celebrate their Christmas and possibly their New Year in evacuation centers as the restive Mayon Volcano threatens to erupt in the coming days.

 

Aside from the evacuees in Albay, Estrada also noted the importance of remembering those who were affected by the destructive cyclones that hit the Philippines this year.

“As we celebrate this joyous year, we must not forget the victims of the events that hurt our country this part year," he said in a statement.

 

Hundreds of people DIED while thousands were rendered HOMELESS after two CYCLONES left Metro MANILA, NORTHERN LUZON, and portions of Central Luzon FLOODED in epic proportions last September and October.

 

Senator Benigno "Noynoy" Simeon Aquino III, meanwhile, expressed hopes that the government could come up with solutions to end the problems that continue to batter the country.

 

“I hope we can start again for the sake of our countrymen," said Aquino, who will celebrate his first Christmas without his mother, the late President Corazon "Cory" Aquino.

 

The television report said Aquino and his sisters would celebrate their first noche buena in the house of his youngest sister and popular TV host Kris Aquino.

 

The other presidential aspirants - Sen. Jamby Madrigal, former Defense chief Gilberto Teodoro Jr., and JC delos Reyes, and Jesus is Lord Movement leader Eddie Villanueva - simply offered prayers for the country to overcome its hardships.

 

“Let us pray to God so that our country will achieve PEACE and UNITY," said Teodoro, the administration bet in next year's elections.

“What I want for Christmas is for this country to regain its footing," Villanueva said.

 

Madrigal, meanwhile, went to her family in Batangas to spend Christmas with her family.

 

KBK, GMANews.TV

 

 

NDCC: WATER, SANITATION SHORT IN EVACUATION CAMPS

 

(12/25/2009 | 10:49 AM - GMA NEWS.TV)

 

Less than half of centers for residents evacuated from danger zones around restive Mayon Volcano have enough water supply, while up to 62 people have to share one toilet in some evacuation camps.

 

This was the assessment of the Water And Sanitation for Health (WASH) of the National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC) on the current situation of the evacuated residents in Bicol.

 

"(Only) 40% of evacuation camps have adequate water supply, most source is water faucet," the NDCC said in its 10 p.m. Thursday report, posted on its website Friday.

 

It added toilets are inadequate in evacuation camps, "with a present ratio of 1:27 to 1:62 per latrine." Evacuees are now using mostly school toilets and lavatories.

 

Also, it said only 52% of the camps have adequate garbage disposal through collection with waste segregation.

 

The NDCC recommended the use of portable toilets and construction of new toilets, as well as regular garbage collection.

 

As of December 24, NDCC said 9,754 families or 46,655 people are staying in 26 evacuation centers.

 

Government imposed a mandatory evacuation at the danger zone, even as President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo ordered an investigation on whether such a move may violate human rights.

 

The NDCC said 66 health clinics have so far been set up in the evacuation camps, manned by city health workers during the day and barangay health workers at night.

Health education is also ongoing in some evacuation centers.

Also, the NDCC said immunization will be instituted in the health clinics once the evacuees are settled.

Meanwhile, dzBB radio's Allan Gatus reported Mayon remained restive as of Friday.

 

The report cited Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) records indicating Mayon had 969 volcanic quakes, 54 of them high-frequency. It said magma continued to rise to the crater, as shown by at least 125 rumbling sounds and 2,738 tons of sulfur dioxide. Lava fountaining was observed until dawn Friday, the report added.

 

JHU, GMANews.TV

[nancyk58]

Post II on 25 December 2009

 

GIFTS BRING CHRISTMAS CHEER TO MAYON EVACUEES

 

(12/25/2009 | 04:46 PM - GMA News.TV)

 

LEGAZPI, Philippines — Some 47,000 Filipinos who fled their homes in anticipation of the eruption of the Mayon volcano shared rations of noodles, fried fish and fruit to celebrate Christmas in evacuation centers. Children opened donated presents and clowns entertained the crowds, as the government tried to keep the evacuees from slipping back to their homes.

 

The 8,070-foot (2,460-meter) volcano known for its perfect cone has erupted nearly 40 times over 400 years, sending people packing for months at a time. But never has it happened during the all-important Christmas celebration, when Filipinos gather with family and friends for traditional meals and songs.

 

"I have mixed feelings of sadness and happiness," 38-year-old vegetable vendor Estela Netuno, who spent the holiday in an evacuation center with her siblings and 9-year-old son, said Friday. "We should be home celebrating with the family, but we are here."

 

She said the gifts of candies and toys her son got from donors, the Christmas Eve dinner pack of noodles and fruits from the local government, and the fried fish and vegetables shared with fellow evacuees during the traditional midnight meal made them happy.

 

But Netuno said she missed cooking at home, and the rice cakes she usually prepares for Christmas Eve. With crammed conditions and no kitchen, she said it was difficult to do that this year.

 

"If we were home and we could continue to earn a living, we could cook any food we want for Christmas," she said.

 

On Thursday night, Masses were celebrated in evacuation centers. Evacuees received gifts or were entertained by soldiers in Santa hats who belted out songs. But the mood was subdued, with many evacuees opting to sleep before midnight.

 

"We have to give them Christmas Eve midnight meal so at least while in the evacuation center they can also feel the Christmas celebration," Legazpi Mayor Noel Rosal said.

 

Joey Salceda, the governor of eastern Albay province, where Mayon is located, said he distributed 100 peso ($2) bills to children to be spent any way they wanted.

 

The celebration continued Friday, with a clown's magic tricks and parlor games bringing laughter to young evacuees at an elementary school.

 

Evacuation centers have been the scenes of daily entertainment for the past week as officials try to keep frustrated evacuees from sneaking back to their homes.

 

The military was still trying to get some 600 holdout residents to leave their homes Friday in villages within the five-mile (eight-kilometer) danger zone, said Capt. Razaleigh Bansawan, a military spokesman.

 

Chief government volcanologist Renato Solidum warned that a hazardous eruption was possible within days as Mayon's activities continue to escalate.

 

"It is now in a critical level or intense level of activity, so we should be careful," he said.

 

Ash explosions have intensified, with ash columns now reaching more than a mile (two kilometers) tall and molten rock spewing half a mile (one kilometer) from the summit, compared to several hundred yards (meters) two weeks ago, Solidum said

 

AP

[nancyk58]

UPDATES ON 26 DECEMBER 2009

 

PRAYERS AND SILENCE MARK 2004 TSUNAMI ANNIVERSARY

 

(12/26/2009 | 03:41 PM - GMA News.TV)

 

PHUKET, Thailand — Five years after a massive tsunami triggered deadly tidal waves across Asia, low-key ceremonies Saturday marked the solemn anniversary with prayers and moments of silence for the 230,000 people killed.

 

THE DEVASTATING DEC. 26, 2004, tsunami struck a dozen countries around the Indian Ocean rim. It eradicated entire coastal communities, decimated families and crashed over tourist-filled beaches the morning after Christmas. Survivors waded through a horror show of corpse-filled waters.

 

Survivors were among the hundreds of people who returned to the white-sand beaches in southern Thailand on Saturday to recall one of the worst natural disasters of modern times.

 

A moment of silence was observed on Phuket's Patong Beach, a popular strip of hotels and restaurants, to mark the moment the tsunami struck.

 

Dozens of Buddhist monks in bright orange robes chanted prayers. Onlookers wept and embraced.

 

Giorgio Capriccioli, an Italian who lives on Phuket, carried a bouquet of white flowers into the ocean.

 

He waded knee-deep in water that five years ago was clogged with corpses and cast the flowers adrift to honor the memory of two friends. His wife owns several beach-front shops but decided not to go to work the morning the tsunami struck.

 

"My wife would be dead if it weren't for the fact that she were pregnant and didn't go to work that day," he said at a ceremony that also attracted sun-drenched tourists in skimpy swimsuits, as well as Thai residents.

 

The ceremonies on Phuket were to culminate in the evening with candle-lighting ceremonies and the release of hundreds of light-filled lanterns into the sky.

Memorial services were also planned elsewhere in Asia.

 

In the Indonesian province of ACEH on SUMATRA island, which was hardest-hit by the disaster, some mosques held prayer services Friday.

 

The tsunami was sparked by an 9.2-magnitude underwater earthquake off Sumatra — the mightiest earthquake in 40 years.

 

More than 8,000 THAIS and FOREIGN VACATIONERS PERISHED IN THAILAND. Coastal communities in SRI LANKA and INDIA lost some 48,000 people between them. INDONESIA's loss of about 167,000 accounted for well more than half of the total death toll.

 

AP

 

 

PHIVOLCS: No tsunami threat in RP after Taiwan quake

 

(12/20/2009 | 08:26 AM - GMA News.TV)

 

State seismologists on Sunday allayed fears of a tsunami resulting from a magnitude-6.4 quake that hit Taiwan Saturday night.

 

Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) director Renato Solidum Jr. said they already relayed a no-tsunami alert to the Office of Civil Defense.

 

“The Taiwan quake does not pose danger to our country. There is no tsunami alert," Solidum said in an interview on dzBB radio on Sunday.

 

The United States Geological Service / USGS said the quake measured at magnitude 6.4 and occurred at about 9:02 p.m. Saturday.

 

Its epicenter was 25 km south-southeast of Hua-lien, Taiwan; 95 km south of Su-ao, Taiwan; 110 km east-southeast of T'ai-chung, Taiwan, or 145 km south of Taipei.

 

On the other hand, Phivolcs’ Bicol-based monitoring chief July Sabit said the quake was too far to create an affect on restive Mayon Volcano in Albay province.

“The quake was far from the Philippines but had it occurred near Mayon, it could accelerate its activity and may lead to a major eruption," Sabit said in an interview on dzBB.

 

Sabit also downplayed the chances of Bulusan Volcano in Sorsogon province being affected by Mayon's activity.

 

LBG, GMANews.TV

 

 

DANISH TEXT-TV on 26/12: A 6.0-MAGNITUDE EARTHQUAKE 5 years on the day after the devastating tsunami in 2004 that killed more than 250,000 people. The epicenter of today's earthquake was in 56 km depth, 270 km north - northwest of Saumlaku the Indonesian Tanitribar Islands (based on info from the US Geological Service / USGS). At first the USGS had measured the earthquake at 6,2 on the open richter scale, but later changed it to 6.0.

 

5 YEARS REMEMBRANCE DAY in the countries affected immediately by the devastating tsunami in 2004 that killed more than 250,000 people in Thailand, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and India and other countries also in Africa. There were victims from all over the world. In the tourist favourite Phuket in Thailand many people from Europe, Australia and the US died. In Thailand 10,000 lights were lit on the beach and hundreds of light-filled lanterns were released into the sky.

There was an interview with Dr. Smith Tamasoru (pronounced so, but did not write quickly enough to spell his name) who for years and years warned the authorities in Thailand of a coming tsunami. He wanted the authorities to establish a warning system. But no luck - he left his job. When the tsunami hit, he was contacted by the prime minister - if he wanted to cooperate in establishing a warning system. He said yes, and now there is a good warning system. Dr. Tamasoru is criticising the warning system for not being efficient at the moment, because there are some buoys connected to it, and their batteries are run out and need to be replaced, and he has pointed that out over and over again, but the batteries have not yet been replaced. The fact that he criticised the warning system has led the authorities to sue him, and the authorities say that of course the batteries will be replaced (but when? Hopefully in time for the next tsunami).

 

News from Danish Television, TV2 on 26/12.09.

[nancyk58]

UPDATES ON 27 DECEMBER 2009

 

MORE FAMILIES LIVING NEAR MAYON EVACUATED ON CHRISTMAS DAY

 

(12/26/2009 | 02:29 AM - GMA News.TV)

 

No family living within Mayon volcano's six-to-eight-kilometer permanent danger zone in Albay province was allowed to spend Christmas in their homes after the military enforced on Friday a no let-up forced evacuation policy in the area.

 

Task Force Mayon spokesperson Razaleigh Bansawan said soldiers were dispatched to the cities of Legazpi and Ligao, as well as to the towns of Guinobatan and Camalig to forcibly evacuate residents who had insisted on staying in risk areas.

 

He said 1,344 people were evacuated on Friday, in addition to the more than 47,000 other residents who had been brought to safer places since Mayon showed signs of renewed activity.

 

The military will continue to enforce a “no human activity" policy within the danger zone until all residents are brought to the province's 26 evacuation centers, according to Bansawan.

 

Alert level 4 remains hoisted over Mayon. State volcanologists warned of a potentially hazardous volcanic eruption after Christmas.

 

Andreo C. Calonzo, GMANews.TV

 

 

CULTURE OF DEPENDENCY WORST ENEMY OF MAYON EVACUEES - ALBAY GOV.

 

(12/26/2009 | 09:30 AM - GMA News.TV)

 

Almost two weeks after evacuation, families fleeing the impending explosion of Mayon Volcano in Albay may face their biggest enemy yet: MENDICANCY.

 

Provincial governor Jose Salceda said Saturday that measures need to be taken to keep on their feet and to maintain their dignity amidst the prolonged crisis. It is important that evacuees don't become overly dependent on the government for all their needs.

 

"This is our 13th day of keeping the evacuees in evacuation centers. A culture of mendicancy may have sunk in to some of them, so our first step should be to make clear to them it is not government but the COMMUNITY that provides. We have set up programs to make them earn their keep," Salceda said in an interview on dzRH radio.

 

GETTING PAID TO WORK HELPS PRESERVE DIGNITY

 

He said one of the programs is to have the evacuee families work to fix the schools they are staying in. Salceda also said the provincial government allows the mothers to cook food inside the evacuation centers, at least to preserve their dignity.

 

“Once the families leave the schools the schools are in good condition. They are paid for it. They work for it, they maintain their dignity," he said of the school repair work program.

 

The National Disaster Coordinating Council’s 7 p.m. Friday report indicated 10,032 families or 47,560 people are now housed in 29 evacuation centers in Camalig, Daraga, Malilipot Sto. Domingo and Guinobatan towns; and Legazpi, Tabaco and Ligao Cities.

 

NDCC said most of the new evacuees were from Legazpi, Tabaco and Ligao Cities; and Malilipot and Sto. Domingo towns.

 

GOV IS STILL OPEN TO INTERNATIONAL AID

 

On the other hand, Salceda said that the government remains open to local and international groups to bring in aid for the evacuees. He also said they continue to work to improve water and sanitation in the evacuation camps.

 

The provincial government started evacuating families from the danger zone around Mayon, which extends up to 8 km, since state volcanologists raised the alert level there to “3" on Dec. 14.

 

 

MAYON STILL HIGHLY ACTIVE

 

As of Saturday, Phivolcs said Mayon continued to exhibit a high level of activity during the past 24-hour observation period. In its 7 a.m. report, Phivolcs said it observed 33 ash explosions with dirty white to brownish ash columns that reached up to 1 km above the summit.

 

Phivolcs also observed 26 rumbling and two hissing sounds from the volcano, heard at the Lignon Hill Observatory in Legazpi City.

 

Seismic activity remained elevated as the seismic network recorded a total of 406 volcanic earthquakes.

 

It added 142 rock fall events related to detachment of lava fragments at the volcano’s upper slopes were also detected.

 

Flowing lava and rolling incandescent lava fragments were continuously observed at Bonga, Padang and Miisi gullies while sulfur dioxide emission was measured at 8,993 tonnes per day Friday.

 

JHU/TJD, GMANews.TV

 

 

AFTER SHORT LULL, MAYON GROWS RESTIVE AGAIN

 

(12/27/2009 | 10:00 AM - GMA News.TV)

 

After a respite of sorts Saturday, Mayon Volcano in Albay province grew restive again Sunday, with state volcanologists recording at least six explosions before dawn.

 

Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) head Renato Solidum Jr. reminded residents near Mayon’s danger zone against being lulled into a false sense of security.

 

“Residents should not be lulled into a false sense of security. They may think there are less ash explosions or rumblings, but sometimes they do not see them because of the cloud cover. The volcano is still restive and its Sulfur Dioxide emissions remain high," Solidum said in an interview on dzBB radio. He said that in the last 24 hours, they recorded another rise in volcanic activity, including six explosions between 4 and 6 a.m. Sunday. Solidum also said the volcano ejected lava as high as one kilometer into the air.

On Saturday, Phivolcs recorded 871 quakes and 98 rock fall events, three of which generated pyroclastic flows.

Phivolcs raised the alert level at Mayon to “4" last December 20, meaning a hazardous explosion is due in days. It had raised the alert level to “3" last Dec. 14.

 

WATER RATION

The Bureau of Fire Protection in Bicol rationed water to evacuation centers and conducted flush-and-clean operations in comfort rooms at Bariw Elementary School in Camalig.

A fire station engine from Legazpi City delivered 3,670 liters of water to San Roque, Gogon, Albay Central and Bagumbayan elementary schools.

Camalig fire station delivered water to Bariw, Taladong and Baligang evacuation centers, while Tabaco City fire station visited various evacuation centers.

The fire station in Daraga distributed relief goods and assisted in a feeding program for children.

For its part, the Sto. Domingo Fire Station rationed water to the Bicol National High School.

Meanwhile, the AFP medical team conducted a medical mission at Tabaco National High School and Tabaco N/W Central School.

 

GMANews.TV

 

 

 

MAGNITUDE-5.4 QUAKE JOLTS DAVAO

 

(12/26/2009 | 04:23 PM - GMA News.TV)

 

A 5.4-magnitude earthquake hit parts of southern Philippines a day after Christmas, state seismologists said.

The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) said Saturday that the earthquake happened at 1:09 p.m. Its epicenter was traced at 54 kilometers northeast of Mati City in Davao Oriental and had a shallow depth of 49 kilometers from the ground.The earthquake was felt at Intensity II in Davao City.

In an earthquake bulletin provided to GMANews.TV, Phivolcs officials in Manila said it was not expecting the earthquake, which was tectonic in origin, to cause damage in the affected areas.

More than an hour later, another earthquake rocked nearby General Santos City, local Phivolcs officials were, meanwhile, quoted as saying in a radio report.

Details of the second quake was not immediately available even as the Phivolcs headquarters in Manila said it has yet to get reports about it. Phivolcs also has yet to determine if the second jolt was an aftershock of the first quake.

 

Mark Merueñas/ JHU, GMANews.TV

[nancyk58]

UPDATES OF THE SITUATION IN SOUTHEAST ASIA ON 28 DECEMBER 2009

 

COPENHAGEN ACCORD FAVORS US IN CLIMATE NEGOTIATIONS

 

(YASMIN D. ARQUIZA, GMANews.TV - 12/25/2009 | 04:03 PM )

 

They all agreed that the planet is in peril, and along with it the fate of humanity, but in the end, the world’s leaders could not commit themselves to concrete action on how to prevent potential global catastrophe resulting from climate change.

Last week, 119 heads of state and government including controversial rulers such as Zimbabwe strongman Robert Mugabe and President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela gave speeches at the much-hyped climate summit in Copenhagen, along with the likes of German Prime Minister Angela Merkel and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

 

After all the talk, however, what was supposed to be a landmark meeting ended with a whimper, or more precisely, a three-page document that many observers have described as a weak political agreement. Worse, the conference refused to adopt the Copenhagen Accord, which many members of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) criticized for disregarding transparent and democratic procedures.

 

Developing countries were particularly incensed that the pact was announced during a late-night news conference, and had come out of daylong meetings by a small number of rich countries and the big four emerging economies – China, India, Brazil, and South Africa.

 

As a result, the two-week conference ended with a decision to simply “take note" of the political agreement, which did not go through the consensus-style UN process and had pushed aside prepared texts from years of climate negotiations. Despite the controversy, however, UN climate chief Yvo de Boer praised the pact as “an impressive accord" and the final press release from the secretariat did not mention the decision taken on the deal.

 

Still, in his final press conference, de Boer highlighted the weaknesses of the accord. Visibly tired from the late-night wrangling and lengthy closed-door meetings, he emphasized that the agreement was “not an accord that is legally binding, not an accord that at this moment pins down industrialized countries to individual targets, not an accord that at this stage specifies what major developing countries will do, not an accord that at this stage makes it clear how the 30 billion that it talks about is to be divided up amongst individual contributors."

 

He characterized the agreement as “a letter of intent" that needs to be spelled out in legal terms, “and that means we have a lot of work to do on the road to Mexico." The annual climate change talks will be held next year in Mexico City.

 

Prior to the meeting in Copenhagen, Mr. de Boer had outlined four key points that needed to come out of the conference: clear targets on emission reductions from industrialized countries, goals from major developing countries such as China and India on how much they would limit the growth of their emissions, financing for mitigation and adaptation in developing countries, and the mechanism for managing the funds.

 

“If Copenhagen can deliver on those four points I’d be happy," de Boer had said. Using those pre-conference goals as benchmark, it is not surprising that many sectors have branded the meeting as a failure.

 

"I DON’T KNOW THE PROTOCOLS"

At least one world leader emerged victorious from the last day of the conference though. Just before leaving Copenhagen, US President Barack Obama held a news conference with selected media where he announced the climate deal. Journalists who watched the briefing from the monitors at the press center scrambled to get copies of the agreement, which the information desk did not have as it was not an official document at the time.

 

Obama was particularly pleased that he managed to get major developing countries such as China and India to agree to limit the growth of their emissions, a contentious issue that has long been advocated by the US and other industrialized countries.

 

“The challenge here was that for a lot of countries, particularly those emerging countries that are still in different stages of development, this is going to be the first time in which even voluntarily they offered up mitigation targets," he said. “It was important to essentially get that shift in orientation moving, that’s what I think will end up being most significant about this accord."

 

The agreement could very well lead to the death of the Kyoto Protocol, the only binding climate treaty that requires industrialized countries to reduce their carbon emissions. The US has refused to sign the treaty, arguing that it would be detrimental to their economy and pointing out that China has overtaken it as the world’s top polluter.

 

Developing countries often point to the provision in the UNFCCC, the parent treaty of the Kyoto Protocol, that rich countries have a greater responsibility for much of the greenhouse gases accumulated in the atmosphere since the dawn of the Industrial Age. The US signed the UNFCCC, but with the Copenhagen Accord, the issue of historic responsibility has shifted to present-day levels of economic growth and carbon emissions.

 

In his plenary speech in Copenhagen, Mr. Obama effectively reframed the climate debate by pushing for “the principle of common but differentiated responses and respective capabilities" in addressing the problem, instead of affirming the “common but differentiated responsibilities" among countries as stated in the UNFCCC text.

 

While Mr. Obama’s performance in Copenhagen could win him brownie points at home and improve the chances for US Senate approval of climate legislation, he may have lost fans at the international level, especially after he showed ignorance of UN procedures.

 

When asked who would sign the agreement after he had left, Mr. Obama said: “You know, it raises an interesting question as to whether technically there’s actually a signature -- since, as I said, it’s not a legally binding agreement, I don’t know what the protocols are. But I do think that this is a commitment that we, as the United States, are making and that we think is very important."

 

In the end, it was left to Danish Prime Minister Lars Rasmussen to obtain approval from the UN conference for the agreement. Equally clueless about negotiating procedures, however, Mr. Rasmussen faced severe criticism for favoring the 20 or so countries that negotiated the Copenhagen Accord and failing to give courtesy to other delegations.

 

COPENHAGEN DISCORD

The dismal conclusion dampened the festive preparations for the climate summit in Copenhagen, which saw the largest gathering of world leaders in UN history.

 

“What mainly happened is the complete breakdown of trust among Parties. To build it up again, under the shadow of an Accord that would be pursued at all costs, is immensely challenging," said Bernarditas Muller, one of the Philippines’ principal negotiators in the climate talks until she was excluded from the country’s delegation this year.

 

In a reflection paper entitled “Copenhagen Discord, " Muller assailed what she called divide and rule" tactics in the run-up to the climate summit, principally from the US and European Union delegations, which resulted in some developing countries ultimately backing the controversial accord.

“What really occurred in Copenhagen was the culmination of all the frustrations of many developing countries in the total lack of transparency and inclusiveness in the process," said Muller, who serves as the coordinator of the G-77 bloc of developing countries. She was attached to Sudan, which currently heads the G-77, during the summit.

 

Climate change adviser Antonio Hill of the aid agency OXFAM summed up the sentiments of many civil society groups in the conference: “The Copenhagen Accord is hugely disappointing but it also reveals how the traditional approach to international negotiations, based on brinkmanship and national self-interest, is both unfit for pursuing our common destiny and downright dangerous.

 

Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who met with many of the key decision makers in Copenhagen and is also a Nobel Peace Prize laureate like Obama, also expressed regret at the outcome of the climate talks.

 

“The failure of the political process in Copenhagen to achieve a fair, adequate and binding deal on climate change is profoundly distressing," said the South African prelate. “A higher purpose was at stake but our political leaders have proven themselves unable to rise to the challenge."

 

GMANews.TV

 

 

RP's REMARKS ENDORSING COPENHAGEN ACCORD

 

(12/24/2009 | 12:14 AM - GMA NEWS.TV)

The prepared remarks of Secretary Heherson T. Alvarez, the Presidential Adviser for Climate Change, for the plenary when the Philippines endorsed the Copenhagen Accord.

 

Thank you, Mr. President.

We support the adoption of the Copenhagen Accord.

We welcome the efforts made by the group of leaders who negotiated it in the spirit of exploring collective actions. However, we need to constantly and consistently stress the critical importance of transparency, broader consultation, and consensus in these international negotiations.

 

The Philippines notes with interest the substance of the document. We will continue to study it with great care particularly with respect to its implications for our country. Based on our initial review, and in the interest of time, we would like to point out a few key areas that need to be addressed or strengthened:

 

• The scale of reductions and level of ambition fall short of our call for deep and early cuts which must be taken and led by Annex I countries. Our country recently endured the wrath of an extremely destructive typhoon that unleashed a month’s amount of rain in a matter of hours. Any inadequacy or delay in action will only increase the frequency and ferocity of severe weather events that can cause untold suffering to millions of our brothers and sisters.

• We must arrive at a legally binding agreement with a clear timetable with respect to the outcome of the Ad Hoc Working Group on Long-Term Cooperative Action. Aspirations and plans are not enough and the time for action is overdue. Meaningful reduction targets and goals on financing, adaptation, and other essential elements of these negotiations can only be accomplished through legally binding commitments.

 

• While we welcome the provisions on REDD-plus, we would like to remind this body that this component proceeded very well. Our delegation played a key role in facilitating progress on this issue. There must, however, and unfortunately the document does not emphasize this, balance between safeguards and action, strict rules on MRV and accounting, and that indigenous peoples be particularly acknowledged.

 

We look forward to the continuation and completion soon of our collective and collaborative work in the Ad Hoc Working Groups on the Kyoto Protocol and on Long-Term Cooperative Actions. The positive thing we see in this disappointment in Copenhagen is that it has highlighted the core issues around mitigation and finance. In moving forward on the KP and LCA work, let us have a common resolve not to repeat what happened in our processes where for years, we exchanged positions and waited until the last two weeks, indeed the last few days, to begin serious negotiations.

 

Mr. President, it is imperative that we Parties work together towards a legally binding instrument within a period of 6 months or at the latest by COP 16. This is the only way we can communicate the deep urgency of this process to succeed and keep temperatures below 1.5 degrees.

Thank you and good morning.

 

 

CLIMATE DEAL 'DAMAGING' TO POOR NATIONS, FILIPINA EXPERT SAYS

 

(By YASMIN ARQUIZA, GMANews.TV - 12/19/2009 | 08:57 AM)

 

COPENHAGEN (Updated 3 a.m. Saturday, Denmark time) – A last-minute agreement brokered by US President Barack Obama during the closing hours of the climate summit here Friday does not provide enough financing for poor countries that stand to suffer the most from the negative impact of climate change, a Filipina expert negotiator said.

 

“It’s damaging to the interests of developing nations," said Bernarditas Castro-Muller, a retired Filipina diplomat who serves as the coordinator for G-77 and China, the largest negotiating bloc of developing nations in the talks.

She said the agreement did not put in place the proper financing and technology transfer arrangements that would allow poor countries to adapt to climate change.

 

The informal Copenhagen Accord, which did not go through the normal negotiating procedures of the United Nations-sponsored conference, states: “The collective commitment by developed countries is to provide new and additional resources amounting to 30 billion dollars for the period 2010 – 2012 with balance allocation between adaptation and mitigation, including forestry and new and additional investments through international institutions."

 

Priority for the funds would be “the most vulnerable developing countries, such as the least developed countries, small island developing states and countries in Africa."

 

Specific pledges to the fund so far are $10.6 billion from the European community, $11 billion from Japan, and $3.6 billion from the United States, according to the document.

 

The agreement also set a goal of $100 billion in funding “from a wide variety of sources" by 2020 to provide the needs of developing countries, but Muller said most of these would come from loans and does not address the need to “pay the climate debt" of rich nations that have polluted the atmosphere for many generations.

 

While recognizing the scientific view that increases in global temperature should not go beyond 2 degrees Celsius to avert dangerous climate change, the agreement did not specify any targets for emission reductions from any country. Instead, it simply states, “We should cooperate in achieving the peaking of global and national emissions as soon as possible."

 

Muller assailed the manner by which world leaders produced the agreement, saying “it’s the result of a non-transparent process."

 

Negotiators from 192 countries have been working for two years to produce an agreement beyond 2012, when the first period of binding targets on emissions reductions under the Kyoto Protocol expires. However, there were still many sticking points by the time world leaders flew into Copenhagen for the high-level segment of the talks this week.

 

One of the few carbon-cutting measures in the agreement is the support for “positive incentives" on actions for a mechanism known as reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD) in developing countries.

 

The agreement included a table of voluntary mitigation pledges from 11 countries that do not have binding targets under the Kyoto protocol including the Philippines, which committed to reduce emissions by 5 per cent but did not indicate any time frame.

 

NOT LEGALLY BINDING

In a news conference at around 11 p.m. Friday where he announced the agreement, Mr. Obama said he worked all day with the leaders of Ethiopia (representing Africa), China, Brazil, India, and South Africa to come up with the deal.

 

He had an additional meeting in the evening with the four big developing countries, "and that's where we agreed to list our national actions and commitments, to provide information on the implementation of these actions through national communications, with international consultations and analysis under clearly defined guidelines," Mr. Obama said.

 

"The way this agreement is structured, each nation will be putting concrete commitments into an appendix to the document, and so will lay out very specifically what each country’s intentions are," he added.

 

Mr. Obama said the national commitments would be subjected to "international consultation and analysis" to track the progress of each country.

 

"It will not be legally binding, but what it will do is allow for each country to show to the world what they're doing, and there will be a sense on the part of each country that we're in this together, and we'll know who is meeting and who's not meeting the mutual obligations that have been set forth," he said.

 

It is unclear how the UN conference would decide on the agreement, which essentially sidelined the negotiating documents containing binding targets for industrialized countries after 2010, when the first round of commitments for the Kyoto protocol expires.

 

Mr. Obama left right after the conference, saying US negotiators would finish other tasks needed at the conference.

 

"The challenge here was that for a lot of countries, particularly those emerging countries that are still in different stages of development, this is going to be the first time in which even voluntarily they offered up mitigation targets," he told the news conference with US media. "And I think that it was important to essentially get that shift in orientation moving, that's what I think will end up being most significant about this accord."

 

"It is still going to require more work and more confidence-building and greater trust between emerging countries, the least developed countries, and the developed countries before I think you are going to see another legally binding treaty signed," he added.

 

"I actually think that it's necessary for us ultimately to get to such a treaty, and I am supportive of such efforts. But this is a classic example of a situation where if we just waited for that, then we would not make any progress," Mr. Obama said.

 

The agreement immediately drew criticism from environment advocates, even as marchers noisily marched to Bella Center in the midnight snow to protest the turn of events.

 

[b]"We have seen a year of crises, but today it is clear that the biggest one facing humanity is a leadership crisis," said Greenpeace International Executive Director Kumi Naidoo.[/B]

 

"During the year a number of developing countries showed a willingness to accept their share of the burden to avert climate chaos. But in the end, the blame for failure mostly lies with the rich industrialized world, countries which have the largest historic responsibility for causing the problem. In particular, the US failed to take any real leadership and dragged the talks down," he added.

 

Jeremy Hobbs, executive director of the aid charity OXFAM International, said: "This agreement barely papers over the huge differences between countries which have plagued these talks for two years."

 

He added: "The deal is a triumph of spin over substance. It recognizes the need to keep warming below 2 per cent but does not commit to do so. It kicks back the big decisions on emissions cuts and fudges the issue of climate cash."

 

with a report from Pia Faustino, GMANews.TV

[nancyk58]

UPDATES ON 29 DECEMBER 2009

 

HEALTH OFFICIALS PROBE DEATH OF 4 MAYON EVACUEES

 

(12/29/2009 | 01:39 PM - GMA News.TV)

 

Health authorities in Albay are investigating the death of at least four people evacuated from the danger zone around restive Mayon Volcano, even as they insisted that the deaths were not due to the poor conditions in evacuation centers.

 

DzBB’s Allan Gatus quoted Provincial Disaster Coordinating Council executive director Cedric Daep as saying that the four had been sick before they were evacuated.

 

The radio report said one of the fatalities was three-year-old Joselito Guillen, who died after suffering Loose Bowel Movement. Another was a 68-year-old woman with a heart condition.

 

A separate report on dzXL radio Tuesday noon said Albay Governor Jose Salceda cited reports reaching him that four evacuees had died since they started evacuating people from the danger zone earlier this month.

 

Salceda did not name the fatalities but said at least one died of a heart attack.

 

On the other hand, Salceda belied rumors that the deaths stemmed from dirty water or insufficient food in evacuation centers. He said the Provincial Health Office is investigating the case.

 

Provincial authorities started evacuating residents from Mayon’s danger zone after state volcanologists raised the alert level there to “3." The alert level was raised to “4" last Dec. 20.

 

The National Disaster Coordinating Council said that as of 5 p.m. Monday, 10,032 families or 47,563 people are staying in 29 evacuation centers.

 

- LBG, GMANews.TV

 

 

LOCAL EXEC URGING TOURISTS TO PLAY IN SHADOW OF MAYON

 

(By SOPHIA DEDACE, GMANews.TV- 12/29/2009 | 01:14 PM)

 

LEGAZPI CITY, Albay - Within sight of a rumbling Mount Mayon, thousands of evacuees are enduring a blue holiday season. But tourists are having a blast.

 

As the 2,460-meter volcano continued to show signs of an imminent major eruption, at least a dozen Korean nationals were joy-riding Tuesday morning on board all-terrain vehicles along the slopes of Ligñon Hill, on the outskirts of Mayon's eight-kilometer danger zone.

 

The tourists are engaged in a foolhardy activity that can get them arrested, according to the provincial government, but at least one local executive has given adventure-seeking tourists his blessing.

 

Legazpi City Councilor Cerilo Chan was on radio this morning downplaying the perils of being near the the volcano and even offered to accompany Albay Governor Joey Salceda to stroll inside the danger zone.

 

Chan’s invitation did not sit well with the governor, who has repeatedly warned tourists against venturing into Mayon’s danger zones. “(That) is stupidity. I take it as an offense. I will demand an apology from him," Salceda said, adding that Chan was mocking the provincial government's efforts.

 

In an interview, Chan said he is only encouraging tourists to trek on lava-hardened roads 10 to 15 kilometers away from Mayon’s summit and not inside the eight-kilometer danger zone.

 

“I will not risk the life of any person, especially tourists. As an official, I have the responsibility to protect them," Chan said, stressing that would never violate the province’s zero-human-activity policy within Mayon’s danger zones. Tourists have been arriving in this city in recent days anticipating the mother of all fireworks in time for the new year, or at least to witness the fiery spectacle of magma visible every night. Hotels in this city are fully booked.

 

Mount Mayon, glorified on postcards as the "world's most perfect cone," is Bicol's biggest tourism draw, but it is also among the planet's most active volcanoes, periodically erupting and devastating surrounding communities. A lava flow that has oozed its way down the southeastern side has already burned trees and vegetation in its path and caused the lower slopes to appear eerily from a distance as if shrouded in rising steam.

 

A reporter who declined to be named said Chan even encouraged him to try zip-lines, an extreme recreational activity, to view the lava flow while hurtling across the panorama attached to a steel cable. The zip-line, however, is near Mayon’s lava front and is deemed to be very dangerous.

 

Earlier reports said tourists managed to slip past checkpoints around the danger zone by passing through side roads with the help of local "tourist guides."

 

Provincial authorities are verifying information that some local officials may even be helping the “underground" tourism industry.

 

The military has set up additional checkpoints and roadblocks to prevent tourists from sneaking into dangerous areas.

 

As of Tuesday noon, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) said Mayon remained restive. Some 47,560 evacuees in the province are temporarily residing in public school buildings.

 

- HGS/TJD, GMANews.TV

 

 

AUTHORITIES WANT 'HARDHEADED' MAYON TOURISTS ARRESTED

 

(12/28/2009 | 07:57 AM - GMA NEWS.TV)

 

Irked over the seeming impunity in defying checkpoints and a curfew, the Albay provincial government authorities have ordered a crackdown on tourists venturing into the danger zone of restive Mayon Volcano.

 

Radio dzBB's Allan Gatus reported Monday that the Provincial Disaster Coordinating Council ordered the local military to arrest those caught inside the 6-8 km danger zone.

 

Military spokesman Capt. Razaleigh Bansawan said one Infantry platoon, or at least 25 personnel, will man added checkpoints around the danger zone.

 

Roadblocks have been placed on some side roads to deter tourists from sneaking in, he added.

 

Earlier reports indicated that tourists managed to slip past checkpoints around the danger zone by passing through side roads with the help of local "tourist guides."

 

Provincial authorities are verifying information that some local officials may even be helping the “underground" tourism industry.

 

The dzBB report cited information that some tourists could even rent all-terrain vehicles (ATVs) for up to P1,000 an hour to get near the lava front of the volcano.

 

It said this was despite a 24-hour curfew and a "no human activity" policy at the volcano's danger zone.

 

Meanwhile, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology said Mayon remained restive, with more than 40 volcanic quakes and several minor volcanic explosions Sunday night.

 

The lava flow reached up to 5.7 km from the crater and is nearing local coconut plantations, the report said.

 

HEALTH COMMAND POST

According to the National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC), the Joint Health Command Post (JHCP) has stationed a DOH Regional Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit at the Provincial Health Office.

 

In its 11 p.m. Sunday report, NDCC said the post will oversee and conduct disease surveillance, rapid assessment surveys, report generation and response in evacuation camps.

 

JHCP has coordinated with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) on the establishment of a tent hospital equipped with a mini-laboratory.

 

Bicol Medical Center will man the mini-laboratory to be set up at San Andres and Sto. Domingo.

 

Also, the JHCP coordinated with the Water and Sanitation for Health

(WASH) team on the distribution of water kits, chlorine, toilet bowls and additional face masks.

 

It coordinated as well with medical mission teams on their schedules and places of deployment and augmentation of drugs and medicines.

 

Meanwhile, the Department of Health augmented drugs, anti-venom, face masks and medicines supplies to affected areas and replenished pre-positioned medicines.

 

The Center for Health Development (CHD) for Bicol placed all emergency teams on standby for immediate mobilization.

 

At least 282 patients have been attended to for cough and colds, fever and asthma, local health authorities said, adding that health education is ongoing in some evacuation centers.

 

As of 11 p.m. Sunday, some 10,032 families or 47,563 people were staying at 29 evacuation centers.

 

- LBG, GMANews.TV

[nancyk58]

The Phlippines need your help

 

Updates on 30 December 2009

 

MAYON SILENT AGAIN, BUT PHIVOLCS REMAINS CAUTIOUS

 

(12/30/2009 | 12:41 PM - GMA News.TV)

 

Restive Mayon Volcano calmed down a bit as it registered only one ash explosion Tuesday, but state volcanologists are not taking their chances.

 

Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) director Renato Solidum Jr. said other signs still point to magma making its way up the volcano’s summit. Despite the decrease in volcanic activity, Mayon remains at alert level 4.

 

“If we are talking about explosions, we recorded only one on Tuesday but mainly it was because of cloud cover. Still, there is still lava flow coming from the volcano," Solidum said in an interview on dzBB radio.

 

Phivolcs’ 7 a.m. report said one ash explosion occurred Tuesday, and produced a dirty white ash column that rose to about 100 meters above the summit and drifted northwest.

 

But lava continued to flow down along the Bonga-Buyuan, Miisi and Lidong gullies. The lava front has reached about 5.9 km from the summit along the Bonga-Buyuan gully.

 

The seismic network recorded 16 volcanic earthquakes and 150 rock fall events related to the detachment of lava fragments at the volcano’s upper slopes.

 

Sulfur Dioxide (SO2) emission rate yielded an average value of 4,397 tonnes per day (t/d).

 

“The volcano edifice remains inflated as indicated by the electronic tilt meter installed at the northeast sector of the volcano," it said.

 

Phivolcs raised the alert level for Mayon to 4 last Dec. 20, after raising it to 3 on Dec. 14.

 

Figures from the National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC) indicate more than 47,000 people living near the danger zone are now housed in 29 evacuation centers.

 

Solidum said that even if they lower the alert level for Mayon, it will be gradual and based on careful evaluation of the potential for explosion.

 

“Even if lava is flowing from the volcano, we are closely studying the potential for explosion. For now, magma is rising up the summit. We don’t want a surprise explosion after a lull," he said.

 

The timetable for allowing residents to return to their homes will depend on arrangements with the local government, Solidum said.

 

If there are no more signs that the volcano is exploding, Solidum said Phivolcs will lower the alert level gradually.

 

- with Nikka Corsino/LBG, GMANews.TV

 

 

ALBAY OFFICIALS: EVACUEES’ DEATHS UNRELATED TO EVACUATION EFFORTS

 

(12/30/2009 | 12:27 PM - GMA News.tv)

 

Four people have been confirmed dead in evacuation centers in Albay province early this week, but local authorities have been insisting that these were not related to current evacuation efforts amid threats of restive Mayon Volcano.

 

In a radio interview Wednesday, Albay Governor Jose Salceda said the four deaths were not related to lava impact or ash fall, nor to hunger and unsanitary conditions.

 

“At least four people died but the deaths were not due to the impact of lava or to ash fall. There was also no death due to hunger or unsanitary conditions in evacuation centers," Salceda said over dzXL radio.

Salceda admits, however, that evacuation centers are congested.

 

“We admit there is congestion in the evacuation centers but the Armed Forces of the Philippines and Department of Health have been conducting continuous medical missions," he added.

 

Citing the death certificates of the fatalities, Salceda said one was an old woman who died due to a prolonged illness.

 

A second fatality was a village official who died of a heart attack [/b] “because of anxiety with stubborn evacuees."

 

He said the third, a young boy, died of parasitism or worms inside his body. The fourth, a woman, died of congestive heart failure, he said.

 

“We are not using this as an excuse. We are just approaching this scientifically. And all families of those who died will get assistance," he said.

 

Backing up Salceda’s claim was Health Secretary Francisco Duque III, who said the deaths were not due to poor conditions in evacuation centers.

 

“They have had medical conditions before they were brought to the evacuation centers. Their deaths had nothing to do with their evacuation and exposure to ash fall," Duque said in a separate interview on dzXL radio.

 

He also said there has been no epidemic so far in the evacuation centers.

 

Salceda said the four deaths were “acceptable" considering that there are some 47,563 evacuees now staying in 29 evacuation centers, almost the population of a large town.

 

He said that with the province’s mortality rate of 0.72% a year, the expected mortality in the evacuation centers would have been 15.

 

- with Nikka Corsino, GMANews.TV

 

 

Church eyes adopt-a-family program for Mayon evacuees

 

(12/30/2009 | 03:04 PM - GMA NEWS.TV)

 

The Albay Catholic Church is set to organize an adopt-a-family program to decongest public school classrooms serving as temporary shelter for displaced families in Albay.

 

Catholic officials said the 'Adopt a Family Evacuee Program' will be realized through the help of foster families from unaffected parishes, according to an article posted Tuesday night on the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines' news site.

 

The announcement of the program came after Legazpi Diocese Social Action Center Director Fr. Ramoncito Segubiense attended a meeting with Albay Governor Jose Salceda and international relief agencies including United Nations Development Program, World Vision Philippines, United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), World Food Program, Action Against Hunger (ACF International) and United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

 

“We will talk to Catholic families to accommodate at least 500 families or 2,500 individuals in their homes," Salceda said.

 

Public schools in various parts of Albay are currently housing 47,500 evacuees from within the 8-km danger zone radius.

 

The governor is optimistic that Catholic households will accommodate the displaced families because there were already informal arrangements between relatives.

 

Segubiense said priests will talk to leaders of various mandated organizations to facilitate the identification of foster families in their respective parishes.

 

Segubiense added that the adopt-a-family program is supported by new Legazpi Bishop Joel Baylon.

 

The provincial government assured that it will continue to provide the evacuees’ food requirements because they still have their “claim cards."

 

'CLASSROOM TENTS' BADLY NEEDED

Salceda is hoping more donors would give out tents that could be used as temporary classrooms. He said that classes are expected to resume this coming Monday, but the local government has not enough of such tents.

 

“We have received commitments from international NGOs for our food requirements but we have not received enough for classroom tents," the governor said in the article on the CBCP Website.

 

UNICEF has pledged 100 tents to serve as temporary classrooms for the students, who are returning to school on Monday.

 

According to Salceda, 600 tents are needed to accommodate all returning students, noting that the UNICEF has yet to deliver on its commitment.

 

- with Nikka Corsino/LBG, GMANews.TV

 

 

NO CHEER FOR GRIEVING FAMILY AT MAYON EVACUATION CENTER

 

(Sophia Dedace, GMA News.TV - 12/30/2009 | 02:26 PM )

 

CAMALIG, ALBAY — A mother quietly grieves the death of her three-year-old son inside an evacuation center in this town, unmindful of the hustle and bustle of fellow evacuees lining up for government relief goods.

 

The reality had not sunk in for forty-three-year-old Girlie Guillen, whose son Joselito died the day after Christmas, days after restive Mayon Volcano drove her family out of their home.

 

“He was vomiting before his sudden death. I still could not believe it. He was just with us during Christmas," the mother said in an interview.

 

She could not accept her youngest son’s death, as if the melancholy from spending the holidays away from home was not enough. Guillen, still dazed, would often stare at her son lying in his casket near the stage of the Baligang Elementary School.

 

“We can’t imagine how to welcome the New Year without him," Guillen said

Her family is just one of several hundreds spending the holidays inside one of 29 cramped evacuation centers in the province following a ban inside the eight-kilometer danger zone around Mayon.

 

The government has assured help for the family of Guillen, who thinks her son died after drinking contaminated water. The Camalig government, however, insists that the water being supplied to evacuees is chlorinated and safe for drinking.

 

Provincial health officials looking into Joselito’s death said the young boy had an existing medical condition and had died of a parasite.

 

“No deaths were traced to lack of, or poor quality of food or nutrition, water and shelter in the camps," said a health evaluation statement from the Provincial Disaster Coordinating Council.

 

A closer look at the council’s health assessment summary would show, however, that water supply at Baligang Elementary School is inadequate. About 13 faucets are needed to serve all the 2,500 evacuees, but only three are available.

 

Clean toilets are also lacking. The nine toilets available are less than a tenth of the 126 required by the World Health Organization.

 

Life goes on for others inside the evacuation center. Children oblivious to the adversity crowd the school playground, mothers tend to their infants, while fathers set up makeshift stoves on which they cook their families’ daily ration of rice, noodles and canned sardines.

 

It’s a stark contrast to Guillen’s world, which appears to have stopped. Grief-stricken, she has somehow forgotten about the hassles of being away from home, but still thinks the New Year will not bring good cheer.

 

— NPA/GMANews.TV

 

 

ANIMAL TRANSFER FROM MAYON COSTLIER THAN HUMAN EVACUATION

 

(By Sophia Dedace, GMA News.TV12/30/2009 | 09:16 AM)

 

LEGAZPI CIY, Albay – Even animals deserve to be safe, too. In fact, the Albay provincial government has spent more for their evacuation than for human evacuees.

 

To deter evacuees from returning to their homes to care for their animals, the Albay provincial government and animal welfare advocates on Tuesday started transferring animals left in Mayon Volcano’s danger zones to safer ground.

 

In Barangay Mabingit within Legazpi City's danger zone, residents herded about 20 cattle and carabaos to an embarkation area where trucks were waiting to bring them to an evacuation camp. Some animals resisted by unfamiliar handlers and were forcibly taken.

 

Workers from Albay’s Agriculture Rehabiliation (Agri-Rehab) office marked the animals so that their owners could distinguish them.

Tuesday’s evacuation was only a test run, according to Dick Green, disaster relief manager of the US-based International Fund for Animal Welfare.

 

On Thursday, his group and the Agri-Rehab office plan to bring to safety some 2,014 carabaos, 1,793 cows, and 4,640 dogs from five municipalities and three cities in Albay under threat from Mayon’s impending eruption.

 

Green said chicken and pigs would not be evacuated because they are expected to be sold by owners before they are rescued.

 

Albay Governor Joey Salceda said they have allotted P11 million for the evacuation of the animals, a far cry from the P3 million the government has spent for the evacuation of more than 47,500 residents. The animal evacuation is requiring more trucks and labor.

 

The animals evacuated on Tuesday would be taken to the Mayon Riviera, a sprawling 28-hectare property two kilometers away from Mayon’s eight-kilometer danger zone.

 

Agri-Rehab head Romulo Elvira Jr. said the government has prepared tents and pens to house the animals. They would be fed daily by veterinarians.

 

- GMANews.TV

 

 

EARLY MORNING QUAKES ROCK SURIGAO DEL SUR

 

(12/30/2009 | 09:10 AM - GMA News.TV)

 

A MAGNITUDE-5.2 QUAKE and a MAGNITUDE-5 AFTERSHOCK rocked parts of Surigao del Sur province in Mindanao early Wednesday morning but state seismologists do not expect the tremors to have damage to property.

 

The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) said the first quake hit at 6:14 a.m., and traced the epicenter to 122 km northeast of Tandag, Surigao del Sur.

 

The quake was tectonic in origin and was felt at Intensity II in Surigao City, Phivolcs said.

 

An aftershock was felt at magnitude 5 at about 6:35 a.m., with the epicenter at 118 km northeast of Tandag, Surigao del Sur.

 

The aftershock was also felt at Intensity II in Surigao City.

 

Phivolcs warned of more possible aftershocks following the quakes.

 

- LBG, GMANews.TV

[nancyk58]

UPDATES ON 31 DECEMBER 2009

 

HAPPY NEW YEAR, EVERYONE READING THIS.

 

ON NEW YEAR'S EVE, EVEN MAYON EVACUEES WILL PARTY

 

(By Sophia Dedace, GMANews.TV - 12/31/2009 | 02:08 PM )

 

LEGAZPI CITY, Albay – For the past two weeks, Aiza Alonto has been bored while feeling caged in a cramped classroom in Bagumbayan Elementary School in Legazpi City, one of several evacuation camps for the 47,000 or so residents inside Mount Mayo's danger zone.

But tonight, she's going to party.

 

The Albay government on Thursday night is set to stage a concert in the provincial capitol’s Astrodome to help displaced residents usher in 2010 with hope. Albay Governor Joey Salceda said the event is part of the government’s effort to attend to the evacuees’ psychosocial well-being.

 

“The concert is exclusively for evacuees," Salceda said, showing the concert ticket to reporters.

 

The concert will feature three local bands, namely Power Beat, Cast of Clowns, and Tremor. He said the government tried to get more prominent artists, but they were not available.

 

Even Lola Natividad, 82, would attend the concert if only she were not suffering from arthritis.

 

The concert is expected to draw about 4,000 of the 47,000 locals taking refuge in evacuation camps.

 

‘Excited’ for New Year

The evacuees in Bagumbayan Central School remain optimistic about the year ahead, despite coping with a limited daily ration of food and water.

Aiza Alonto said she and her family are better off living in the evacuation camp than in their home in Barangay Buyuan.

 

Cheska, 7, said she enjoys life in the evacuation center because she can play with more children. The government has also given them toy horns so they can greet the New Year with their own noise-making sans firecrackers, as many anticipate any day now nature's bang from the majestic mountain that dominates the landscape.

 

- HS, GMANews.TV

 

 

5-6 DEBT COLLECTORS CAUGHT IN EMPTY MAYON DANGER ZONE

 

(2/31/2009 | 01:13 PM -GMA News.TV)

 

LEGAZPI CITY, Albay – An imminent volcanic eruption is one way to avoid debt collectors.

 

Two Indian nationals, both engaged in the so-called "5-6" lending business, were briefly held Thursday morning after they were caught inside Mayon Volcano’s eight-kilometer danger zone looking for residents who owed them money. But everyone had already been evacuated.

 

Task Force Mayon spokesperson Captain Razaleigh Bansawan said Gupreet Singh and Sawarn Singh were discovered by roving soldiers in Barangay Bunga in Legazpi City.

 

They were taken to the Provincial Disaster Coordinating Council office to be presented to Albay Gov. Joey Salceda, but they declined to talk to reporters.

 

The two, who also sold umbrellas, were eventually released and warned that they would be formally charged if they were seen again in areas now off-limits to humans.

 

- Sophie Dedace, GMANews.TV

 

MAGNITUDE-5.5 QUAKE ROCKS MINDANAO

 

(2/31/2009 | 06:11 AM - GMA NEWS.TV)

 

A magnitude-5.5 quake rocked parts of Mindanao Wednesday night but state seismologists said there was no damage to property reported so far.

 

Radio dzBB cited a Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) report indicating the quake was recorded at 7:17 p.m.

 

The quake was tectonic in origin and its epicenter was traced to 74 km southeast of Mati in Davao Oriental.

 

It was felt at Intensity IV in Davao City, and Intensity III in Koronadal City, Digos City, and Don Marcelino in Davao del Sur province; and Intensity II in General Santos and Tagum Cities.

 

While Phivolcs said there was no damage to property, it warned of aftershocks in the area.

 

The United States Geological Service (USGS) said the quake was recorded at 7:17 p.m. and measured magnitude 5.4.

 

USGS said the quake's epicenter was 100 km southeast of Davao; 130 km east-northeast of General Santos; 205 km south of Hinatuan; or 1,065 km south-southeast of Manila.

 

But USGS said a magnitude-4.6 aftershock was recorded at 7:38 p.m. with the epicenter at 125 km east-southeast of Davao, 170 km east-northeast of General Santos, and 195 km south of Hinatuan, or 1,080 km southeast of Manila.

 

Meanwhile, the USGS said a magnitude-5.4 quake was recorded off Eastern Visayas Wednesday afternoon.

 

It said the quake was recorded at 3:48 p.m., with the epicenter traced to 65 km southwest of Guiuan in Samar; 80 km south-southeast of Tacloban in Leyte; 90 km north of Surigao; or 650 km southeast of Manila.

 

LBG, GMANews.TV

 

 

Power and water supplies cut in Mayon danger zone

 

(by Sophia Dedace, GMA News.TV12/31/2009 | 04:45 AM

 

LEGAZPI CITY, Albay – A full moon and fiery lava cascading down Mount Mayon's slopes will be the only sources of light in the danger zone belt surrounding the rumbling volcano on New Year's eve, as Albay Gov. Joey Salceda ordered power to be cut off to compel residents to stay out.

 

Around 20 percent of residents are still insisting on staying inside the eight-kilometer danger zone, a circumferential area around the foothills of Mayon, according to the provincial government. Some residents sneak back in from evacuation centers to look after their crops and homes. Many animals in the zone have already been evacuated along with people.

 

Starting Wednesday night, the National Power Corporation (Napocor) and local power utility Albay Electric Cooperative (Aleco) cut off the supply of electricity in the volcano’s eight-kilometer danger zone.

 

A news report aired over dzBB on early Thursday also said that the water supply will also be cut off. Earlier, an advisory from the Provincial Disaster Coordinating Council had warned that water and delivery of other services would also be suspended in the coming days, part of the government's effort to compel residents to comply with the ban on human activity inside the danger zones.

 

Earlier on Wednesday, Salceda said the government would intensify its crackdown on “hardheaded" residents who still defy government orders, especially because New Year’s eve celebrations involve additional risks from firecrackers, the firing of guns, and drunken behavior.

 

"Our cutoff of power means we are serious in making sure no one gets hurt and residents have a happy New Year away from danger," Salceda said in an interview on dzXL radio.

 

CHR gave go-signal

Salceda also said the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) has given them clearance to forcibly evacuate the residents.

 

“The CHR sees no legal or human rights basis to object to such emergency measures so long as they are carried out in a manner that is respectful of the dignity of persons," read an advisory from the Commission.

 

In a press briefing, Salceda said he no longer sees any reason why the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology’s (Phivolcs) order banning human activity within the eight-kilometer danger zone should not be followed.

 

“We already supplied them with fuelwood. We also evacuated their animals. We increased the water supply per camp," Salceda said.

 

He noted that the government has purchased about P510,000 worth of firewood and has allotted P11 million for operational and maintenance costs for animal evacuation in three cities and five towns threatened by imminent Mayon’s eruption.

 

A total of 720,000 liters of water per day have also been made available for the 32 evacuation centers, he added.

 

To help the residents cope with having to welcome the New Year away from home, the Albay government has prepared more than 10,000 media noche packs and even a concert for the evacuees.

 

No time to relax

State volcanologists likewise warned that Mayon may have gone into a “lull," showing a decrease in volcanic activity, but Alert Level 4 remains hoisted because of the remaining threat of a hazardous explosion of pyroclastic materials, which poses a bigger danger than lava flows.

 

Earlier, Phivolcs director Dr. Renato Solidum said other signs still point to magma making its way up the volcano’s crater at the summit.

 

Julio Sabit, Phivolcs spokesperson and science research specialist, also said the full moon on January 1 could help intensify volcanic activity.

 

Statistically, there are such instances of eruptions during full moons, Sabit said. The chances of a full moon itself causing an eruption are very minimal, he explained, but it could trigger one if the volcano is already about to erupt.

 

JV/HS, GMANews.TV

[nancyk58]

UPDATES OF THE SITUATION IN THE PHILIPPINES - SOUTHEAST ASIA ON 1 JANUARY 2010

 

RESTIVE MAYON GOOD FOR TOURISM, BAD FOR FARMERS

 

(By Sophia Dedace, GMA News.TV12/31/2009 | 09:33 PM)

 

LEGAZPI CITY, Albay – As the countdown to the New Year begins, Embarcadero de Legazpi teems with tourists. With a towering view deck that offers visitors a spectacular view of a smoldering Mayon Volcano, this commercial establishment built near the Legazpi sea port is only one of the attractions thriving from the volcano's imminent eruption.

 

“Yesterday, I went to the spa and tried different restaurants," said a Japanese tourist. Nearby, a coaster packed with foreigners passes by. A flea market in the heart of the provincial capitol is filled to the brim with shoppers.

 

With the 76,000 tourists that poured into the province this month – most of whom came when Alert Level 3 status was raised last December 14 – it is not surprising that businesses are cashing in on the biggest surge in Albay’s tourism history.

 

“Our hotels, even the smaller ones, are getting fully booked. Flights and buses get higher load factors, but higher tricycle ridership is the one that gives the locals real monetary benefit. Turo-turo, restaurants, malls, bars – even night clubs too – are flourishing," said Albay Governor Joey Salceda.

 

Arnold Borras, a tricycle driver plying the Legazpi-Daraga route, said he has been working more than 20 hours a day in the past two weeks due to the influx of tourists. A tricycle ride costs P30 to P35 while van rentals cost P2,500 to P4,000 per day depending on the distance and duration of the travel.

 

Bicolana Iya Calamian complains that she had a hard time booking a flight to Albay, but made it on time to welcome the New Year with her family in Daraga.

 

Salceda said that the tourism boom created a “spillover effect" on other tourist attractions the provincial government is promoting, including the Misibis Bay resorts and the Tiwi and Manito geothermal plants.

 

The governor, who is also President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s economic adviser, estimates that tourists spend nearly P2.4 million a day in his province.

 

’Economically disrupted’

But if Mayon’s impending eruption has boosted tourism in the province, it has crippled the livelihood of locals forced to evacuate because they live within the volcano’s danger zone. “The evacuees are the most heavily affected, especially those whose sources of income are lost," Salceda said.

 

Farida Ahmad had to close her souvenir shop built near the famous Casagwa ruins with a gorgeous view of the volcano. Now, she is struggling to find means to feed her six children.

 

Farmers from Barangay Mabingit in Legazpi City had to “surrender" their cows and carabaos to authorities so they could also be transferred to safer ground.

 

Salceda said that millions of pesos worth of crops will be lost because farmers can no longer tend to them.

 

He added that about 4,000 residents permanently relocated from danger zones are the most badly hit.

 

“I had to pull out their sources of income in prioritizing their safety. They had to live elsewhere, but their farms are still there," he said. The governor, however, said he has yet to estimate the amount of revenues lost by the displaced residents.

 

Mayon’s eruption may have its economic benefits, but Salceda stresses that “disaster tourism" is not part of the government’s development program.

 

“The sudden surge of tourists is an unintended consequence of a volcanic eruption. Disaster tourism is neither encouraged, promoted nor sponsored by the provincial government," he stressed, adding that it would be better if tourists go to the province without expecting an eruption.

 

GMANews.TV

 

 

THE TOP 10 NEWS STORIES OF 2009

 

(Sophia Dedace & Johanna Camille Sisante, GMA News.TV - 12/31/2009 | 03:43 PM)

 

The year 2009 shocked the public. A novel virus swept the world into a health-conscious frenzy and caused at least 11,000 deaths globally. The Philippines’ icon of democracy passed away, uniting the country one more time and suddenly ushering her son into the presidential race. A brutal massacre enraged the Filipinos so much that many of them did not seem to mind the declaration of the dreaded martial law for the first time since the 1986 ouster of the dictator Ferdinand Marcos. 2009 was the year of the unfamiliar, the unprecedented, the historic.

 

Maguindanao massacre

In the annals of political violence in the Philippines, the November 23 massacre in Ampatuan, Maguindanao is unparalleled in its ruthlessness. On a Monday morning, Buluan Vice Mayor Toto Mangudadatu sent his wife, accompanied by female clan members and lawyers, to file his certificate of candidacy in Shariff Aguak on his behalf. Around 30 local journalists covered the unprecedented gubernatorial bid, which did not sit well with the rival Ampatuan clan that has long lorded over the province and is notorious for running a large private army. On the road going to the Comelec office, at least 161 armed men intercepted the convoy and led the hapless civilians to a hillside, where they were brutally killed. Several witnesses have said Datu Unsay Mayor Andal Ampatuan Jr. was at the massacre scene, firing at the victims and making sure they were dead. Andal Jr. and several members of the Ampatuan clan are facing multiple murder charges for the mass slaughter of 57 people in the worst election-related violence in the country.

 

The passing of Tita CoryAugust was the month the country turned yellow. After more than a year of battling colon cancer, former President Corazon Aquino passed away on August 1. Her death saw the outpouring of support from Filipinos, who turned out in droves to pay their last respects to the woman who championed democracy after the two-decade tyrannical rule of Ferdinand Marcos. Her wake drew high-profile figures from the international community, who were inspired by the woman in the yellow dress. The transfer of her casket from a school stadium in Quezon City to the Manila Cathedral – a route that traversed major points in Metro Manila – took five hours. Her funeral cortege lasted more than eight hours as hundreds of thousands of supporters converged on rain-soaked streets, chanting “Cory, Cory!" and showering confetti on her flag-draped casket. Mrs. Aquino’s funeral is considered the public’s biggest sendoff since her husband Ninoy was laid to rest in August 1983.

 

 

ONDOY AND PEPENG

TROPICAL STORM ONDOY (Ketsana) dumped more than A MONTH’s worth of RAIN IN just 12 HOURS, triggering the WORST FLOODING to hit the Philippine capital and neighboring provinces IN MORE THAN 40 YEARS. Barely had the country recovered when TYPHOON PEPENG (PARMA) pummeled NORTHERN LUZON a week later. The twin calamites left a trail of DESTRUCTION – HUNDREDS were KILLED, MILLIONS were DISPLACED, and an estimated $4.4 billion worth of damage was reported. But the extent of devastation became more evident from images of flood-inundated and mud-covered homes, people wading in knee- to chest-deep floods, and throngs of people desperately scrambling for food. Despite the grim situation – FOUR SUBSEQUENT STORMS hit the country within the next month – the disasters saw the heroism of Filipinos and sparked the SPIRIT OF VOLUNTEERISM in many places.

 

A(H1N1) flu

As it was new and unfamiliar, "swine flu" became one of the most feared diseases in 2009 despite its relatively mild nature. On June 11, the World Health Organization declared a swine flu pandemic — the first global flu epidemic in 41 years — as infections rose in the United States, Europe, Australia, South America and other places. Countries all over the world scrambled to detect cases of Influenza A(H1N1) infection, and the Philippines was no exception. When the first Asian fatality turned out to be a 49-year-old Filipina who had a pre-existing heart disease, stores ran out of face masks and rubbing alcohol as the public went panic buying to protect themselves from A(H1N1) infection. The virus did not die down, but the panic over its spread eventually ceased as public knowledge about the disease increased.

 

Election fever

A month after Mrs. Aquino succumbed to colon cancer, Liberal Party president Senator Mar Roxas announced that he was dropping his presidential ambitions to give way to her only son Senator Noynoy Aquino, who was asked by several groups to follow his mother’s footsteps. Noynoy eventually heeded the clamor, joining other presidential aspirants such as Senator Manuel Villar Jr. and former president Joseph Estrada, who will again run for president despite legal questions. Meanwhile, Senator Francis Escudero announced that he would not be running for any post at all, despite his relatively high survey ratings early on. The political landscape became more interesting when President Arroyo finally ended speculation over her political plans and declared that she will seek a House seat for Pampanga's second district once she steps down in 2010.

 

Martial law in Maguindanao

Filipinos swore "never again to martial law" when they ousted Ferdinand Marcos in 1986, and many have since trooped to the streets over the slightest hint of possible authoritarian rule. Interestingly enough, Mrs. Arroyo's declaration of martial law in Maguindanao following the November 23 massacre in the province was not met with massive protests, although several political personalities slammed Proclamation No. 1959 as an unnecessary show of force. The declaration prompted the two chambers of Congress to convene into a joint session, the first in history, to decide whether they would revoke the edict. However, the Senate and the House of Representatives never got to vote on the matter, as Mrs. Arroyo lifted martial law eight days after the proclamation.

 

Con-ass

On June 2, majority of the members of the House of Representatives did what previous Congresses have failed to do: it approved a charter change measure, House Resolution 1109, which called on Congress to convene into a constituent assembly that would amend the 1987 Constitution. Many Filipinos are averse to the idea of amending the Constitution under the Arroyo administration, the bad memories from the Marcos era still fresh in their minds. Critics slammed Mrs. Arroyo’s manipulation of the lower house, which "railroaded" the resolution’s approval by cutting short the interpellation of opposition lawmakers, and various sectors joined huge protests condemning the move. HR 1109 has been gathering dust in the House, as the Senate has not acted on it.

 

Lavish dinners

Mrs. Arroyo's July 30 meeting with US President Barack Obama was overshadowed by news of her lavish dinners with her entourage. The dinner at the posh Le Cirque restaurant in New York reportedly cost $20,000 (P960,000), considered by many as an obscene amount considering that the world was still reeling from the global financial crisis. Public outrage was further fueled when news leaked out that Mrs. Arroyo’s entourage had a $15,000 dinner at Bobby Van's Steakhouse in Washington DC. Two lawmakers, Leyte Rep. Martin Romualdez and Quezon Rep. Danilo Suarez, allegedly paid for the New York and Washington dinners, respectively. Nevertheless, Mrs. Arroyo received severe criticism for the dinners, as they were reported at a time when the Philippines was mourning the death of former president Corazon Aquino, who was known for her modest lifestyle.

 

Kidnappings: ICRC, Fr. Sinnott, and teacher Canizares

In the afternoon of January 15, three International Committee of the Red Cross volunteers went to the Sulu provincial jail in Patikul town to inspect a water sanitation project. Mary Jean Lacaba, Andreas Notter, and Eugenio Vagni were intercepted by armed men from the al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf Group near the provincial capitol in Jolo. The bandits released Lacaba on April 2 while Notter escaped on April 18. Vagni was released on July 12. In October, MILF rebels kidnapped Irish priest Michael Sinnott in Lanao del Norte. The missionary was released a month later, on the day US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton arrived in the Philippines for a short visit. But public school principal Gabriel Canizares was not as lucky as the other kidnap victims. On November 9, Canizares’ severed head was found at a gas station in Sulu.

 

Suicide of Ted Failon’s wife

“Papa, I’m so sorry. Gustung-gusto ko ang magsabi sa iyo ng totoo pero hindi ko po alam kung paano uumpisahan. Sobrang takut na takot ako…Sana po mapatawad mo ako, papa." This was Trinidad Etong’s note to her husband, broadcaster Ted Failon (Teodoro Etong), the night before she shot herself. On April 15, Failon found Etong slumped in their bathroom with a gunshot wound. He took her to the hospital but she died a day later. Her death was wrapped with controversy after police found the bathroom cleaned up – raising suspicions that her death was not a case of suicide. Failon’s house maids – who were charged with obstruction of justice for supposedly tampering with evidence – said they had to scrub the bathroom floor so that the couple’s youngest daughter would not see her mother’s blood. After a month-long inquiry, the NBI concluded that Etong committed suicide over financial woes. - YA, GMANews.TV

 

 

IN MEMORIAM: 2009 WAS A YEAR OF GREAT LOSS IN RP

 

(CARMELA G. LAPENA, GMANews.TV -12/31/2009 | 01:40 PM)

 

HEROES

 

Muelmar “Toto" Magallanes

 

Survived by his parents Samuel and Maria Luz, and older brother Joefran

 

The previously unknown 18-year old suddenly became famous when he lost his life in the epic floods of Ondoy in metro Manila after saving 30 people. Three-fourths of the Philippine capital went under water in the record rainfall, the worst the region had suffered in 40 years.

 

Magallanes, a strong swimmer, was able to bring his family and neighbors to higher ground in Barangay Bagong Silangan, Quezon City with the help of his brother. Their houses were submerged in the floods and Magallanes had to swim back and forth, rescuing people from their rooftops. His last rescue was a mother and her baby, who would have been swept away on the Styrofoam box they were clinging to if he had not been there.

 

“I am going to be forever grateful to Muelmar," said Menchie Penalosa, the mother of the six-month old girl, in an AFP article posted on The Age. “He gave his life for my baby. I will never forget his sacrifice." In the same story, Muelmar’s father was quoted as saying “he always had a good heart."

 

Writer Dennis Villegas quotes Maria Luz, Muelmar’s mother, as saying, "He's a very good son, always helpful and very thoughtful. Why did he have to die? I should have died, not him."

 

Magallanes was heralded as one of Time Magazine’s top ten heroes of 2009.

 

NATIONAL LEADERS

 

Corazon Aquino

 

January 25, 1933 - August 1, 2009

Cardio-respiratory arrest due to colon cancer

 

Survived by her children Maria Elena (Ballsy), Aurora Corazon (Pinky), Benigno Aquino III (Noynoy), Victoria Elisa (Viel), and Kristina Bernadette (Kris)

 

Fondly called TITA CORY, she became the first female president of the Philippines in 1986, ending the 20-year regime of Ferdinand Marcos. She is hailed as the mother of Philippine Democracy and was named Time Magazine’s Woman of the Year in 1986 “for her determination and courage in leading a democratic revolution that captured the world’s imagination."

 

She also topped Time Magazine’s list of significant deaths in 2009. U.S. Senator Richard Lugar wrote: “She showed that one person of modest demeanor can change history."

 

“I have led a full life. I cannot complain," Mrs. Aquino said in March 2008, when she was told that she had stage 4 cancer of the colon.

 

Thousands of supporters clad in yellow flocked to the streets to pay their last respects during the five-hour transfer of her casket from the La Salle Greenhills campus in Quezon City to the Manila Cathedral, and the eight-hour funeral cortege to the Manila Memorial Park.

 

In her late husband Ninoy Aquino’s poem “I Have Fallen in Love With the Same Woman Three Times," he calls her our “source of comfort, our wellspring of Hope."

 

GMA NEWS.TV

[nancyk58]

UPDATES ON 2 JANUARY 2010

 

MAYON EVACUEES HEAD HOME AS ERUPTION LESS IMMINENT

 

(01/02/2010 | 09:14 AM - GMA NEWS.TV)

 

UPDATED 2:40pm After involuntarily spending the holidays away from home, residents are being permitted by the provincial government to start going home to the foothills of Mount Mayon after state volcanologists declared that an eruption is no longer imminent.

 

The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) has lowered the alert level around Mayon Volcano from “4" to “3" early Saturday morning, noting the decreased volcanic activity recorded from Mayon Volcano. But Alert Level 3 still means Mayon is in a state of "relatively high unrest" and if it continues, an eruption is still "possible within weeks."

 

After the change in status, Albay Governor Joey Salceda ordered the partial decampment of evacuation centers, which are located mostly in public schools set to resume classes after the holidays. In an earlier interview, Salceda said that he will allow 7,218 families or 34,482 people to return to their homes within six to eight kilometers from the volcano once the alert level is lowered to 3.

 

"If the alert level is lowered, we will allow those living within the 6-8 km area to go home," he added. The area within a six-kilometer radius from the volcano's summit is still off-limits as a "permanent danger zone."

 

Army repositions checkpoints to 7 km

The Philippine Army is repositioning its checkpoints outwards from the six-kilometer Permanent Danger Zone (PDZ) to a seven-kilometer radius from Mayon's crater. This is to keep evacuees who used to live within the six-kilometer danger zone from taking advantage of the decampment operations to return to their homes.

 

"We'll reposition our checkpoints at the seven-kilometer mark so that we can keep farmers from straying into the six-kilometer danger zone. Our directives are still to maintain no human activities within the six to seven kilometer danger zone, said Captain Razaleigh Bansawan, spokesman of Task Force Mayon of the 901st Brigade."

 

"The no-human-activity policy within the (six kilometer) permanent danger zone is still in place," Bansawan emphatically added.

 

About 200 military men, along with members of the Provincial Disaster Coordinating Council (PDCC) are set to transport residents living within the seven to eight-kilometer radius aboard 15 military trucks and 10 newly acquired all-terrain vehicles from Korea.

 

"Declining trend in Mayon's activity"

In its January 2 (8 am) bulletin, the Philvolcs noted "a declining trend in Mayon volcano’s activity," including no more "ash ejections" from the crater.

 

According to the Philvolcs web site, "Alert Level 3 means that there is less probability of a hazardous explosive eruption. However, the lowering of the alert level from 4 to 3 should not be interpreted that the unrest of the volcano has ceased."

 

Phivolcs had raised the alert level at Mayon to “3" last December 14 and to “4" last December 20, prompting the evacuation of around 47,000 residents in the danger zone to some 29 evacuation centers a safe distance away from Mayon.

Nikka Corsino/HS/TJD, GMANews.TV

 

 

PHIVOLCS EYES LOWERING MAYON ALERT LEVEL

 

(01/01/2010 | 02:57 PM - GMANews.TV)

 

Following a relatively uneventful New Year from restive Mayon Volcano in Bicol, state volcanologists said Friday they are considering lowering the alert level in the next few days.

 

In its January 1 morning update, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) said it may lower the alert level if the volcano does not act up in the “next few days."

 

“Alert Level 4 is still being maintained but if no significant event should occur during the next few days, Phivolcs-DOST shall consider the possibility of lowering down the alert level from 4 to 3," Phivolcs said in its bulletin.

 

Phivolcs had raised the alert level at Mayon to “3" last December 14 and to “4" last December 20, prompting the evacuation of around 47,000 residents in the danger zone to some 29 evacuation centers a safe distance away from Mayon.

 

Under Alert Level 3, eruption is possible within weeks and extending the danger zone in the sector where the crater rim is low will be considered. Alert Level 4, on the other hand, means a hazardous eruption is possible within days, and the extension of the danger zone to 8 km or more is recommended.

 

34,482 people might be allowed to go home

Albay Governor Jose Salceda said that if the alert level is lowered to “3," they will allow 7,218 families or 34,482 people to return to their homes within six to eight kilometers from the volcano.

 

“So long as the alert level stays as is, we will not allow anyone to go home yet," he said in an interview on dzBB radio. “If the alert level is lowered (from 4 to 3), we will allow those living within the 6-8 km area to go home," he added.

 

Extended Danger Zone still hazardous

In the meantime, Phivolcs reiterated that the Extended Danger Zone (EDZ) reaching up to 8 km from volcano’s southern sector and 7 km from the northern sector should be free from human activity.

 

The agency said that active river channels and lahar-prone areas in the southern sector should also be avoided especially during bad weather conditions or when there is heavy and prolonged rainfall.

 

“Civil Aviation Authorities must advise pilots to avoid flying close to the volcano’s summit as ejected ash and volcanic fragments from sudden explosions may pose hazards to aircrafts," it added.

 

Phivolcs said that in the last 24 hours, it detected 28 volcanic earthquakes and 91 rockfall events due to detachment of lava fragments at the volcano’s upper slopes.

 

No ash explosion was observed, while weak to moderate emission of white steam at the summit crater was seen during cloud breaks.

 

However, it said flowing lava and intermittent rolling incandescent lava fragments were observed Thursday night while sulfur dioxide emission was at 1,255 tons/day.

 

TJD, GMANews.TV

 

 

DEPED ISSUES EMERGENCY MEASURES FOR CLASSES NEAR MAYON

 

(01/01/2010 | 01:02 AM - GMA News.TV)

 

With classes due to resume next week, pupils from families evacuated from the danger zone of restive Mayon Volcano will attend “emergency classes" in the classrooms of four schools being used as evacuation centers.

 

This was one of the guidelines issued by the Department of Education’s Legazpi City division, the National Disaster Coordinating Council said Thursday.

 

“Pupil evacuees will hold emergency classes from noon to 6 p.m. Classes will return to normal once the (Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology) announces for the return of evacuees to their own places," the NDCC said in its 7 a.m. Thursday update.

 

It added the pupil-evacuees will follow their usual morning-afternoon schedule at the evacuation center once classes resume.

 

During classes, “the rest of the room occupants (evacuees) will stay in the tent(s) outside the rooms being used as classrooms," the NDCC said.

The guideline applies to Albay District, Albay Central School, Buyuan Elementary School, and Matanag Elementary School.

 

In Bugtong Elementary School, pupil evacuees will be integrated with pupils there as the number of children is “manageable" with the regular schedule of classes.

 

At Legaspi Port District II Gogon Central Schools and San Roque Elementary School, emergency classes will be held with an emphasis on content subjects for 250 minutes.

 

Classes there will start from 6:30 a.m. to noon. Occupants of the room will go out to give way to those holding classes.

 

The DepEd Albay’s initial plan was to accommodate the displaced children at big central schools, and hold double shift classes in the host schools.

 

Displaced teachers from affected schools will be tapped to assist the teachers at the “host" schools.

 

As of 7 a.m. Thursday, the NDCC said there were 10,032 families or 47,563 people staying in 29 evacuation centers.

 

GMANews.TV

 

 

Text TV of the German channel ZDF = ZDF Text brought the news item of most Mayon evacuees being allowed to go home after 3 weeks in evacuation centres. 45,000 people are transported back. They are also given food for 3 days and some cash. Only 3,000 are continuing their stay in the evacuation centers because they are living within the 6 km zone of the volcano. ZDF text