Typhoon Morakot

Typhoon Morakot victims are receiving international aid.

For the first time since Washington cut official ties with Taiwan in 1979, the U.S. military is dispatching humanitarian relief to the island to aid victims of Typhoon Morakot.

“In direct support of the U.S. Department of State, the Secretary of Defense authorized U.S. Pacific Command to provide assistance to Taiwan in response to the typhoon,” U.S. Forces Japan spokesman Master Sgt. Donald Preston said Monday.

Two Marine Corps C-130 aircraft from Marine Corps Air Station Futenma on Okinawa have delivered humanitarian relief supplies and four CH-53 Sea Stallion helicopters embarked onboard the USS Denver from Sasebo Naval Base, Japan, will provide heavy lift support, he said.

The first C-130 transport landed in southern Taiwan on Sunday with four pallets of plastic sheeting weighing some 15,200 pounds, for temporary shelters.

It was followed by a second plane that delivered 1,025 pounds of chlorine tablets Monday afternoon.

Taiwan officials said Sunday that the helicopters will help in lifting excavation equipment and other heavy equipment into mountainous areas cut off by landslides and floods caused by the typhoon that pummeled the island Aug. 7.

“The mission is to help reduce the further loss of life and mitigate human suffering resulting from the typhoon,” Staff Sgt. Leo A. Salinas, a spokesman for Marine Corps Bases Japan, said in an e-mail response to a Stars and Stripes query Monday night. “Our focus is to immediately provide assistance to the people on Taiwan who are suffering and are in desperate need of help.”

Officials estimate the storm caused more than 500 deaths, left some 7,000 people homeless and destroyed $1.5 billion worth of crops and property.

http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=64247

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Even nine days after Typhoon Morakot hit Taiwan 1,638 people are in need of rescue.

Taiwanese soldiers searched remote areas for survivors and bodies yesterday as officials said over 1,600 people needed airlifting to safety nine days after Typhoon Morakot.

About 40,000 troops began a new phase of the rescue operation, shifting focus to combing remote areas, said Transport Minister Mao Chih-kuo, who is leading the emergency response. A total of 1,638 people still had to be airlifted as of Sunday night from 44 severely damaged villages, he said.

http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topics/article.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=309660&version=1&template_id=45&parent_id=25

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Even a week after Typhoon Morakot over 1,000 people remain trapped – mostly in mountain villages. What has everyone been doing to help. Let us know about the best relief efforts.

A week after Typhoon Morakot hit Taiwan, rescue crews had been unable to reach 1,300 people trapped in remote mountain villages, officials said Saturday.

The Central Emergency Operation Center said 75 helicopters would drop supplies in villages in the south, the Central News Agency reported.

Taiwan was the hardest hit of the countries in Morakot’s path, and officials have said the death toll had topped 500. In the south, rain-soaked mountainsides gave way, taking houses with them.

The typhoon dumped more than 8 feet of rain on Taiwan as it passed over the island last Saturday.

A total of 1,373 people remained cut off in villages where roads were blocked by mudslides or washed away by flooding.

http://www.timesoftheinternet.com/101441.html

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The NY Time just reported that the people of Taiwan showed disappointment in the government’s response to Typhoon Morakot.

If President Ma Ying-jeou thought he might be treated presidentially on Wednesday as he toured a center for survivors of last weekend’s typhoon, he was mistaken.

The moment he stepped onto a soccer field that has been doubling as a landing pad for rescue helicopters, Mr. Ma was besieged by angry villagers who accused his administration of moving too slowly to help those still trapped in the mountains near here. As the insults rained down, the skies opened and Mr. Ma quickly became drenched to the skin, all of it captured live on television.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/13/world/asia/13taiwan.html

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This image, captured by the MODIS on NASA’s Aqua satellite at 1:15 p.m., local time (5:15 UTC) on August 9, shows the center of the storm coming ashore over China. Morakot exhibits a loose spiral shape without the distinctive bands of clouds or eye evident in stronger storms. At the time this image was taken, Morakot had winds of about 75 kilometers per hour (45 miles per hour or 40 knots). More damaging, however, was the storm’s intense rain. Morakot moved slowly over Taiwan, releasing a torrent of rain over the island that lasted several days. Southern Taiwan recorded a record 8 feet (244 centimeters) of rain, reported the New York Times.

http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov/gallery/individual.php?db_date=2009-08-11

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The challenges continue with the Typhoon Morakot relief effort...

A rescue helicopter sent by Taiwan’s Air Force to ship supplies to a mountain village crashed in the southern county of Pingtung Tuesday, the rescue unit said.

Three people, including the pilot, co-pilot and a crew member, were unaccounted for after the crash, the unit leader said.

Full Story: http://www.topnews.in/taiwan-rescue-helicopter-crashes-while-delivering-supplies-2200482

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A landslide triggered by torrential rain from Typhoon Morakot has toppled at least half a dozen apartment buildings, burying an unknown number of residents, state media reported Tuesday.

“Six or seven apartment buildings” collapsed around 10:30 p.m. (0230 GMT) in Pengxi Township, near Wenzhou City in the eastern province of Zhejiang, the state-controlled Xinhua news agency said.

The four-story apartment buildings were at the foot of a mountain, Xinhua reported, citing redscuers, who pulled six people alive from the debris. One is in critical condition.

http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20090810-713112.html

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A mudslide triggered by torrential rains from a typhoon may have buried up to 600 villagers in mountainous southern Taiwan, disaster officials said on Monday.

http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2009/08/10/news/news-us-asia-weather.html

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The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) has unilaterally declared a suspension of offensive military operations (SOMO) with the communist New People’s Army (NPA) in the Luzon mainland and the Mimaropa region to give way to disaster response operations for typhoon “Mina” (international codename: Mitag).

Full story here:

http://joelguinto.wordpress.com/2007/11/24/military-declares-unilateral-truce-in-typhoon-affected-areas/

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The bad weather continues…

“Tropical storm Etau may hit central Japan on Tuesday, an official at the Japan Meteorological Agency said.

It was forecast to bring wind gusts to 126 kph (78 mph), heavy rain and high seas, the agency said on its Website (www.jma.go.jp).

Tropical storms and typhoons regularly hit Japan, China Taiwan and the Philippines in the second half of the year, gathering strength from the warm waters of the Pacific Ocean before weakening over land.”

http://www.reuters.com/article/asiaCrisis/idUST231829

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