China's Death Toll From TS Bilis Jumps To 612 - New Typhoon Coming - AFP

[hatrack]

The death toll in China from Tropical Storm Bilis has risen to 612 with another 208 people missing, state media said Monday, as the country braced for more devastation from Typhoon Kaemi.

In another major reassessment of the impact of devastating floods brought by Bilis, Xinhua news agency said the nation's disaster relief commission raised the death toll by 82 and the number of missing by 78.

The commission gave no reason for the sudden jump in the casualty numbers from Bilis, which first struck south and central China on July 14. The revised numbers came after the government raised the death toll to 530 on Friday, up from 228 reported just a day earlier.

Local officials had been quoted by state media as saying the fast-rising death toll could be because authorities were initially focused on disaster relief rather than counting bodies.

EDIT

http://www.terradaily.com/2006/060724150817.y9m7p6xr.html