TAIPEI: Some 31 junior high and elementary schools damaged by landslides and flooding from Typhoon Morakot would probably not be able to reopen in time for the start of the new school year in September, a "Ministry of Education" (MOE) official said yesterday.

The schools in Nantou county in central Taiwan; Chiayi in Kaohsiung; and Pingtung in the south were seriously damaged and would be unlikely to be repaired in time for classes to resume, said Yang Chang-yu, director of the MOE's Department of Elementary Education.

It is not clear exactly how many students would be affected, as many schools have lost contact with their students, Yang said.

The MOE suggested schools try to locate these students and that typhoon victims who have moved elsewhere inform the schools of their children's whereabouts.

Once a student is certified as a typhoon victim by teachers, their families would be eligible for subsidies to cover the tuition and lunch fees, Yang said.

A total of 1,305 schools in central and southern Taiwan were demolished or damaged by the typhoon, with losses of NT$1.95 billion. Junior high and elementary schools were hit the hardest, incurring losses in excess of NT$1.47 billion, according to MOE figures.

Agriculture losses

Separately, statistics released by the Council of Agriculture (COA) showed that the agricultural losses from Typhoon Morakot had soared to NT$12.27 billion.

The COA said Morakot, which pummeled Taiwan August 7-9, caused serious damage to farms in 11 counties. The hardest hit were Kaohsiung and Pingtung in southern Taiwan and Hualien and Taitung in the east.

The statistics show that damage to agricultural crops amounted to NT$3.99 billion, with 27 percent of the crops on 72,345 hectares of farmland wiped out.

Banana crops suffered the heaviest damage, with 5,945 hectares ravaged by strong winds and flooding.

Damage to the aquaculture sector amounted to NT$4.13 billion, the heaviest loss in 19 years, COA officials said. Stocks in some 8,845 hectares of ponds or beach farms were washed away, it said.

Some 138,000 pigs, nearly 600,000 chickens and more than 132,000 ducks perished in floods caused by the storm, bringing the total livestock losses in these three areas to NT$1.42 billion, the COA said.

Meanwhile, according to COA tallies, a total of 2,256 hectares of farmland were either washed away or inundated, mostly in Taitung, Pingtung and Kaohsiung counties.

China Daily/CNA

(HK Edition 08/18/2009 page2)