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Sunday, August 16, 2009 TAIPEI: President has ordered to speed up rescue operations to dealt with massive deaths and destruction after Typhoon Morakot struck in Taiwan.Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou put the overall death toll on Friday at about 500, making it the island's deadliest weather disaster since 1959 when more than 600 perished in a typhoon.Taiwan awaited desperately needed aid from the United States, China and other countries Sunday as villagers mourned the hundreds who were killed in the worst storm to strike the island in 50 years.Taiwan's Foreign Ministry said giant helicopters from the U.S. that can carry cranes and backhoes were expected to arrive in a few days to help rescue those that might still be trapped, and to help rebuild roads in villages devastated when Typhoon Morakot hit a week ago. The U.S. has also agreed to send other relief materials, it said in a statement, without elaborating.Typhoon Morakot slammed into Taiwan on August 8, dumping more than ...

Friday, August 14, 2009 TAIPEI: About 300 people are estimated to have been killed by a massive landslide that wiped out much of a village in southern Taiwan, news agency reports quoted a government official, as saying on Friday.The tragedy is said to have taken place in the village of Hsiao Li.The official death toll in Taiwan from "Typhoon Morakot" till last weekend stood at 116. The worst floods in decades washed out roads, snapped bridges and sent low-rise buildings crashing into rivers, according to the latest statement by the disaster agency.Pressure is mounting on Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou to expedite operations to rescue hundreds of residents of remote mountainous villages buried or stranded in the aftermath of the typhoon.

TAIPEI: Rescue and recovery efforts continued Wednesday in China and Taiwan after Typhoon Morakot, which killed at least 70 people in both countries.In Taiwan, the death toll was 62 as of Tuesday evening, a Chinese news agency, reported. Another 57 were missing, and three others were killed Tuesday when a relief helicopter crashed.Thousands of households remained without electricity or running water. In mountainous areas, helicopters were used to drop food and water in villages cut off by bridges that had washed away.Sixteen Chinese tourists were evacuated Tuesday after being trapped since the storm at Mount Ali.Morakot made landfall in Taiwan late Friday and in China early Sunday. In China, eight were reported dead and three missing.Vice Premier Hui Liangyu, who traveled to the provinces hit by the storm, warned of secondary damage from flooded rivers. He said more than 20 rivers in Fujian, Zhejiang and Anhui provinces were at dangerous levels and continued rainfall could bring more f...

Monday, August 10, 2009 BEIJING: A powerful typhoon killed eight people, toppled houses, flooded villages and forced nearly 1 million people to flee to safety on China's eastern coast before weakening into a tropical storm Monday.Named Morakot, the storm struck after triggering the worst flooding in Taiwan in 50 years, leaving dozens missing and bringing down a six-story hotel. It earlier lashed the Philippines, killing at least 22 people.Morakot, or emerald in Thai, slammed into China's Fujian province Sunday afternoon as a typhoon carrying heavy rain and winds of 74miles (119 kilometers) per hour, according the China Meteorological Administration. At least one child died after a house collapsed in Zhejiang province. By early Monday, the storm packed winds of 52 miles per hour (83kilometers per hour) and churned at about 6 mph (10 kph), it said. Hundreds of villages and towns were flooded and more than 2,000houses collapsed, the official news agency said. About 1 million peop...

Sunday, July 26, 2009 TAIPEI: Two moderate earthquakes, one measuring 5.5 on the Richter scale, rocked Taiwan Sunday, the Seismology Centre said, but there were no immediate reports of casualties or damage.Both quakes could be felt around the island, according to the centre.The latest one hit at 2:10 pm (0610 GMT), with an epicentre 15 kilometres (9.0 miles) north of eastern Yuli town at a depth of 3.0 kilometres.The first struck at 9:00 am (0100 GMT), with an epicentre 37 kilometres (22 miles) southeast of the central Mingchien township at a depth of 13 kilometres, the centre said.Taiwan is regularly hit by earthquakes as the island lies near the junction of two tectonic plates. A 7.6-magnitude quake killed around 2,400 people in September 1999.