Taiwan mudslide may have buried 600 villagers

TAIPEI/TOKYO (Reuters) – 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.

More than 50 people have died in tropical storms striking the Phillipines, Taiwan, China and Japan.

The death toll so far in Taiwan stood at 15, with 55 missing and 32 hurt, since Typhoon Morakot struck the island on Friday and remained in the area through the weekend before battering China's populous east coast.

Rescue squads aboard helicopters had saved only 45 people from Hsiao Lin, a village of 1,000 in southern Taiwan. Rains washed out roads and bridges in Kaohsiung County, severing all land vehicle traffic.

"No small number of single-storey houses have been covered in mudslides," said Richard Hu, an army major-general. "We don't know how many people are there, but homes have definitely been buried."

News claims the island got up to 80 inches of rain over the weekend.

We can’t buy a drop here in central Texas.

Prayers for Taiwan.

Hey TLR - We're Ok here in Tainan. That is quite a bit south of us. Its a ville up in the hills. Pretty bad flooding up there and farther down south in PingTung on the coast.

Since building codes are optional here there are a lot of shoddy and 'questionable' buildings here. One of the most basic is little to no foundation under the buildings. That and building on sand or loose soil without putting in piers. With the 4 days or so of fairly heavy rain here, the soil is fully saturated. No drainage and mud-slides, bridge collapsing and there you go.
Another thing my wife has shared with me is a major restructuring of districts which occurred a decade or so ago. Prior to this there was a pretty efficient system of emergency response teams in place. Decentralization of this has happened and its a 'Chinese Fire Drill' of everybody not knowing who should do what. Its a big "blame game" and people suffer.
Also, she says these mountain people refuse to move to safer lands.
Frankly, she's right on target with this one. Every year I see the same damn bridges and roads wash out and the same damn people crying by the roadside and blaming the gov't for not "helping them."

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