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DISASTER MANAGEMENT
1,600 typhoon victims need airlifting: Taiwan government
by Staff Writers
Chishan, Taiwan (AFP) Aug 17, 2009


Villagers rush to a helicopter to be ferried to safety from their village damaged by mudslides during Typhoon Morakot in Liukuei, Kaohsiung county on August 13, 2009. Photo courtesy of AFP.EU experts in typhoon-ravaged Taiwan, aid to follow
A team of EU experts flew into Taiwan on Monday in response to a request for aid from Taipei following the worst typhoon in the island's history, officials in Brussels said. The team of four - one each from Britain, France, Sweden plus a liaison officer from the European Union's Monitoring and Information Centre (MIC) - landed in Taiwan on Monday. Their twin aims are "to receive and help with distribution of assistance sent by the EU member states, and to assess further needs," an EU source said. Typhoon Morakot slammed into Taiwan on August 8, dumping more than three metres (120 inches) of rain that unleashed floods and mudslides which tore through houses and buildings, ripped up roads and smashed bridges. "Preliminary assessments conclude that many remote and isolated settlements and locations across the country have been affected by the natural disaster," with over 100 deaths confirmed and over 10.000 people left homeless and many without access to safe drinking water, the European Commission said in a statement. Sweden, which holds the EU's rotating presidency, will send in water purification liquid on Thursday while "several other countries are currently exploring possibilities to provide further assistance," the statement added. On the ground, Taiwanese soldiers searched remote areas for survivors and bodies as officials said over 1,600 people needed airlifting to safety nine days after Typhoon Morakot struck. The official death toll rose to 126, but President Ma Ying-jeou has warned the number could climb to more than 500, with hundreds feared buried. The most affected areas are located in the central and southern part of Taiwan where hundreds of villages have been cut off by floods and mudslides. "Due to disruption of infrastructure, immediate needs include temporary shelter, access to clean water, disinfectants and helicopters to transport relief items, trucks and excavators to isolated areas," the EU Commission stated.

Taiwanese soldiers searched remote areas for survivors and bodies Monday as officials said over 1,600 people needed airlifting to safety nine days after Typhoon Morakot.

The official death toll rose to 126, but President Ma Ying-jeou has warned the number could climb to more than 500, with hundreds feared buried.

About 40,000 troops began a new phase of the rescue operation, shifting focus to combing remote areas, said Transport Minister Mao Chih-kuo, who is leading the emergency response.

A total of 1,638 people still had to be airlifted as of Sunday night from 44 severely damaged villages, he said.

But many were unwilling to leave their ancestral homes, fearing they would not be allowed to return, according to officials.

"Most of the people still stranded on the mountain refuse to leave," military spokesman Colonel Tai Chan-Teh told AFP.

It could take up to six months to rebuild roads and bridges and those refusing to leave may have to be removed by force, Mao said.

"One could hardly imagine the cost if those people continue to stay on the mountains and all of their daily needs have to be airlifted," he said.

At a makeshift morgue in the southern Chishan township, a senior police officer said work was also going slowly. He said only about 50 bodies had been processed because corpses were buried so deep.

"We have been working here round-the-clock for days. But while we hope to help families recover the bodies of their loved ones on the mountain, it is not easy to find them. The mud they were buried in is often a few stories high," the officer, who only gave his surname, Chang, told AFP.

As relatives took it upon themselves to search for loved ones, the transport ministry blocked roads in five seriously affected counties to prevent the public from disrupting official rescue efforts.

The typhoon has turned into a political storm for Taiwan's president, who acknowledged widespread public anger over the weekend by apologising to survivors for failing to recognise the scale of the crisis in time.

"I will take full responsibility whatever the blame is. After all, I'm the president of this country," Ma told CNN.

Aid from around the world continued to pour in Monday as a five-member European Union delegation arrived to assess how the EU could best help, the foreign ministry said.

A second United States military C-130 transport aircraft landed in southern Taiwan on Monday, delivering water purification tablets, the defence ministry said.

The first flight arrived Sunday, marking the first US military activity in Taiwan since 1979, when troops based here left because Washington shifted its diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing.

The first of two US heavy-lift military helicopters also arrived Monday, the ministry said.

The helicopters, each capable of carrying up to 16 tonnes, can be used to airlift excavators and bulldozers to the mountainous areas that mudslides have left inaccessible by road, Taiwanese media said.

Beijing also offered large helicopters used during last year's earthquake in China. But Taipei declined the offer due to national security concerns, the United Daily News reported, citing unnamed defence officials.

Typhoon Morakot slammed into Taiwan on August 8, dumping more than three metres (120 inches) of rain that unleashed floods and mudslides which tore through houses and buildings, ripped up roads and smashed bridges.

It was the worst-ever typhoon to strike Taiwan, the president said on Friday, saying the scale of the damage was more severe than a 1959 typhoon that killed 667 people and left around 1,000 missing.

pol-aw-cty-dd/njc

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