Typhoon Morakot News/Photos aid and donation information

TAIWAN, CHINA - AUGUST 9: Armored Personnel Carriers join in the rescue of flooded areas on August 9, 2009 inJiadong of southern Taiwan's Pingdong County, China. Jiadong is whipped by the typhoon Morakot which brings heavy rainstorms and causes widespread flooding. (Photo by ChinaFotoPress/Getty Images)

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Rescuers help local residents evacuate from flooding brought by Typhoon Morakot in Chiatung, Pingtung county, in southern Taiwan, on August 9, 2009. One person was killed and eight were missing and feared dead in Taiwan as Typhoon Morakot lashed the island with powerful winds and downpours, rescuers said on August 8. TOPSHOTS AFP PHOTO / PATRICK LIN (Photo credit should read PATRICK LIN/AFP/Getty Images)

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Typhoon victims receive assistance from a helicopter at a high school in Chishan, in Taiwan's Kaohsiung county on August 10, 2009 after being airlifted from the southern village of Hsiaolin. At least 14 people were confirmed dead and 51 others were missing in Taiwan after Typhoon Morakot caused the island's worst flooding in half a century, the rescue services said. AFP PHOTO (Photo credit should read AFP/AFP/Getty Images)

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In these images released by the Taiwan Military News Agency, soldiers provide relief and rescue efforts to citizens via helicopter from the flooded flood affected areas in Taiwan, Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2009. Rescue officials have said more than 300 people were ferried from disaster areas on more than 100 emergency flights.

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A handout photograph from the Taiwan Military News Agency shows military troop search for survivors in the flooded village of Hsuachia, southern Taiwan's Tainan county, August 11, 2009. Helicopters dropped rescuers into a village in southern Taiwan on Tuesday to search for victims of a mudslide that may have buried up to 600 people after the typhoon hit the island, officials said.

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Taiwan military help residents remove debris from floods caused by Typhoon Morakot in Cishan, Taiwan, Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2009. Rescue officials have said more than 300 people were ferried from disaster areas on more than 100 emergency flights.

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People tussle with police officers as they try to take a helicopter back to their home towns which are affected by mudslides at Chishan evacuation centre in Kaohsiung county, southern Taiwan August 11, 2009. Helicopters dropped rescuers into a village in southern Taiwan on Tuesday to search for victims of a mudslide that may have buried up to 600 people after the typhoon hit the island, officials said.

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In this image made from television broadcast by ETTV television Sunday, Aug. 9, 2009, a a six-story hotel in Chihpen, Taitung county, Taiwan collapses and plunges into a river after floodwaters eroded its base as typhoon Morakot passed through the area. All 300 people in the hotel were evacuated and uninjured, officials said. Typhoon Morakot slammed into China's east coast Sunday just hours after nearly 1 million people evacuated the area. It earlier lashed Taiwan with torrential rains that caused the island's worst flooding in 50 years and left dozens missing and feared dead.

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A rescuer helps a crying baby out of floodwater area after Typhoon Morakot hit Pintung county, southern Taiwan, Sunday, Aug. 9, 2009. The storm dumped more than 200 centimeters (80 inches) of rain on some southern counties on Friday and Saturday, the worst flooding to hit the area in half a century, the Central Weather Bureau reported. (AP Photo)

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Rescuers try to reach a man who is stranded by floods as Typhoon Morakot approaches in Shanghai August 9, 2009. A child was killed and houses were flattened after Typhoon Morakot battered China's eastern coast on Sunday, bringing torrential rain and high waves likely to disrupt life and business across the heavily commercial region.

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A woman sweeps water as children walk down a flooded alleyway after Typhoon Morakot hit Fuzhou, Fujian province August 9, 2009.

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People make their way across flooded streets in makeshift rafts after typhoon Morakot hit Cangnan county of Wenzhou, Zhejiang province August 10, 2009. Typhoon Morakot battered China's commercial east coast on Sunday, killing a child and flattening houses. Half a million people in coastal Fujian province were moved to safer parts ahead of the typhoon's arrival, along with a similar number in neighbouring Zhejiang, Xinhua reported.

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People row a dragon boat to commute through a flooded area in Cangnan county, in east China's Zhejiang province, Monday Aug. 10, 2009.

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A man rescued from Shiao Lin village, covered in a landslide from Typhoon Morakot in Kaohsiung county, southern Taiwan, tells police that ten of his family members died in the slide Monday, Aug. 10, 2009. An estimated 400 Taiwanese are unaccounted for after the landslide spawned by Typhoon Morakot struck the isolated mountain village, a police official said Monday, and a newspaper quoted a resident as saying as many as 600 were buried by the mud. (AP Photo)

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A handout photograph from the Taiwan Military News Agency shows a storm-damaged bridge near Hsiao Lin, southern Taiwan's Kaohsiung county, August 10, 2009.

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adeptitus said:

Thank you to the mods for permitting this thread!

.

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By PETER ENAV, Associated Press Writer Peter Enav, Associated Press Writer – 57 mins ago
CISHAN, Taiwan – Rescuers have found nearly 1,000 people alive in the area around three remote villages devastated by Typhoon Morakot, which pummeled the island over the weekend, Taiwan's military said Wednesday.

Hundreds more are missing and feared dead in Kaohsiung county, which bore the brunt of the storm, though the official death toll stood at 63, and authorities could only confirm 61 missing.

While other areas of the country were hit hard, rescuers were focusing their efforts on Kaohsiung, believing most of those unaccounted for could be trapped there. But continuing heavy rains were wreaking havoc on their efforts.

On Wednesday, only a few dozen army helicopters were able to ferry survivors to safety in Cishan, where a makeshift landing zone was set on at a school. The day before 300 people who escaped mudslides and still looked dazed were plucked from Shiao Lin village and its surroundings.

Since that rescue, another 270 people have been spotted near the village, which was destroyed by a mudslide Sunday. Major General Hu Jui-chou said 500 survivors were also found in Min Tzu and 200 in Chin He.

Morakot, which means "emerald" in the Thai language, struck the Philippines, Taiwan and China and left at least 93 people dead, most of them in Taiwan. It dumped as much as 80 inches (two meters) of rain on the island before moving on to China, where authorities evacuated 1.5 million people and some 10,000 homes were destroyed.

A major concern for relief officials remained Shiao Lin, cut off from the outside world since Sunday's mudslides.

Video taken by TV station ETTV showed the village buried in tons of mud and rubbles, with only two of its structures left standing. The only sign of life in the village, the ETTV video showed, was a sodden cat hiding in a crack under the rubble.

Luo Shun-chi, 36, who escaped from Shiao Lin shortly after Sunday's mudslide, told The Associated Press that he did not know how many of his fellow villagers remained alive.

He said that between 500 and 600 people were in Shiao Lin at the time of the disaster — far fewer than the 1,300 people listed in Taiwan's population registry.

Taiwan's National Fire Agency has said 100 people were under the mud in Shiao Lin, but didn't offer any evidence to back up that claim.

Luo said that whatever the Shiao Lin death toll, he was never going back.

"The place is finished," he said. "There is no way I could return."

Outside of Taiwan, Morakot also claimed 22 lives in the Philippines. After pummeling Taiwan, Morakot slammed into China's Fujian province, bringing heavy rain and winds of 74 miles (119 kilometers) per hour, according to the China Meteorological Administration.

Authorities ordered 1.5 million people to leave the area, sending them to schools, government offices, hospitals and the homes of relatives, where they will remain until the rain stops and waters recede, the Civil Affairs Ministry has said.

Morakot damaged or destroyed more than 10,000 homes and flooded over 1 million acres (400,000 hectares) of cropland, the ministry said. It said direct economic losses have been estimated at 9.7 billion yuan ($1.4 billion).

The heavy rains triggered a massive landslide in Pengxi, a town in Wenzhou city of eastern China's Zhejiang province, destroying seven three-story apartment buildings at the foot of a mountain late Monday, an official surnamed Chen from the Pengxi government told The Associated Press.

Xinhua reported that an unknown number of residents were buried in the landslide, though Chen put the number at six. All were pulled out alive but two later died of their injuries, he said.

A separate storm, Typhoon Etau, moved away from Japan's eastern coast Wednesday after killing at least 18 people and leaving nine others missing, officials said.

Most were swept away by rain-swollen rivers or killed in landslides and floods, police said.

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Associated Press writer Shino Yuasa in Tokyo contributed to this report.

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