Taipei, August 23: The death toll from Typhoon Morakot was raised to at least 650 on Sunday after the worst weather disaster to hit Taiwan in half a century.
Premier Liu Chao-shiuan said 160 were confirmed killed, with another 490 listed as missing and presumed dead. DNA tests will be conducted on battered bodies that authorities have not yet been able to identify, Liu said.
The storm that hit two weeks ago triggered landslides and widespread flooding that trapped thousands of people in remote southern villages for days.
Television footage today showed soldiers and students scrubbing homes and streets in the southern city of Linbien in Pingtung county, which was still flooded in knee-deep waters because drainage ditches were blocked by debris.
Hundreds of soldiers in camouflage also waded through floodwaters to the area where homes once stood in Shiao Lin, the village hardest-hit by massive mudslides.
Some were searching for floating bodies. Others were preparing to dig up the more than 400 bodies believed buried under several meters of mud, said military relief operation spokesman Tai Chan-teh.
Dozens of surviving Shiao Lin residents have demanded the government investigate the cause of the landslides that wiped out their village.
–Agencies