CHISHAN: Taiwan's leader was travelling Wednesday to a village where hundreds are feared to have died in mudslides, as his popularity sank to near-record lows due to his handling of Typhoon Morakot.

President Ma Ying-jeou's approval rating dropped to 29 percent in a poll for the United Daily News, while 46 percent of respondents said they had no confidence in the government's ability to handle reconstruction efforts.

Ma and senior officials began a news conference on Tuesday by bowing in what he said was a symbolic apology to the Taiwanese people for not doing more immediately after Morakot slammed into the island on August 8.

Ma has warned the death toll could climb to more than 500, with 380 people feared buried by mudslides in Hsiaolin village, which he was due to visit later Wednesday to comfort survivors, his office said.

The number of confirmed dead meanwhile rose to 136 Wednesday.

While acknowledging his government could have done more, Ma also defended its actions on Tuesday and said he would not resign over the events.

He said the torrential rain accompanying the typhoon made operations dangerous in the first few days -- one rescue helicopter crashed, killing three -- and that rescue operations only reached full strength after the rain ended.

Taiwan will overhaul its emergency operations by creating a national disaster prevention agency and reorienting its military to have a greater focus on search and rescue operations, he said.

"Their main job, of course, is to defend Taiwan. But now our enemy is not necessarily people across the Taiwan Strait, but nature," Ma said, referring to neighbouring mainland China.

Ma promised an investigation into mistakes made in the typhoon's aftermath and vowed to punish officials who were found to have been negligent.

Taiwan also canceled National Day celebrations on October 10, deeming the festivities were no longer appropriate.

The latest poll showed Ma's popularity was near the same level it fell to when the financial crisis hit in September. Since then voters' approval had risen to 56.1 percent in May as the island's economy showed signs of recovery.

The poll published Wednesday was based on interviews with 919 people and had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.2 percent, the United Daily News said.

Typhoon Morakot dumped more than three metres (120 inches) of rain on the island, triggering floods and mudslides which tore through houses and buildings, ripped up roads and smashed bridges.

It was the worst-ever typhoon to strike Taiwan, the president has said, saying the scale of the damage was more severe than a 1959 typhoon that killed 667 people and left around 1,000 missing.

The deadliest natural disaster in the island's history was a 7.6-magnitude quake that claimed around 2,400 lives in September 1999.