A group of volunteers leaves Taichung yesterday to help clean up flooded areas of southern Taiwan. CNA

TAIPEI: A group of politicians and medical professionals based in northern Taiwan have formed an alliance to adopt aboriginal villages devastated by mudslides and floods in the wake of typhoon Morakot.

"As many people in Taipei city are anxious to extend a helping hand, the alliance decided to take direct action and adopt hard-hit aboriginal villages in southern Taiwan," said Lee Shin, a ruling Kuomintang (KMT) Taipei city councilor.

The "88 Taiwan Warmth Delivery Alliance", formed yesterday, will enlist physicians, nurses, pharmacists and social workers to go into the most severely hit villages in mountainous areas of southern Taiwan. Most of those are home to indigenous tribal people, Lee said at a news conference at the Legislative Yuan.

"If all goes smoothly, our medical relief workers will set off before this coming Sunday to undertake post-disaster rehabilitation operations in affected zones," Lee said.

He also urged more like-minded people to join the alliance and make donations to sponsor rehabilitation projects in devastated aboriginal villages.

Speaking on the same occasion, Hou Chin-chu, head of Shihzih township in the southernmost county of Pingtung, said floods and landslides triggered by typhoon Morakot had hurt the county's aboriginal communities far more than has been reported in the media.

"Many villages, such as Wutai, Sandimen, Majia, Taiwu and Laiyi, have all been isolated after extremely heavy rainfall delivered by Morakot knocked out roads and bridges connecting them to the outside world," Hou said.

He added that many village residents believed to be trapped were in desperate need of help.

Huang Sung-hsiung, a physician from the New Taiwanese Cultural Foundation who is also a member of the "88 Alliance", said the alliance will organize teams of doctors, nurses, pharmacists and public health experts to visit disaster areas in southern Taiwan later this week.

Expressions of condolence and donations are mounting from donors of home and the overseas community.

Hong Kong pop star and actor Andy Lau is making a personal contribution. Lau will be the chief attraction accompanying a string of Taiwanese entertainers at major fundraising events for typhoon victims, organisers announced yesterday.

Lau, one of Hong Kong's biggest names and also popular on the mainland and in Taiwan, will join more than 200 homegrown stars to take donation pledges over the phone from the Taiwanese public on Friday in the four-hour fundraiser, they said.

The ruling Kuomintang said yesterday it had received NT$7 million ($200,000) in personal donations, which had also been matched by the party.

Charities and companies had donated more than NT$2 billion for typhoon relief as of Tuesday, reports said, and High Speed Rail has offered free seats for rescuers to travel to worst-hit southern Taiwan.

The overseas community has also expressed condolences and willingness to donate aid, the "foreign ministry" said, adding Japan would pledge 10 million yen ($103,000).

Users of PTT, a terminal-based bulletin board system (BBS) based in Taiwan, have launched a fund raising drive that already provided relief supplies, including food and clean water, for people victims of the storm.

PTT, the largest BBS in Taiwan with more than 1.5 million registered users, said it will request more help from its users and coordinate its relief efforts with local charity organizations such as World Vision and the Tzu Chi Foundation.

"We raised more than NT$100,000 ($3,041) in one hour and purchased relief supplies online," said Liao Chi-cheng, the initiator of the "PTT users disaster relief team".

Liao added that relief supplies, including food, water, rain shoes, sleeping bags and bleach, have been delivered to Pingtung county by online suppliers to be distributed by World Vision.

CNA/AFP

Family members grieve over the deaths of three crew members whose helicopter crashed in mountainous Wutai township in Pingtung county on Tuesday. Their bodies were recovered yesterday. CNA

(HK Edition 08/13/2009 page2)