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.

　　國際救援物資周日開始到達臺灣，在此前一周，臺灣遭遇了50年來最為嚴重的臺風襲擊，山村地區(qū)更有數(shù)百人遇難。但在臺灣總統(tǒng)就政府對此次災(zāi)難反應(yīng)遲緩道歉之后，臺灣政局受到的影響正在加劇。

　　馬英九在對臺風莫拉克所造成災(zāi)難的處理方面正面臨越來越大的批評。一周前，莫拉克在臺灣南部地區(qū)帶來了兩米多深的降雨。在洪水和泥石流沖毀了幾千名村民的房屋后，他們在露天中度過了數(shù)日。

　　據(jù)臺灣消防署(National Fire Agency)稱，截至周日，官方統(tǒng)計的死亡人數(shù)為124人，另有62人被確認失蹤。不過，據(jù)說僅在小林村就還有400人失蹤，這個村子是在8月9日的嚴重泥石流中被淹沒的。

　　上周六，馬英九公開道歉，試圖平息包括國民黨內(nèi)部以及一貫對其態(tài)度友好的媒體等普遍存在的憤怒情緒。馬英九在視察臺中的南投縣時表示，我們可以做得更好、更快，但沒有做得更好、更快，我們感到很抱歉。

　　通常支持政府的《中國時報》將馬英九的表現(xiàn)同美國前總統(tǒng)布什進行了比較，后者2005年對卡特里娜颶風所造成災(zāi)難的處理也備受指責。該報在周日的社論中稱，作為元首，馬英九總統(tǒng)并不清楚如何行使他的權(quán)力。他可能忘記了布什總統(tǒng)因卡特里娜颶風而招來的負面評價。

　　政府最初拒絕請求國際援助，但面對公眾的壓力又改變了立場。

　　來自澳大利亞的救災(zāi)物資周日開始抵達臺灣，其中包括凈化水的藥片、凈水設(shè)備和消毒機。

　　據(jù)美國在臺協(xié)會(American Institute in Taiwan)稱，美國也派出了重型直升飛機，它們能夠運送救援和重建工作所需的起重機和其它重型機械。美方?jīng)]有透露飛機何時抵達。美國在臺協(xié)會說，一架C-130大力神軍用運輸機周日從位于日本沖繩島的美軍基地飛抵臺灣臺南空軍基地。

　　臺灣已請求大陸方面支援1,000組活動房屋以救濟幸存者。第一批活動房屋預(yù)定周二運抵。

　　臺灣救災(zāi)中心指控官毛治國為政府應(yīng)對災(zāi)害的措施進行了辯護。他在周日的一場新聞發(fā)布會上說，我認為并不是政府對災(zāi)害響應(yīng)緩慢，上周末視查時，我認為所有地方政府都采取了適當措施應(yīng)對臺風。

　　他說，周末有3,000名村民已被空運轉(zhuǎn)移至安全地帶，約有1,000人仍然受困�？偣灿�3.5萬人已獲救。

　　馬英九2008年3月憑與大陸深化經(jīng)濟聯(lián)系的政綱當選，目前他正面臨強烈反對，有人擔心他會犧牲臺灣的主權(quán)。分析師們認為，就在馬英九需要公眾和立法院支持他與大陸改善關(guān)系的政策之時，由臺風引發(fā)的爭論卻損害了他的權(quán)威。自1949年國民黨輸?shù)魞?nèi)戰(zhàn)后逃到臺灣，海峽兩岸從技術(shù)上說一直處于戰(zhàn)爭狀態(tài)。

　　國民黨立法委員徐中雄說，此次處理不當給馬英九政府的未來造成了極大挑戰(zhàn)，政府能否拿出有實效的政策安置這些受害者對于他的政治前途至關(guān)重要。

　　支持反對黨的《自由時報》指責馬英九拒絕外國援助是為了避免得罪大陸。中國主張臺灣是其領(lǐng)土的一部分，對于臺灣在國際社會的活動十分警惕。

　　中山大學的政治學教授廖達琪說，這場災(zāi)難令人們對馬英九的領(lǐng)導能力和協(xié)調(diào)能力產(chǎn)生了懷疑，如果他處理災(zāi)后事宜的表現(xiàn)不能很快改善，三年后競選連任時他就會遇到麻煩。

　　身為國民黨立法委員的徐中雄說，救災(zāi)不力給馬英九政府的未來帶來了嚴重挑戰(zhàn)。

　　毛治國說，官員們將會與遇難者親屬和地方政府協(xié)商是否搜尋據(jù)信在小林村被淹沒時被埋的380名村民。