Floods have hit several South-East and East Asian countries, with deaths reported today in the Philippines and Malaysia.

At least eight people were killed and more than 30,000 displaced in landslides and floods triggered by tropical storm Jangmi in the Philippines, officials said.

A family of five in Leyte province, 585 kilometres south-east of Manila, died when a landslide buried their house, local officials said.

In the southern region of Mindanao, three people died from drowning, a bus accident and after being hit by a falling tree, police said.

A boat carrying six people, including a town police chief, was missing off Southern Leyte province, the coast guard said.

Jangmi, which first reached the Philippines on Sunday, was moving west at 11kph and was expected to bring more rains over the central provinces for the rest of the week, the weather bureau said.

In Malaysia, a pregnant woman and her one-year-old child were killed in a landslide early today in the central area of the Cameron Highlands, bringing the toll to 10, news reports said.

Around 200,000 have been evacuated since flooding started in the country around December 20, with the eastern and central areas worst affected.

Disaster relief was slowed by the “complete collapse” of the operations as rescue workers became victims of the flooding, said Mohamed Thajudeen Abdul Wahab, secretary of the National Security Council secretary, The Star daily reported.

In Indonesia, waters were receding in West Java’s provincial capital Bandung after 11 days of flooding that displaced nearly 15,000, said Marlan, the head of the district’s disaster management agency.

In Aceh, where more than 120,000 people were forced from their homes this month, cleanup operations were under way as floods subsided, the state Antara news agency said.

- dpa