Indonesia quake and tsunami devastates coast, deaths top 380

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Indonesian medics help patients outside a hospital following an earthquake and a tsunami in Palu, Sulawesi Island. AFP
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Rescuers scrambled to reach tsunami-hit central Indonesia and assess the damage after a strong quake brought down several buildings and sent locals fleeing their homes for higher ground. (AFP)
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Residents salvage belongings after an earthquake and tsunami in Sulawesi island, Indonesia, on Saturday. (AFP)
Updated 30 September 2018
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Indonesia quake and tsunami devastates coast, deaths top 380

  • Dozens of injured people were being treated in makeshift medical tents set up outdoors, TV images showed
  • Indonesia sits on the Pacific Ring of Fire and is regularly hit by earthquakes

JAKARTA, Indonesia: Indonesian officials on Saturday said the true extent of the devastation caused by a 7.4-magnitude earthquake that struck Central Sulawesi province the previous day was worse than earlier thought.

Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, the spokesman of Indonesia’s National Disaster Mitigation Agency, said in a news conference on Saturday that the quake and a subsequent three-meter-high tsunami had killed 384 people and injured more than 500. Twenty-nine were missing and hundreds of buildings had been destroyed, while 16,732 people had been displaced.

The figure only counted casualties in Palu, the provincial capital city with a 367,000 population, where residential houses, shopping malls, hotels, hospitals and other buildings collapsed or were badly damaged, and it is estimated that hundreds of people are still trapped under the ruins.

“The iconic Ponulele Bridge in Palu that connects West Donggala and East Donggala collapsed after it was hit by the tsunami,” Nugroho said.

One of the people killed in Palu was 21-year-old Anthonius Gunawan Agung, an air traffic controller in Palu’s Mutiara Sis Al Jufri Airport who stayed behind in the swaying, cracking tower when his colleagues were fleeing for their lives.

“When the quake struck, he was giving clearance for Batik Air flight 6321 bound for Makassar to take off and he waited until it was safely airborne before leaving the ATC cabin,” said Yohannes Sirait, spokesman for Air Navigation Indonesia.

“After the flight was airborne, the quake was getting stronger so Agung decided to jump out of the cabin tower on the fourth floor, but he broke his legs,” Sirait added.

Agung was taken to hospital for medical attention but early diagnoses showed he had suffered internal injuries and the doctor referred him to a bigger hospital.

Sirait said the company had prepared to deploy a helicopter from Balikpapan in East Kalimantan across the Makassar Strait to transport Agung out of Palu.

“Due to the damages on the airport runway, we could only deploy the helicopter on Saturday morning, but he passed away before the helicopter arrived,” Sirait said.

The Palu airport runway is partially damaged with only a 2,000-meter runway intact and the other 250 meters broken. The airport is now closed for commercial operation and open only for aircraft carrying humanitarian assistance. It is scheduled to start serving commercial flights again on Oct. 4.

“We are deeply saddened by his passing. Agung had showed a great dedication to serve and ensure flight safety. We are honoring him by promoting him two ranks posthumously,” said Novie Riyanto, director of AirNav Indonesia.

The number of casualties in Donggala, a neighboring coastal district which is one of the hardest-hit areas, and other areas whose access is cut by damaged roads, landslides, and collapsed or broken bridges are still unaccounted for with communication network still scarce.

“We expect the number of casualties to rise as authorities are still trying to reach other areas hit by the tsunami,” Nugroho said. The province was hit by two powerful earthquakes on Friday. The first one, of 6-magnitude, struck at 2 p.m. at a depth of 10 kilometers and the 7.4-magnitude quake shook three hours later. The tsunami swept Talize Beach in Palu and the coastal areas of Donggala about 25 minutes after the quake struck, Nugroho said. Tatura Mall, the biggest shopping mall in Palu, has collapsed while the eight-story Roa-Roa Hotel has been flattened to the ground. “The hotel had 80 rooms and 76 of them were occupied,” Nugroho said.

Amateur footage broadcast on national TV showed the devastation in Mamboro, a fishing village flattened to the ground by the giant wave, and some fishing vessels were swept inland.

Indonesia's president on Friday night said he had instructed the security minister to coordinate the government's response to a quake and tsunami that hit central Sulawesi.

Joko "Jokowi" Widodo also told reporters in his hometown of Solo that he had called on the country's military chief help with search and rescue efforts.

UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said UN officials were in contact with Indonesian authorities and "stand ready to provide support as required."
Indonesia is prone to earthquakes because of its location on the "Ring of Fire," an arc of volcanoes and fault lines in the Pacific Basin.

On Aug. 5, a powerful quake on the island of Lombok killed 505 people, most of whom died in collapsing buildings. Another series of strong quakes in mid-August killed at least a dozen on Lombok and neighboring Sumbawa island.
In December 2004, a massive magnitude 9.1 earthquake off Sumatra in western Indonesia triggered a tsunami that killed 230,000 people in a dozen countries.


Philippines, UAE pledge stronger economic ties as Marcos marks first visit

Updated 6 sec ago
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Philippines, UAE pledge stronger economic ties as Marcos marks first visit

  • Marcos is the first Philippine president to visit Abu Dhabi in more than 15 years
  • UAE president says he looks forward to talks on a free trade deal with the Philippines

Manila: The Philippines and the UAE on Tuesday committed to boosting economic relations as Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. marked his first official trip to Abu Dhabi.

On his one-day trip, Marcos was received by UAE President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed.

He is the first Philippine president to visit the UAE since Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in 2008.

During the meeting, the two leaders committed “to deepening cooperation in various areas, including economy, trade and sustainability,” Marcos’ office said in a statement.

“The two leaders emphasized their dedication to strengthening bilateral ties and delivering lasting benefits to their peoples, coinciding with the 50th anniversary of friendship and collaboration between their nations.”

The Philippines and the UAE celebrated 50 years of diplomatic relations on Aug. 19.

Emirati state news agency WAM cited Sheikh Mohammed as saying that he hoped the visit “would herald a new and significant chapter” in UAE-Philippine ties and that the UAE “looks forward to continuing discussions toward reaching a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement with the Philippines to elevate trade and investment relations to new heights of mutual economic growth.”

Negotiations on the free trade deal have been underway between Philippine and UAE officials since the beginning of this year.

The UAE is a key trading partner of the Philippines in the region and home to the second-largest Filipino diaspora after Saudi Arabia.

Some 700,000 overseas Filipino workers live and work in the UAE. Many are employed in the construction, healthcare and hospitality sectors.

Marcos was initially expected to meet representatives of the Filipino community, but his visit was shortened, with the Philippine Presidential Communications Office saying he would “immediately fly back to Manila to resume his personal supervision and inspection of the relief and reconstruction activities in communities devastated by six successive typhoons.”


India seizes 5,500 kg of methamphetamine in biggest drug bust

Updated 24 min 4 sec ago
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India seizes 5,500 kg of methamphetamine in biggest drug bust

  • Myanmar-flagged boat was seized when it entered Indian waters in the Andaman Sea
  • 70 percent of illegal drugs are nowadays smuggled into India via sea routes, expert says

NEW DELHI: India’s coast guard has seized a Myanmar vessel carrying 5,500 kg of methamphetamine in the Andaman Sea, marking its biggest haul of illegal drugs.

The Myanmar-flagged fishing boat Soe Wai Yan Htoo was spotted by an Indian Coast Guard reconnaissance air patrol in the Andaman Sea on Monday, as it was “operating in a suspicious manner,” the Indian Ministry of Defense said in a statement.

Officers boarded the boat for investigation when it entered Indian territorial waters.

“The six crew onboard the boat were identified as Myanmarese nationals,” the ministry said. “During rummaging, the boarding party found approx. 5,500 kgs of prohibited drug methamphetamine.”

The vessel and its crew have been taken for further investigation to an Indian naval base in Sri Vijaya Puram, the capital of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

“The seizure is the largest-ever drug haul by the Indian Coast Guard in maritime history, highlighting the growing threat of transnational maritime narcotics,” the ICG said.

The trafficking of illicit drugs from Myanmar through the Andaman Sea has been on the rise as drug cartels try to evade land controls, according to the UN Office on Drugs and Crime. The UNODC identifies Myanmar’s Shan state as “the epicenter” of methamphetamine production in the region.

Shan state is part of the Golden Triangle — a mountainous area in the northern part of the Mekong River basin, where the borders of Thailand, Laos, and Myanmar meet. The region has long been associated with illegal drug production and was a major source of opium in the 1970s and 1980s. In recent years, it has seen a shift toward the production of synthetic drugs.

“Myanmar’s political instability adds to this challenge since many insurgent groups operate between the border regions,” said Dr. Sreeparna Banerjee, associate fellow at the Observer Research Foundation in New Delhi.

She estimated that some 70 percent of illegal drugs smuggled into India currently enter the country through the Andaman Sea and the Bay of Bengal, with Monday’s haul raising concerns over the scale of criminal networks operating at sea.

“While this seizure highlights the success of coordinated operations by the ICG and other agencies, it also raises concerns about the gaps traffickers exploit. The use of unregistered vessels and vast stretches of unmonitored waters make the Andaman Sea a challenging zone for law enforcement,” Banerjee told Arab News.

“The size of the haul also indicates the potential involvement of transnational organized crime syndicates, further complicating efforts to dismantle these networks.”


Indonesia’s Supreme Court reverses acquittal of former official in slavery case

Updated 26 November 2024
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Indonesia’s Supreme Court reverses acquittal of former official in slavery case

  • A police investigation found 665 people had been held in cells on his property since 2010

JAKARTA: Indonesia’s Supreme Court jailed a former government official accused of human trafficking for four years, reversing a lower court decision to acquit him after people were found in cages in his palm oil plantation.
Condemned internationally and at home, the senior official in the provincial government in North Sumatra, Terbit Rencana Perangin-angin, had been accused of human trafficking, torture, forced labor, and slavery.
Prosecutors launched an appeal after a lower court acquitted him of the charges in July.
Indonesia’s Supreme Court said he would serve four years in jail, without specifying reasons, in a ruling dated Nov. 15 and seen on the court’s website on Tuesday.
The Supreme Court and prosecutors did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Reuters has sought comment from Terbit’s lawyer.
The macabre case came to light in 2022, when a police corruption investigation into Terbit found people detained in cages on his property, drawing condemnation from rights groups.
A police investigation found 665 people had been held in cells on his property since 2010, court documents showed.
Terbit, who was jailed for nine years for corruption in 2022, had previously claimed the detained individuals were participating in a drug rehabilitation program.
Prosecutors said they had been tortured and forced to work on his plantation. Six had died in captivity, Indonesia’s rights body found.


Four Pakistan security forces killed as ex-PM Khan supporters flood capital

Updated 26 November 2024
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Four Pakistan security forces killed as ex-PM Khan supporters flood capital

ISLAMABAD: Pakistani protesters demanding the release of ex-prime minister Imran Khan on Tuesday killed four members of the nation’s security forces, the government said, as the crowds defied police and closed in on the capital’s center.
More than ten thousand protesters armed with sticks and slingshots took on police in central Islamabad on Tuesday afternoon, AFP journalists saw, less than three kilometers (two miles) from the government enclave they aim to occupy.
Khan was barred from standing in February elections that were marred by allegations of rigging, sidelined by dozens of legal cases that he claims were confected to prevent his comeback.
But his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party has defied a government crackdown with regular rallies. Tuesday’s is the largest in the capital since Khan was jailed in August 2023.
Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi said “miscreants” involved in the march had killed four members of the paramilitary Rangers force on a city highway leading toward the government sector.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said the men had been “run over by a vehicle.”
“These disruptive elements do not seek revolution but bloodshed,” he said in a statement. “This is not a peaceful protest, it is extremism.”
The government said Monday that one police officer had also been killed and nine more were critically wounded by demonstrators who set out toward Islamabad on Sunday.


The capital has been locked down since late Saturday, with mobile Internet sporadically cut and more than 20,000 police flooding the streets, many armed with riot shields and batons.
The government has accused protesters of attempting to derail a state visit by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, who arrived for a three-day visit on Monday.
Last week, the Islamabad city administration announced a two-month ban on public gatherings.
But PTI convoys traveled from their power base in northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province and the most populous province of Punjab, hauling aside roadblocks of stacked shipping containers.
“We are deeply frustrated with the government, they do not know how to function,” 56-year-old protester Kalat Khan told AFP on Monday. “The treatment we are receiving is unjust and cruel.”
The government cited “security concerns” for the mobile Internet outages, while Islamabad’s schools and universities were also ordered shut on Monday and Tuesday.
“Those who will come here will be arrested,” Interior Minister Naqvi told reporters late Monday at D-Chowk, the public square outside Islamabad’s government buildings that PTI aims to occupy.
PTI’s chief demand is the release of Khan, the 72-year-old charismatic former cricket star who served as premier from 2018 to 2022 and is the lodestar of their party.
They are also protesting alleged tampering in the February polls and a recent government-backed constitutional amendment giving it more power over the courts, where Khan is tangled in dozens of cases.


Sharif’s government has come under increasing criticism for deploying heavy-handed measures to quash PTI’s protests.
“It speaks of a siege mentality on the part of the government and establishment — a state in which they see themselves in constant danger and fearful all the time of being overwhelmed by opponents,” read one opinion piece in the English-language Dawn newspaper published Monday.
“This urges them to take strong-arm measures, not occasionally but incessantly.”
The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan said “blocking access to the capital, with motorway and highway closures across Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, has effectively penalized ordinary citizens.”
The US State Department appealed for protesters to refrain from violence, while also urging authorities to “respect human rights and fundamental freedoms and to ensure respect for Pakistan’s laws and constitution as they work to maintain law and order.”
Khan was ousted by a no-confidence vote after falling out with the kingmaking military establishment, which analysts say engineers the rise and fall of Pakistan’s politicians.
But as opposition leader, he led an unprecedented campaign of defiance, with PTI street protests boiling over into unrest that the government cited as the reason for its crackdown.
PTI won more seats than any other party in this year’s election but a coalition of parties considered more pliable to military influence shut them out of power.


Russia’s Medvedev warns West over discussing nuclear weapons for Ukraine

Updated 26 November 2024
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Russia’s Medvedev warns West over discussing nuclear weapons for Ukraine

MOSCOW: Senior Russian security official Dmitry Medvedev said on Tuesday that if the West supplied nuclear weapons to Ukraine then Moscow could consider such a transfer to be tantamount to an attack on Russia, providing grounds for a nuclear response.
The New York Times reported last week that some unidentified Western officials had suggested that US President Joe Biden could give Ukraine nuclear weapons, though there were fears such a step would have serious implications.
“American politicians and journalists are seriously discussing the consequences of the transfer of nuclear weapons to Kyiv,” Medvedev, who served as Russia’s president from 2008 to 2012, said on Telegram.
Medvedev said that even the threat of such a transfer of nuclear weapons could be considered as preparation for a nuclear war against Russia.
“The actual transfer of such weapons can be equated to the fait accompli of an attack on our country,” under Russia’s newly updated nuclear doctrine, he said.