International News

US Pinoys Need Water

Consul General Mario De Leon yesterday said some Filipinos in Connecticut and Long Island were reported to be running low on potable water while many others in New Jersey, New York, and Connecticut have no Internet, telephone, or mobile phone connectivity following the devastation caused by superstorm Sandy on the Eastern Seaboard of the United States last October 29.

As of press time, the Philippine embassy and the Philippine Consulate General in New York said they do not have the exact figures on the number of Filipinos directly affected by Sandy but they have received reports that some Filipinos were evacuated in Atlantic City, Jersey City, New Milford, and other areas in New Jersey as well as in City Island and Staten Island in New York due to floodwaters.

De Leon said reports from the leaders of the Filipino Community also indicate that a large number of Filipinos are among the 8.5 million people in 13 states who are currently without electricity.

He said there are also reports that several Filipinos sustained some damage to their homes in Nassau and Queens counties in New York as well as in Hamden and Stamford in Connecticut as a result of violent winds and storm surges.

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International News

Sandy Leaves 110 Dead

New York struggled to get back on its feet Tuesday after superstorm Sandy carved a path of destruction from the Caribbean to Canada that left at least 110 people dead and millions without power.

The cyclone drove hurricane-force winds and deadly ocean surges against a large swathe of the US East Coast, adding an uncertain twist to an already tight US presidential race.

President Barack Obama declared Sandy a “major disaster” in the states of New York and New Jersey, where he was due to tour flooded areas on Wednesday with Governor Chris Christie, a backer of his Republican rival Mitt Romney.

Romney cancelled a second day of campaign events Tuesday to focus on rescue and recovery work, just one week before American voters go to the polls.

The death toll from accidents related to the storm rose to 43 confirmed in North America since Sandy made landfall on Monday and 67 killed beforehand as the then hurricane tore through the Caribbean.

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International News

No Pinoy casualties from superstorm Sandy

The Philippine Embassy in Washington D.C. and the Consulate General in New York have yet to receive reports of possible Filipino casualties following the onslaught of superstorm Sandy in the east coast.

Ambassador Jose Cuisia said Sandy has claimed 10 lives, cut power and forced many to flee their homes.

There are more than 460,000 Filipinos in 13 states across the eastern seaboard that bore the brunt of Sandy.

Cuisia said a team is on 24-hour-standby at the embassy to respond to any request for assistance from Filipinos affected by the typhoon; monitor the progress of the storm; and receive updates from the Filipino Community.

Reports from the Filipino community indicate that a number of Filipinos in New Jersey and New York fled their homes due to floodwaters that the superstorm spawned shortly before it made landfall near Cape May in the southern coast of New Jersey.

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International News

Fil-Ams face darkness, cold after superstorm

A Filipino living in Washington, D.C. said some residents of Virginia and Maryland are struggling with the cold weather brought by superstorm “Sandy”.

“This temperature, coupled with rain and strong winds, make it really cold this time. Hindi pa winter dito but that’s how we feel at this time and we would like to believe it is much colder in some areas like Virginia, where there has been blizzards,” Stephen Manangan told ANC’s “Prime Time” on Tuesday.

Manangan said residents living in areas where electricity has been cut are struggling with the cold weather due to the lack of heaters.

“We have heaters, wala namang shut out sa kuryente so we’re glad na mayroon kaming heater dito. Pero in some areas, like Virginia and Maryland, unfortunately, wala silang kuryente kaya wala din silang heater,” he said.

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Inquirer Headline

‘Sandy’ batters East Coast

Flooded Ground Zero, New York

As Superstorm “Sandy” churned slowly inland, millions along the US East Coast awoke Tuesday without power or mass transit, and huge swaths of New York City were eerily quiet. At least 23 people were killed in seven states.

The storm that made landfall in New Jersey on Monday evening with hurricane force cut power to at least 7.4 million across the East and put the presidential campaign on hold just one week before Election Day.

New York was among the hardest hit, with its financial heart closed for a second day and seawater cascading into the still-gaping construction pit at the World Trade Center. The storm caused the worst damage in the 108-year history of New York’s subway system, and there was no indication of when the largest US transit system would be rolling again.

But the full extent of the damage in New Jersey was being revealed as morning arrived. Emergency crews fanned out to rescue hundreds.

A hoarse-voiced New Jersey Governor Chris Christie gave bleak news at a morning news conference: Seaside rail lines washed away. No safe place on the state’s barrier islands for him to land. Parts of the coast still under water.

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Inquirer Headline

No Filipino casualty in Sandy’s sweep of Caribbean–envoy

There were no reported Filipino casualties during the deadly sweep of Hurricane Sandy across the Caribbean that claimed as many as 65 lives last week, the Philippine embassy in Washington said Tuesday.

An emailed statement from the embassy noted that Philippine Ambassador to the US Jose Cuisia said that Filipino leaders in Bermuda, Cayman Islands, Grenada, Jaimaca, Haiti, Turks, and Caicos, the Bahamas, Trinidad, and Tobago informed the embassy that all their members were accounted for.

As Americans braced for Hurricane Sandy, the Carribean suffered from death and destruction with officials saying storm-related death toll has risen to 69 as of Tuesday.

It had been reported that Haiti accounted for 51 of the deaths, while other deaths had also been reported in Cuba, Jaimaica, Puerto Rico and the Bahamas.

Meanwhile, the embassy again urged Filipinos in the eastern seaboard of the US to heed warnings from authorities and stay out of the way of what is feared to be one of the most devastating storms to hit the country.

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