Taiwan typhoon rescuers still finding survivors

Nearly 1,000 people have been found alive around three remote Taiwan villages devastated by typhoon Morakot.

But hundreds more are missing and feared dead in the area, which bore the brunt of the storm.

While other areas of the country were hit hard, rescuers were focusing their efforts on Kaohsiung, believing most of those unaccounted for could be trapped there. But continuing heavy rains were wreaking havoc on their efforts.

Today only a few dozen army helicopters were able to ferry survivors to safety in Cishan, where a makeshift landing zone was set up at a school. The day before 300 people who escaped mudslides were plucked from Shiao Lin village and its surroundings.

Since then another 270 people have been spotted near the village, which was destroyed by a mudslide on Sunday.

Morakot, which means “emerald” in Thai, struck the Philippines, Taiwan and China. Most of its victims were in Taiwan. It dumped as much as 80 inches of rain on the island before moving on to China, where 1.5 million people were evacuated and 10,000 homes were destroyed.

In Taiwan Shiao Lin, cut off from the outside world since Sunday’s mudslides, remained a major concern for relief officials .

The village was buried in tons of mud and rubbles, with only two of its building left standing.

A separate storm, Typhoon Etau, moved away from Japan’s eastern coast today after killing at least 18 people and leaving nine others missing.