Another seven Chinese mainland technicians left for Taiwan on Monday to help install prefabricated houses on the typhoon-hit island.

The first batch of three technicians started working on the island after they arrived Saturday night. But the work was still short-handed, and Taiwan authorities granted permission to send other mainland technicians as soon as possible.

The seven technicians left for Kaohsiung aboard the Taiwan-based Mandarin Airlines AE 0982 Flight from Hong Kong at 10:25 AM. They would assist the first three to build houses after arrival.

Morakot on August 8 was the worst typhoon to hit the island in nearly 50 years, wreaking havoc across the central and southern regions. It has so far claimed at least 163 lives on the island, left hundreds of others missing and destroyed houses.

The mainland planned to send 1,000 prefab houses with a worth of nearly 20 million yuan (US$2.9 million) to Taiwan. By Monday afternoon there would be 600 houses forwarded to the island and the last batch was supposed to arrive on Sunday.

(Xinhua News Agency August 24, 2009)