Philippines

Philippines’ main Luzon island has become the worst hit region of Typhoon Noru, as millions have been left without electricity. The Typhoon also claimed the lives of five rescuers. Reportedly, electricity has been entirely cut in the provinces of Nueva, Ecija and Aurora, were around 2.5 million people reside. Energy Secretary Raphael Lotilla said that generators will be sent to the areas. Meanwhile, over 74,000 residents fled their homes.

An earthquake of 7.1 magnitude on the richter scale struck the central Luzon island in the Philippines, on July 27. According to Interior and Local government secretary Benhur Abalos, at least four persons were killed and 60 others were injured. Abalos then stated that at least 60 landslides were triggered because of the quake. Furthermore, the quake affected 15 provinces, 15 cities, 218 municipalities and 6,756 villages.

The Philippine Institute of Volcanology has increased the alert level for Taal Volcano to level 3 (out of 5). The move has come after the volcano spewed fumes and created earth tremors at around 7:22 am (local time). The institute has also warned locals to stay out of the volcano island and advised planes to not fly over it. Taal Volcano erupted in January, 2022, displacing 380,000 villagers.

Union External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, on February 14, held bilateral talks with Philippines foreign ministry secretary. The Philippines Ministry took to Twitter and shared about the meeting with Teodoro Locsin Jr.  The tweet highlighted about the diplomat's meeting to strengthen bilateral relations of India-Philippines, focusing on health and security, along with post-pandemic recovery. Notably, S Jaishankar is on a six-day tour to… read-more

The Philippines will lift a ban on the entry of fully vaccinated tourists, from February 10. The country had initially planned to reopen in December 2021, but that was aborted due to a surge Omicron infections. The country will accept tourists from 157 visa-free countries, including the UK and Ireland. The Travellers will have to provide proof of full vaccination and negative RT-PCR test result undertaken no more than 48 hours.