Floods kill 500 during Taiwan typhoon

FLOODS and mudslides unleashed by Typhoon Morakot last weekend have killed about 500 people on the island, Taiwan’s president has said.

President Ma Ying-jeou called on rescue crews yesterday to step up their efforts.

Morakot destroyed the homes of 7,000 people and caused agricultural and property damage in excess of €1 billion, the president said at a national security conference, his first since he took office 15 months ago.

He called it the most severe damage to the island in more than 50 years.

“While the rescue operation is still going on, we have started rehabilitation and reconstruction work, which is just as pressing as relief efforts but might be even more difficult and cumbersome,” Ma said.

Morakot dumped more than 80 inches of rain on the island and stranded thousands in villages in the mountainous south.

A total of 15,400 villagers have been ferried to safety, and rescuers are working to save another 1,900 people.

The death toll includes 120 confirmed deaths, and about 380 people are believed to be buried in the debris of a landslide in Shiao Lin, the hardest-hit village.

The military finally opened a road to the village yesterday, but authorities have given up hope of finding anyone alive under the tons of mud that cover the village, Kaohsiung county chief Yang Chiu-hsing said.

Instead of digging into some 170 mud-buried homes, a memorial park will be built on the site, he told reporters.