The South Korean government is set to release more than $1-billion in emergency funds on Monday as the toll of dead and missing from a devastating weekend typhoon rose to 115.
Disaster officials said 87 people are confirmed dead and 28 remain unaccounted for three days after the typhoon slammed into the southern part of the country late on Friday.
Early damage estimates exceeded $1-billion after Typhoon Maemi, South Korea’s most powerful on record, barrelled through heavily industrialised coastal areas.
More than 75 000 homes remained without power early on Monday and about 2 000 houses were destroyed, leaving 9 000 people homeless, the Central Anti-Disaster Headquarters said.
Officials said 282 ships were beached and wrecked by tidal waves and five nuclear power plants were crippled.
”Property damage is now estimated at 1,13-trillion won [$966-million],” said Jin Won-Ho, an official with the Central Anti-Disaster Headquarters.
”The cost will be higher as the damage is much more extensive than we thought.”
Intensive relief efforts were under way involving thousands of troops, he said, and three of the nuclear plants were now back on line.
South Korean President Roh Moo-Hyun has approved a special budget of 1,5-trillion won to aid recovery efforts.
The storm, with record-breaking 215kph winds, caused extensive damage at Busan, South Korea’s biggest port, raising fears that the storm could have a serious impact on the export-dependent country’s economy.
Operations were disrupted at other major industrial plants, including oil refineries in the southeastern port of Ulsan where high waves swept a giant floating oil rig into a shipyard.
Weathermen described Maemi as the most powerful typhoon since records began in 1904. — Sapa-AFP