Liukuei: Taiwan`s President Ma Ying-jeou bowed to public anger on Saturday, apologising for his government`s slow response to Typhoon Morakot, which devastated central and southern parts of the island.
Ma spoke at the end of a week in which his administration faced mounting criticism for failing to recognise in time the magnitude of the crisis as mudslides cut off hundreds of villages, leaving them only accessible by air.
"We could have done better and we could have been faster. But we weren`t better and we weren`t faster. Of course we are very sorry," Ma told reporters while inspecting relief efforts in Nantou county.
The official death toll rose to 123 but Ma has warned that number could jump to 500, with hundreds feared buried beneath the rubble in the village of Hsiaolin alone.
The rescue operation nearly doubled in size over 24 hours with about 100,000 troops battling on Saturday to cross raging rivers and collapsed bridges to reach victims, the Defence Ministry said.
The Navy joined efforts to help typhoon victims, many who have been without food and water for a week, the Ministry said.
About 3,200 remained stranded in southern Kaohsiung, the hardest-hit county where most of the rescue missions are concentrated, officials said.
An additional 3,700 people remained cut off in southeastern Taitung county, while 9,000 were caught in central Chiayi county, local government officials said on Saturday.
The National Police Agency asked those who had lost contact with loved ones since the typhoon to provide DNA samples at local police stations to help identify the dead.
As the huge rescue operation continued, weeping relatives set up makeshift shrines as close as possible to devastated villages to honour the belief that the souls of the dead return home after seven days.
Scores of people protested when Ma later tried to throw the opening pitch at a baseball in central Taichung city. The President ended up leaving without throwing the ball.
Some spectators gave him the thumbs-down sign while security guards scuffled with protesters trying to unfurl a banner in the stands.
"So many people were killed and you attend a baseball game. Can you sleep at night?" an unidentified man shouted in front of TV cameras outside the stadium.
However, Ma found an unlikely ally in Chinese action star Jet Li, who helped comfort survivors and unload supplies at a relief centre in Kaohsiung county.
China has donated USD 16 million while Hong Kong has donated USD 6.4 million, government officials said.
The rest of the international community has donated more than USD 2 million, while the Vatican contributed USD 50,000 and Pope Benedict XVI offered his prayers for the victims, the Foreign Ministry said.
Morakot was the worst-ever typhoon to strike Taiwan, the President said on Friday, saying the scale of the damage was more severe than a 1959 typhoon that killed 667 people and left around 1,000 missing.
Morakot dumped more than three metres (120 inches) of rain, triggering floods and mudslides which tore through houses and buildings, ripped up roads and smashed bridges.
The deadliest natural disaster in the island`s history was a 7.6-magnitude quake that claimed around 2,400 lives in September 1999.
Bureau Report
