Taiwan asks world to help

Taiwan has put out a global SOS call for to help rescue more than 2,000 people trapped by deadly mudslides caused by Typhoon Morakot. Friends and relatives of the hundreds stranded and feared dead are getting more and more desperate and have urged the government to speed up rescue efforts. The army has said it has added 4,000 more soldiers to help with the rescue mission, bringing the total to 38,000, as the death toll from the island's worst floods in half a century rose to 108. Sadly, there are fears now that figure may rise dramatically. Since the typhoon hit the island on Friday, 14,000 people have been airlifted to safety but survivors and politicians say that the government is doing too little, too late.

Dozens of mountain villages have been cut off for days after landslides destroyed roads and bridges, leaving them only accessible by air. Yesterday police and soldiers pushed back relatives gathered at rescue centres as they tried to storm their way on to helicopters heading for the swamped villages. "32 DEAD, SOS," read a sign painted in red on a smashed bridge at the only entrance to the village of Hsinfa, a hot spring resort where bodies were found buried by mudslides. "We are helpless. We are forgotten. We have been waiting for the helicopters without supplies," one villager told Agence France Presse news service.

When President Ma Ying-jeou went out to the county of Yunlin look at relief efforts, today (Thursday) he was greeted by relatives complaining about his government's handling of the crisis and accusing it of being to proud to ask for international help. Taiwan television footage showed Ma surrounded by dozens of people, with one man angrily asking: "What is the government doing? It's too late, they cannot be saved." President Ma said: "We welcome all forms of aid, and we also need equipment, especially helicopters that can carry cranes."

The Taiwanese foreign ministry said the government had asked for international help providing rescue equipment and that more than 50 countries had sent their condolences or said they were willing to help. The authorities say they need giant cargo aircraft able to drop large earth diggers and other machinery into remote mountain areas to re-open roads. The authorities also need 1,000 pre-fabricated houses for families left homeless, correspondents say, as well as supplies of disinfectant to help prevent disease spreading. They also need he authorities also need 1,000 pre-fabricated houses for families left homeless, the BBC reported, as well as supplies of disinfectant to help prevent disease spreading.

By Hayley Jarvis for SOS Children