Rappler Newscast | September 19, 2014

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Rappler Newscast | September 19, 2014
Tropical storm Mario triggers flooding in Luzon. UNDOF sends Filipino troops home. Scotland rejects independence, stays in the UK

Today on Rappler.

  • Tropical Storm Mario, international name Fung-Wong, dumps heavy rains and triggers severe flooding in Luzon.
  • Filipino peacekeepers deployed in the Golan Heights are home.
  • Scotland says no to independence in a historic referendum.

 

TROPICAL STORM MARIO TRIGGERS FLOODING IN LUZON
Heavy rain triggers floods across central Luzon as Tropical Storm Mario — international name Fung-Wong — strands commuters and forces thousands to leave their flooded homes.
State weather bureau PAGASA says the storm weakens as it moves west northwest.
It’s estimated at 66 km north northeast of Laoag City.
Storm signal number 2 is up over Cagayan including Calayan and Babuyan Group of Islands, Batanes Group of Islands, Apayao and Ilocos Norte.
Signal number 1 is up over Isabela, Kalinga, Mt. Province, Abra and Ilocos Sur.
The storm cut power in some areas and forced airlines and ferries to cancel trips, leaving thousands of passengers stranded.
In Quezon City, the La Mesa dam spills pouring excess water into the Tullahan river.
Late Friday, the water level reaches 80.43 meters…
above the spilling level of 80.15 meters.
Officials earlier asked residents living along the river to evacuate.
In Marikina, local authorities declare a state of calamity…
as the water level of the Marikina River reach a critical level,
forcing residents near the river to leave their homes.
In Rizal, nearly 2,000 families are rescued from 15 barangays in San Mateo…
while about 1,200 families are evacuated in Cainta.
In Batangas, around 440 passengers are stranded in Batangas port because of cancelled trips.
In Benguet, the water levels in two dams – Binga and Ambuklao – near the critical levels.
Cebu City has been under a state of calamity since Thursday after heavy rain caused flooding and landslides in several parts of Cebu province.
The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council or NDRRMC says nearly half a million Filipinos are affected by the storm.
At least two people in Metro Manila are reported dead.
Heavy to intense rainfall in the National Capital Region and Southern Luzon are expected until Friday night.
Malacañang urges residents in low lying areas not to risk their lives and to evacuate immediately.

PROJECT AGOS MICROSITE
Check out Rappler’s Project Agos microsite…
a one-stop shop to help the public prepare better for disasters.  
Project Agos aims to raise awareness on climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction and management.
You can see what to do before, during and after natural disasters like floods and earthquakes.
Use Project Agos to report flooding in your area, or to help
You can report on Twitter using #rescuePH.
@gabrielaphils filed this report of a woman in labor stuck on the roof of her house in Barangay Tatalon, Quezon City.
With the help of the Philippine Red Cross, she was safely brought to the Diosdado Macapagal Elementary School…
and later gave birth to a healthy baby girl.

UNDOF SENDS FILIPINO TROOPS HOME
In Rappler’s PH+SocialGood Journalism Forum in Tacloban…
Len Manriquez of the Peace and Conflict Journalists Network speaks about the role of community journalists in disaster response.
With little to no resources when Super Typhoon Yolanda or Haiyan ravaged the Visayas in November 2013…
community journalists put up a bulletin board to keep the public informed.
Manriquez says unlike foreign or national journalists, community journalists play a key role affecting those coping with the disaster’s aftermath.

LEN MANRIQUEZ, PECOJON PHILIPPINES: We need to have constant communicators – journalists on the ground able to communicate directly to the communities. And it is only possible if we have local journalists empowered.

Citing the low salary journalists get, Manriquez urges the public to consider setting up a community fund to pay for quality information.

LEN MANRIQUEZ, PECOJON PHILIPPINES: Here in Tacloban, one story is only 75 pesos. Without communications allowance, or transportation allowance. Without internet, without laptop… anything. And how can you get a story done with 75 pesos? And your photo is for free. So how can we make democracy happen if we don’t capacitate communicators?

UNDOF SENDS FILIPINO TROOPS HOME
Over 300 Filipino troops deployed to the Golan Heights are home Friday, a month ahead of schedule.
Military spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Ramon Zagala says this is  – in his words – “a practical” decision…
on the part of the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force or UNDOF.
Escalating violence in the Golan Heights forced UNDOF to move all its peacekeepers from the Syrian side to the Israeli side.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon says the situation in the Golan Heights is “evolving rapidly and remains volatile.”
The order to send the Filipinos home comes after a controversy
involving the Filipino troops and UNDOF Commander Lieutenant General Iqbal Singha.
Last month, Filipino troops defied Singha’s orders for them to surrender their firearms…
after Syrian rebels stormed their encampments.
Ban’s report to the UN Security Council was silent on the order to surrender firearms.

AQUINO IN FRANCE: CHINA DISPUTE AFFECTS INT’L COMMUNITY
On the third leg of his European tour, President Benigno Aquino seeks France’s support for the Philippines’ maritime dispute against China.
Speaking to the French Institute for International Relations Thursday – Friday in Manila – Aquino says the maritime dispute affects countries around the world.

BENIGNO AQUINO III, PHILIPPINE PRESIDENT: There is an emerging pattern of aggression bent at establishing new realities in the sea and in the air.
Freedom of navigation and unimpeded lawful commerce are threatened.

Aquino also says the Philippines is advocating peaceful resolution through arbitration and the formulation of a binding Code of Conduct.

SCOTLAND REJECTS INDEPENDENCE, STAYS IN THE UNITED KINGDOM
The results are in: Scotland says no to independence.
After a historic referendum that saw both pro-independence and pro-union camps in a close fight…
55.30% of Scottish voters choose to remain part of the United Kingdom…
against the 44.70% who wanted Scotland to break its 300-year-old union with England.
Conceding defeat, Scottish nationalist leader Alex Salmond thanks the 1.6 million people who voted for independence…
and urges them to accept the results.
There were some big wins for the “Yes” campaign, including the city of Glasgow…
but the margin was not enough to beat the “No” votes across Scotland.
The “Better Together” campaigners cheer as results come in…
while “Yes Scotland” supporters watch dejected and in tears.

THE wRap: YOUR WORLD IN ONE READ

US AIRCRAFT TARGETS ISIS TRAINING CAMP FOR THE FIRST TIME
American aircraft bombed a training camp for ISIS or Islamic State jihadists in northern Iraq…
the first time the United States targeted a training camp since the air campaign began on August 8.
Some 40 jihadist fighters were at the training camp southeast of Mosul when the aircraft bombed buildings, fighters, and vehicles.
On Thursday, ISIS released a video of British freelance photojournalist John Cantlie
in which he says he is being held captive, although there was no immediate threat to his life apparent in the video.

UN SETS UP EBOLA MISSION
The United Nations or UN will set up a new mission to fight the Ebola outbreak.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon will appoint a special representative to lead the mission…
which will be the focal point for international response to the epidemic.

For the full top 10 visit Rappler.com’s ‘the wRap.’

– Rappler.com

Newscast Production Staff

EXECUTIVE PRODUCER / WRITER Lilibeth Frondoso
DIRECTOR Rupert Ambil
ASSOCIATE PRODUCER / PUBLISHER Rodneil Quiteles
  Dindin Reyes
HEAD WRITER / PROMPTER Katerina Francisco
  Marga Deona
MASTER EDITOR / PLAYBACK Exxon Ruebe
  Emerald Hidalgo
  Jaene Zaplan
TECHNICAL DIRECTOR / CAMERAMAN Charlie Salazar
  Adrian Portugal
  Francis Lopez
  Naoki Mengua
GRAPHICS Jessica Lazaro
  Raffy de Guzman

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