Morakot typhoon: rescuers save 700 people, thousands still missing
(August 13, 2009) About 700 people in a mountainous area south of Taiwan are alive.
Official sources of the army confirmed the news explaining that the villagers managed
to get to higher ground "before their houses were buried” by a river of mud. But
thousands of people remain missing as a result of the passage of typhoon Morakot and
tropical storm Etau, which struck the island of Taiwan, China and other parts of Asia
last weekend, killing more than 100 people. The Taiwan Central News Agency reports
that among the survivors there are 200 people from Hsiaolin village. “We have found
around 700 people alive in three villages last night and 26 more this morning. We
are deploying 25 helicopters to evacuate them" said Major Richard Hu, one of the chiefs
of the rescue operation. Typhoon Morakot struck the island of Taiwan last weekend,
killing 63 people and causing the worst flooding in 50 years. However two meters of
rain fell in over two days, catching unawares the regions authorities well used to
tropical storms and typhoons. According to early estimates there are about 225 million
dollars of damage to the agricultural industry and almost 30 thousand homes destroyed.
Catholic officials in Taiwan have rushed relief aid to typhoon victims in the south
of the island, including Catholics in a village badly hit by a similar storm four
years ago. The Taiwan Catholic Mission Foundation and Caritas Taiwan distributed relief
aid and collected donations from local Catholics to aid victims. The storm also hit
China, where 1.4 million people were evacuated from coastal areas. Eight people died
and around 10 thousand homes destroyed. In Japan, typhoon Etau killed 15 people,
with a dozen more missing. A thousand spent last night in temporary shelters and 4600
homes are without water.