S. Korean govt tries to help victims of typhoon

　　SEOUL, Sept. 14 (Xinhuanet) --The South Korean government on Sunday mobilized all possible means trying to help the victims of Typhoon Maemi to make a recovery as early as possible.

　　The yearly 14th typhoon began to land South Korea Friday night and crossed through the southeast part of the country before weakened to storm in the Sea of Japan early Saturday. Maemi has deprived 85 lives and caused other severe losses in the affected areas including disruption of air flights, highways and rails.

　　South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun earlier Sunday inspected the country's southeast port city of Busan and a nearby city of Masan, where were hit heavily by the typhoon.

　　Eleven container-lifting cranes used for loading and unloading cargoes were knocked down at Busan piers when the typhoon displayed its power. It will take at least one month to fully repair the cranes, which is feared to deal a heavy blow to cargo transportation of export and import materials.

　　Busan, located some 450 kilometers southeast to Seoul, handles some 80 percent of South Korea's total export and import items.

　　The president said the government is considering to announce those areas heavily hit by the Maemi as disaster areas. Last year, about 203 major municipalities were declared as special disaster areas after Typhoon Rusa hit the country, claiming 246 lives.

　　Figures from Central Anti-Disaster Headquarters (CADH) showed 85 people were confirmed dead and 30 others listed as missing as of Sunday evening. Death toll from Typhoon Maemi is feared to riseas relief workers continued to find bodies inside flooded buildings.

　　The South Korean government planned to release a 1.4 trillion won (1.2 billion US dollars) contingency budget for relief and recovery work across the country, according to the CADH.

　　South Korea's Red Cross on Sunday provided supplies worth 588 million won (502,250 dollars) to some 7,740 families and set up emergency dining facilities in southern regions. About 10,000 soldiers have been deployed in the typhoon affected regions to do rescue work and repair local facilities.

　　The storm, which also dumped up to 453 millimeters of rain, flooded villages, rice paddies and orchards ahead of the fall harvest season.

　　Power provision also encountered problems. But about 1.37 million homes, 93.1 percent of the total which suffered from blackout, have electricity restored as of Sunday afternoon.

　　Meanwhile, the Korean National Institute of Health dispatched over 1,000 medical and other personnel to the southern regions to prevent the possible spread of contagious disease, including typhoid. Enditem