HELICOPTERS CONTINUED to search remote areas of southern Taiwan yesterday, dropping food and medical supplies to some of the thousands of people still trapped by landslides triggered by Typhoon Morakot, and airlifting survivors out of the mudslide area.
The government, facing mounting public pressure to resolve the plight of locals in the blighted areas of Kaohsiung County, has deployed thousands of extra troops to the rescue effort.
The death toll from Taiwan’s worst floods in half a century has risen to 108, but there are fears this figure could rise significantly as many areas remain isolated, and the exact number of those stranded is hard to gauge.
Morakot is one the worst typhoons to strike Taiwan since August 1959, when a typhoon killed 667 people and left around 1,000 missing.
Survivors continue to give harrowing accounts of the mudslide.
“In the dark we only heard a big sound. In just two minutes we were drawn into the water,” 28-year-old worker Deng Zhaoteng, from Qinghe village, told the Taiwan United Daily News.
A man named Ko, who had woken up during the night for a drink of water, shouted “Get up! Landslide!” Mr Deng recalled.
The men were sleeping in their workshop close to the Lao-Nong River. “The sound of the flooding came closer. We had no time to get clothes. We ran out desperately. But people could not outrun the flood,” said Mr Deng, who grabbed a tree and held on tight.
“Mr Ko, who called on everyone to flee, was drawn into the water. I held the trunk with one hand and held him with the other, but the torrent was too strong, and he let go. I watched him being washed away,” said Mr Deng.
The mountainous villages in this densely wooded area are populated mainly by indigenous aboriginal tribes and have been cut off for days after the landslides wrecked roads and bridges, leaving only access by air.
Mr Deng said it was aborigines from this tribe who rescued them. They were brought back to an aboriginal town for medical treatment, water and a change of clothes.
They also shared what food they had. “Without aborigines, we would have starved to death long ago . . . their tribe has not yet been rescued. Please help them,” said Mr Deng.
There are 38,000 troops working on the relief effort and so far nearly 14,000 people have been airlifted to safety since the typhoon last weekend, which brought three metres of rain to the island. The government has been accused by survivors and politicians of not doing enough to rescue the victims.
In the southern Taiwan township of Toayuan, 300 villagers were told to run to higher ground about 30 minutes before a lake created by floodwaters burst its banks, an official said, adding that two nearby lakes were expected to burst soon. The army said 700 more survivors were located in Liukuei yesterday morning.
The focus of the rescue effort remains on Hsiaolin and several neighbouring villages in Kaohsiung County which were almost totally destroyed by landslides.
While around 1,000 survivors have been found and some 600 airlifted to safety, there are fears that more than 100 people could have been buried alive under the rubble.