 Grieving for the victims of the typhoon President Ma Ying-jeou of Taiwan has apologised for the slow official response to Typhoon Morakot. "We could have done better and we could have been faster," he told reporters one week after the typhoon struck. Hundreds of people are still trapped by mudslides and floods. Thousands of troops have been sent to help rescue them and provide shelter. The official death toll has is now above 120. Mr Ma said earlier in the week that it could exceed 500. 'Very sorry' "We could have done better and we could have been faster. But we weren't better and we weren't faster," President Ma told reporters in Nantou county, one of the areas hit by the typhoon, the AFP news agency reports.
"Of course we are very sorry." Troops have been struggling across shattered roads and collapsed bridges to reach stranded communities. Critics say the authorities were too slow to realise the magnitude of the emergency, while some of those stranded have said they have received no help for days and have been short of food and water. Many have been waiting for days at the rescue operation centre in Qishan for news of relatives missing since the typhoon struck. Officials says rescue teams have been hampered by sustained rains in the centre and south of the island and a badly damaged road network which means many villages can only be accessed by air. Many of the worst-affected villages are inhabited by aborigines, who farm the mountainous terrain. Thousands more people are believed to be stranded in remote settlements elsewhere in southern and central Taiwan. The government has requested from foreign countries prefabricated buildings to help house those left homeless by the flooding and supplies of disinfectant, to try to prevent the spread of disease. In China, which claims sovereignty over Taiwan, companies and charities have raised more than 100m yuan ($14.6m) in donations, the official Xinhua news agency has reported. | ||
2009年8月15日 星期六
Taiwan leader in typhoon apology
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