国际救灾物资运达台湾

　　
　　International aid started trickling in to Taiwan on Sunday, a week after the worst typhoon in half a century killed hundreds of people in mountain villages. But the domestic political fallout has intensified after President Ma Ying-jeou was forced to apologize for the government's slow response to the disaster. 

　　Mr. Ma faces growing criticism over his handling of the aftermath of Typhoon Morakot, which dumped more than two meters of rain in southern Taiwan a week ago. Thousands of villagers were stranded in the open for days after their homes were destroyed by floods and mudslides.

　　The official death toll stood at 124 on Sunday, with 62 confirmed missing, according to the National Fire Agency. However, some 400 others are thought to be missing from just one village -- Shiao Lin -- which was obliterated Aug. 9 after a nearby mountainside gave way.

　　On Saturday, Mr. Ma offered an apology to try to calm widespread anger, even among politicians in his own Kuomintang Party as well as newspapers normally friendly to the president. 'We could have done it better and faster, but we did not do it better, faster. We are sorry,' Mr. Ma said, speaking on a visit to Nantou County in central Taiwan.

　　The usually pro-government China Times newspaper compared Mr. Ma's performance with that of former U.S. President George W. Bush, who was widely criticized over his handling of the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005. 'As a head of state, President Ma doesn't know how to exercise his authority,' the newspaper said in an editorial Sunday. 'He probably forgot that President George Bush was the one left with a negative reputation from Hurricane Katrina.'

　　The government initially declined to ask for foreign aid, but reversed itself in the face of public pressure.

　　Relief supplies began arriving Sunday from Australia, which has pledged water-purification tablets, buckets for treating water and sanitizer spray packs.

　　The U.S. is sending heavy-lift helicopters, capably of carrying cranes and other heavy machinery needed for rescue and rebuilding work, according to the American Institute in Taiwan, the de facto U.S. embassy in Taipei; it gave no word on when the aircraft would arrive. A C-130 Hercules military transport aircraft landed at Taiwan's Tainan Air Base on Sunday from the U.S. military base in Okinawa, Japan, the American Institute said.

　　Taiwan has asked China to send 1,000 prefabricated houses to shelter survivors. The first batch is scheduled to arrive on Tuesday.

　　The head of the government's emergency operation, Mao Chi-kuo, defended the government's handling of the disaster. ' I don't think the government has responded to the disaster slowly,' he told a news conference Sunday. 'I thought all of the local governments properly monitored the typhoon when I visited them last weekend.' Mr. Mao said 3,000 villagers

　　had been airlifted to safety over the weekend, leaving about 1,000 still stranded. In all, 35,000 villagers have been rescued.

　　Mr. Ma, elected in March 2008 on a platform of closer economic integration with mainland China, is running into stiff opposition from those who worry he is sacrificing the island's autonomy. Analysts said the typhoon controversy is damaging his authority just when he needs support from the public and the legislature for his political program of

　　better relations with China. The two sides have been technically at war since the Kuomintang fled to Taiwan in 1949 after losing a civil war to the Chinese Communists.

　　'The mishandling has led to a severe challenge for his administration's future,' said Hsu Chung-hsiung, a Kuomintang legislator. 'Whether his administration can come up with a pragmatic policy to resettle these victims will be crucial to his political fate.'

　　The pro-opposition Liberty Times accused Mr. Ma's administration of declining foreign aid to avoid offending China, which claims Taiwan as part of its territory and is wary of any international outreach by the island.

　　'The disaster has put Mr. Ma's leadership and coordination capability in question,' said Liao Da-chi, a political-science professor at National Sun Yat-sen University. 'Unless his handling of the typhoon's aftermath improves quickly, he will suffer in his re-election three years from now.'

　　Hsu Chung-hsiung, a legislator from the ruling Kuomintang Party, said 'The mishandling has led to a severe challenge for his administration's future.'

　　Mr. Mao said officials will consult with relatives and the local government on whether to try to search for the 380 residents believed entombed when Shiao Lin was wiped off the map.

　　国际救援物资周日开始到达台湾，在此前一周，台湾遭遇了50年来最为严重的台风袭击，山村地区更有数百人遇难。但在台湾总统就政府对此次灾难反应迟缓道歉之后，台湾政局受到的影响正在加剧。

　　马英九在对台风莫拉克所造成灾难的处理方面正面临越来越大的批评。一周前，莫拉克在台湾南部地区带来了两米多深的降雨。在洪水和泥石流冲毁了几千名村民的房屋后，他们在露天中度过了数日。

　　据台湾消防署(National Fire Agency)称，截至周日，官方统计的死亡人数为124人，另有62人被确认失踪。不过，据说仅在小林村就还有400人失踪，这个村子是在8月9日的严重泥石流中被淹没的。

　　上周六，马英九公开道歉，试图平息包括国民党内部以及一贯对其态度友好的媒体等普遍存在的愤怒情绪。马英九在视察台中的南投县时表示，我们可以做得更好、更快，但没有做得更好、更快，我们感到很抱歉。

　　通常支持政府的《中国时报》将马英九的表现同美国前总统布什进行了比较，后者2005年对卡特里娜飓风所造成灾难的处理也备受指责。该报在周日的社论中称，作为元首，马英九总统并不清楚如何行使他的权力。他可能忘记了布什总统因卡特里娜飓风而招来的负面评价。

　　政府最初拒绝请求国际援助，但面对公众的压力又改变了立场。

　　来自澳大利亚的救灾物资周日开始抵达台湾，其中包括净化水的药片、净水设备和消毒机。

　　据美国在台协会(American Institute in Taiwan)称，美国也派出了重型直升飞机，它们能够运送救援和重建工作所需的起重机和其它重型机械。美方没有透露飞机何时抵达。美国在台协会说，一架C-130大力神军用运输机周日从位于日本冲绳岛的美军基地飞抵台湾台南空军基地。

　　台湾已请求大陆方面支援1,000组活动房屋以救济幸存者。第一批活动房屋预定周二运抵。

　　台湾救灾中心指控官毛治国为政府应对灾害的措施进行了辩护。他在周日的一场新闻发布会上说，我认为并不是政府对灾害响应缓慢，上周末视查时，我认为所有地方政府都采取了适当措施应对台风。

　　他说，周末有3,000名村民已被空运转移至安全地带，约有1,000人仍然受困。总共有3.5万人已获救。

　　马英九2008年3月凭与大陆深化经济联系的政纲当选，目前他正面临强烈反对，有人担心他会牺牲台湾的主权。分析师们认为，就在马英九需要公众和立法院支持他与大陆改善关系的政策之时，由台风引发的争论却损害了他的权威。自1949年国民党输掉内战后逃到台湾，海峡两岸从技术上说一直处于战争状态。

　　国民党立法委员徐中雄说，此次处理不当给马英九政府的未来造成了极大挑战，政府能否拿出有实效的政策安置这些受害者对于他的政治前途至关重要。

　　支持反对党的《自由时报》指责马英九拒绝外国援助是为了避免得罪大陆。中国主张台湾是其领土的一部分，对于台湾在国际社会的活动十分警惕。

　　中山大学的政治学教授廖达琪说，这场灾难令人们对马英九的领导能力和协调能力产生了怀疑，如果他处理灾后事宜的表现不能很快改善，三年后竞选连任时他就会遇到麻烦。

　　身为国民党立法委员的徐中雄说，救灾不力给马英九政府的未来带来了严重挑战。

　　毛治国说，官员们将会与遇难者亲属和地方政府协商是否搜寻据信在小林村被淹没时被埋的380名村民。