Taiwan remembers 700 killed on typhoon anniversary

TAIPEI: Taiwan paid tribute on Sunday to more than 700 people killed or missing in Typhoon Morakot a year ago, one of the island”s worst natural disasters.

The typhoon slammed into Taiwan in August 2009, bringing powerful winds and torrential rain that left at least 614 people dead and 75 missing, including an estimated 400 buried in the village of Hsiaolin alone.

Typhoon Morakot dumped a record three metres (120 inches) of rain and some experts have since warned that global warming could trigger another similarly powerful storm in a year or two.

“Last year”s Morakot brought Taiwan the worst flooding in 100 years and caused havoc… the unusual torrential rains were a signal of climate change,” Vice President Vincent Siew said at a ceremony in Taipei.

President Ma Ying-jeou was to attend an evening memorial service in the southern city of Kaohsiung to commemorate the victims from Hsiaolin village.

While the opposition blamed the Ma administration for what they alleged was a slow response to the flooding, Ma has termed the typhoon a “painful lesson” and is now introducing a tough new planning law.

Over the past year, the authorities have built 1,480 new houses accommodating nearly 6,000 people, according to a cabinet statement.

But the homeless — most of them aboriginals — remain unhappy at the government moves. About 500 indigenous villagers staged a rally outside the presidential office Saturday in protest at the resettlement plans.

The government faced a wave of public anger over its handling of the disaster, plunging Ma into his worst political crisis since taking office in 2008.

His approval rating fell plummeted to 16 percent in the aftermath of the typhoon, compared with to an all-time high of 79 percent in the days after his election victory in March 2008.

Seven Pakistanis Gunned Down In Kandahar

Unidentified gunmen in Afghanistan’s Kandahar province have killed seven Pakistanis travelling in a bus, the local police said.
The dead were working on a road construction project in the province. A senior Kandahar police official said that the gunmen came on two motorcycles and opened fire on the bus. Taliban insurgents have targeted construction workers in the past.
One report said that the victims were working on a project to repair a road connecting Kandahar city to Punjwai district. A large offensive is currently under way against the insurgents in neighbouring Helmand provi

Brazil Rebuffs US Sanctions On Iran

Brazil rebuffed a US appeal for new sanctions on Iran about its nuclear programme, vowing not to “bow down” to gathering international pressure during a visit from US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva pre-empted Clinton even before she could make the case for new United Nations Security Council penalties. Hours before meeting with Hillary Clinton today, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said that Brazil would not “bow down” to international pressure to agree to new UN sanctions on Iran.
“It is not prudent to push Iran against a wall,” Silva said, “The prudent thing is to establish negotiations.” Brazil is currently a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council.
Clinton is traveling there as part of a Latin American tour to try to persuade Brazil to sign off on a new UN Security Council resolution on Iran as early as next month. But it’s a particularly tough Security Council, with key current non-permanent members of the 15 member body such as Brazil and Turkey not certain to support such a resolution, Lebanon likely to vote against it, and at least one permanent member, China, also reluctant. Three past UN Security Council resolutions on Iran passed overwhelmingly, with no “no” votes and only a few abstentions. Lula is due to travel to Iran in May.

Taiwan Earthquake

Taiwan Earthquake, TAIPEI : A 6.4 magnitude quake struck southern Taiwan on Thursday, causing panic among residents in the island’s second largest city who rushed into the streets as buildings shook.

The quake hit about 70 kilometres (about 40 miles) from the main southern city of Kaohsiung, the US Geological Survey said, and it was felt as far away as the capital Taipei in the north of the island.

It was the worst earthquake to hit the Kaohsiung area since records began, the TVBS news network reported.

No tsunami warning was immediately issued and the extent of the damage was not immediately clear.

Residents of Kaohsiung rushed out into the streets as buildings started shaking, and were reluctant to re-enter, according to local television.

Services on the Kaohsiung subway were halted, as were trains on the high-speed rail connecting the north and the south of the island, the television reports said.

The epicentre of the quake was in Jiahsian township in Kaohsiung county, one of the worst hit areas in Typhoon Morakot that struck southern Taiwan in August last year, killing more than 700 people.

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.

Taiwan’s Foriegn Minister Offer Resign Over Typhoon Blunder

TAIPEI : Taiwan’s foreign minister has offered to resign for turning down overseas aid after Typhoon Morakot struck the island earlier this month, a report said on Wednesday.

Francisco Ou verbally tendered his resignation to President Ma Ying-jeou during a routine briefing on Monday, the local China Times reported, citing unnamed sources. The presidential office declined to comment on the report.

Ou was the fourth senior cabinet official who offered to quit amid public anger over the government’s slow response to the deadly typhoon.

Cabinet Secretary General Hsueh Hsiang-chuan had incurred public wrath after angrily justifying dining with his family at a five-star hotel on August 8, the day Morakot struck, saying it was Father’s Day in Taiwan and “not out of line”.

Defence Minister Chen Chao-min came under fire for deploying too few troops during the initial days of the rescue operation while Ou’s deputy Andrew Hsia has taken the blame for a decision, later overturned, to refuse foreign aid.

Ou and the others remain in their jobs pending an expected cabinet reshuffle next month, the report said.

The government on Tuesday confirmed that 461 people were killed while 192 were missing when the typhoon lashed the island with a record three metres (118 inches) of rain, submerging houses and streets and destroying bridges.

Morakot was the worst-ever typhoon to strike Taiwan, Ma has said, saying the scale of the damage 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.

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Taiwan’s Foriegn Minister Offer Resign Over Typhoon Blunder was first posted on August 26, 2009 at 12:09 pm.

Flooding In Taiwan 38 Killed

TAIPEI : At least 38 people were killed and another 62 missing in Taiwan’s worst flooding in half a century after Typhoon Morakot battered the island, rescuers and officials said on Tuesday.

Some 35 people were also injured as the typhoon lashed the island with a record three metres (118 inches) of rain over the weekend, submerging houses, streets and bringing down bridges, said the National Fire Agency.

Rescue missions were in full swing Tuesday with the authorities rushing out helicopters to remote areas cut off by fallen bridges or raging rivers.

Reports said up to 600 people were still trapped in a village devastated by mudslides but authorities would not confirm the number.

“My house is gone. We have been trapped for four days and we are scared,” a man from Hsiaolin village, in southern Kaohsiung county, told reporters after being airlifted to safety.

Armoured vehicles and marine landing craft, as well as rubber dinghies, were mobilised in a rescue operation involving nearly 6,000 troops, Taiwan’s defence ministry said.

In central and southern Taiwan, heavy rain caused widespread floods and mudslides, particularly in the county of Pingtung, where thousands of people had been trapped in three coastal townships.

Pingtung county government said residents from worst-hit areas took shelter in government facilities as the region is still without electricity and water despite receding floodwater.

Typhoon Morakot has caused at least five billion Taiwan dollars (156 million US) in agricultural damage while 61,000 houses were left without power and 850,000 homes without water, according to officials.

Among the missing were 14 workers who disappeared when their makeshift shelter beside a river in Kaohsiung was washed away by rising floodwaters early Sunday.

A typhoon that struck Taiwan in August 1959 killed 667 people and left some 1,000 missing.

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Flooding In Taiwan 38 Killed

Flood Rocked Taiwan, 12 Dead and 52 Missing

TAIPEI: At least 12 people were confirmed dead and 52 others were missing in Taiwan on Monday after Typhoon Morakot caused the island’s worst flooding in half a century, the rescue services said.

The military was also trying to rescue thousands of people cut off by fallen bridges or raging rivers after the typhoon dumped a record 2.5 metres (100 inches) of rain on the island before it headed for the coast of mainland China.

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Flood Rocked Taiwan, 12 Dead and 52 Missing