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A6 WORLD NEWS
Monday 4 deceMber 2023

Strong earthquake that sparked a tsunami warning leaves 1 dead

amid widespread panic in Philippines

By Jim Gomez ing on a grassy lot, said
Associated Press Isidoro, who was at his
MANILA, Philippines (AP) — home when the ground
A powerful earthquake that started to shake.
shook the southern Philip- "Initially the swaying was
pines killed at least one vil- weak.
lager and injured several Then it quickly became
others as thousands scram- stronger and I could hardly
bled out of their homes in stand. My perfume bottles
panic and jammed roads fell off a table, pictures
to higher grounds after a on my wall swung and I
tsunami warning was is- heard people screaming
sued, officials said Sunday. outside: 'Get out, get out,
The U.S. Geological Survey earthquake, earthquake!”’
reported that the quake Isidoro said.
Saturday night had a mag- While he feared the roof
nitude of 7.6 and struck at of his house would col-
a depth of 32 kilometers (20 lapse on him, Isidoro said
miles). The Pacific Tsunami he was more worried that
Warning Center said it ex- there could be many ca-
pected tsunami waves to sualties in Tagum, a city
hit the southern Philippines of about 300,000 people,
and parts of Indonesia, Pa- Patients at Manuel J. Santos Hospital in Butuan City, southern Philippines, are evacuated after an where he had led regular
lau and Malaysia, but later earthquake, Saturday evening, Dec. 2, 2023. (AP Photo/Ivy Marie Mangadlao) earthquake drills that he
dropped its tsunami warn- thought helped prevent
ing. The USGS recorded fur- nawa prefecture, including crete wall that collapsed in told The Associated Press. more deaths and injuries.
ther earthquakes Sunday for the entire coastal area, their neighborhood as the Her husband and daugh- Hundreds of patients were
with magnitudes of 6.6 and affecting thousands of ground shook and prompt- ter were injured. Two other evacuated from a Tagum
6.9 but but there were no people. ed them to flee from their children and their parents hospital but later were es-
tsunami alerts. A pregnant woman died house in Tagum city in jumped from a second- corted back after an in-
In Japan, authorities issued after she, her husband Davao del Norte province, floor window in panic as spection showed no major
evacuation orders late Sat- and daughter were hit by the city’s disaster-mitiga- their house swayed but damage to the building,
urday in various parts of Oki- a 15-feet (4.5-meter) con- tion chief, Shieldon Isidoro, were not injured after land- officials said.q

Venezuelans vote in a referendum to claim sovereignty of a large

territory under dispute with Guyana

support establishing a state not specifically ban officials thirds of Guyana and also
in the disputed territory, from carrying out Sunday's borders Brazil, whose De-
known as Essequibo, grant- five-question referendum. fense Ministry earlier this
ing citizenship to current Guyana had asked the week in a statement said it
and future area residents court to order Venezuela to has “intensified its defense
and rejecting the jurisdic- halt parts of the vote. actions" and boosted its
tion of the United Nations' Although the practical and military presence in the re-
top court in settling the dis- legal implications of the ref- gion as a result of the dis-
agreement between the erendum remain unclear, pute.
two South American coun- in comments explaining Fri- Essequibo is larger than
tries. day's verdict, international Greece and rich in miner-
“We are solving through court president Joan E. als.
constitutional, peaceful Donoghue said statements It also gives access to an
and democratic means an from Venezuela's govern- area of the Atlantic where
imperial dispossession of ment suggest it “is taking energy giant ExxonMo-
President Nicolas Maduro votes in a referendum regarding 150 years,” President Nico- steps with a view toward bil discovered oil in com-
Venezuela’s claim to the Essequibo, a region administered and lás Maduro said after vot- acquiring control over and mercial quantities in 2015,
controlled by Guyana in Caracas, Venezuela, Sunday, Dec. 3, ing in a military complex in administering the territory in drawing the attention of
2023. Caracas, the capital. He dispute.” Maduro's government.
(AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
and other government of- “Furthermore, Venezuelan Venezuela's government
By Regina Garcia Cano ing Guyana, arguing the ficials have not explained military officials announced promoted the referendum
and Jorge rueda oil- and mineral-rich territo- the exact steps they will that Venezuela is taking for weeks, framing partici-
Associated Press ry was stolen when the bor- take to enforce the refer- concrete measures to build pation as an act of patrio-
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) der was drawn more than endum's results. an airstrip to serve as a ‘lo- tism, and often conflating it
— Venezuelans are voting a century ago. The International Court of gistical support point for with a show of support for
in a referendum Sunday Guyana considers the ref- Justice on Friday ordered the integral development Maduro. His government
called by the government erendum a step toward an- Venezuela not to take any of the Essequibo,’” she said. held a mock referendum
of President Nicolás Madu- nexation, and the vote has action that would alter The 61,600-square-mile last month, but it did not re-
ro to claim sovereignty over its residents on edge. It asks Guyana’s control over Es- (159,500-square-kilometer) lease participation figures
a large swath of neighbor- Venezuelans whether they sequibo, but the judges did territory accounts for two- or results.q