Taiwan confirms 461 dead, 192 missing after typhoon

DISASTER MANAGEMENT

400 ill in typhoon-hit village in Taiwan
Around 400 people have fallen sick with suspected swine flu in a southern village hit by Typhoon Morakot earlier this month, the village chief said Tuesday. The residents of Wannei, a village of 2,000 in Pingtung county, had developed high fever, vomiting and diarrhoea in the last five days, the village chief, Lin Wang-hung, told AFP. One hundred were in hospital and 20 in intensive care, he said. "The villagers are feeling panicky as we don't know what is the cause of the disease. We think it might be swine flu but we won't know for sure until test results come out," he said. Lin added that more people were beginning to feel sick and he had requested villagers wear masks and refrain from going out, in order to help curb the disease's spread. He suspected that the village's underground water supply could have been contaminated during the typhoon, which triggered widespread flooding in Pingtung. A local health official, however, said the disease was unlikely to be swine flu. "We suspect it could be leptospirosis which has flu-like symptoms such as fever and diarrhoea," Chang Hsin-che, director of Pingtung's Wandan Township health bureau, told reporters. Leptospirosis is a common infectious disease after flooding, according to Taiwan's Centre for Disease Control. The typhoon lashed the island earlier this month, bringing a record three metres (118 inches) of rain, submerging houses and streets and destroying bridges. President Ma Ying-jeou has called Morakot the worst-ever typhoon to strike Taiwan, saying the scale of the damage was more severe than a 1959 typhoon that killed 667 people and left around 1,000 missing. So far, the typhoon claimed at least 376 lives while 254 were missing, the National Fire Agency said. The deadliest natural disaster in the island's history was a 7.6-magnitude quake that claimed around 2,400 lives in September 1999.

by Staff Writers
Taipei (AFP) Aug 25, 2009
Taiwan on Tuesday confirmed that 461 people were killed while 192 were missing after Typhoon Morakot struck two weeks ago causing the worst flooding in the island's history.

The latest figures included 318 confirmed deaths from the worst-hit southern village of Hsiaolin, where 106 others were still unaccounted for, the National Fire Agency said.

Previously the death toll from the typhoon stood at 376.

The toll was expected to rise, with the agency also listing around 60 bodies and/or body parts yet to be identified.

The typhoon lashed the island earlier this month, bringing a record three metres (118 inches) of rain, submerging houses and streets and destroying bridges.

President Ma Ying-jeou has said the scale of damage caused by Morakot was more severe than a 1959 typhoon that killed 667 people and left around 1,000 missing.

The deadliest natural disaster in the island's history was a 7.6-magnitude quake that claimed around 2,400 lives in September 1999.

Taiwan plans three-bln-dlr typhoon relief budget
Taiwan's parliament came out of recess Tuesday to discuss the cabinet's 100-billion-Taiwan-dollar (3.04 billion US) budget for reconstruction in the wake of Typhoon Morakot.

The session is expected to last three days and, once approved, the budget will pay for reconstruction and relief efforts over the next three years, the cabinet said in a statement.

According to the National Fire Agency Typhoon Morakot killed 376 people, with another 254 missing, and President Ma Ying-jeou has warned that the final death toll could exceed 500.

After being criticised for his government's slow response to the typhoon, Ma Tuesday continued touring the hard-hit areas of southern Taiwan.

More than 25,000 people fled their homes after Morakot struck on August 8, and 6,000 are still living in government and private temporary shelters.

Taiwan's Red Cross Society has said it would build up to 1,600 houses within two years for some of the thousands of people left homeless by Morakot.

Hampering reconstruction efforts, a suspected outbreak of swine flu was reported in a flooded area after four soldiers mobilised for clean-up operations were confirmed to have contracted the disease.

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DISASTER MANAGEMENT

Taiwan confirms 292 deaths, 385 missing from typhoon
Taipei (AFP) Aug 24, 2009
Taiwan's government on Monday confirmed that 292 people were killed and 385 missing after Typhoon Morakot struck the island and caused its worst flooding in half a century earlier this month. Those still unaccounted for include 311 from the southern village of Hsiaolin, the National Fire Agency said. With the hope of finding bodies fading, an increasing number of people still hunting for ... read more

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