He regained consciousness after about three or five minutes of treatment at Taipei's Hsiyuan Hospital, doctors said, adding the official had a history of heart problems. The fire chief was out of danger but should stay for observation during at least 24 hours, hospital director Chou Jung-min told reporters.

Huang had not returned home from the emergency operation center since Typhoon Morakot first approached Taiwan on Aug. 5 and slept only an average of one or two hours a night, while missing several recent meals, Chou said.

He fainted at the end of a briefing about the typhoon relief, with other participants hearing him fall as they were leaving, reports said. The back of his head hit the floor and he foamed at the mouth, leading doctors to take special tests.

Huang's blood pressure, temperature and heart rate were all normal, the hospital said, adding the nation's top firefighter was conscious and eager to return home.

On the ground, the military helicopters sent by the United States began their work on typhoon relief in Southern Taiwan yesterday, though they were not the heavy-lifting aircraft the country had hoped for.

The USS Denver brought two MH-53E Sea Dragons and two MH-60S Knighthawks from a base in Japan, even though reports Monday said the much stronger CH-53E Super Stallion and the SH-60 Seahawk would be mobilized.

The U.S. military reportedly made the changes at the last moment because the Super Stallions had just participated in military maneuvers in Australia in July.

The deployment of the helicopters and C-130 transport flights from Okinawa which started Sunday were seen as the first large-scale visits of U.S. military staff and aircraft to Taiwan since U.S. President Jimmy Carter recognized China in 1979.

Plans to have the helicopters move 27 bulldozers and other pieces of machinery into seven devastated villages in the mountains of Kaohsiung and Pingtung Counties yesterday were changed because of poor weather, reports said.

The U.S. aircraft airlifted three pieces of heavy equipment from Tainan Air Force Base to two villages in Namahsia, Kaohsiung County, instead of the planned five, according to cable television stations.

Taiwan's military was paying for the helicopters' fuel costs, which amounted to US$14,000 an hour, reports said.

The U.S. State Department denied that it had informed China before sending the military aircraft to Taiwan.

The first batch of 100 out of an expected total of 1,000 prefabricated homes arrived from China in Kaohsiung harbor yesterday. Government officials said they would be investigated for the presence of formaldehyde, a potentially cancer-causing material reported in such homes after last year's Sichuan earthquake.

The 14 containers were loaded on to trucks for the trip to Chiatung in Pingtung County, where the inspection for toxic substances would be conducted, officials said.

The homeless would only be allowed to live in the prefab homes after a range of tests related to water use and environmental impact was completed.

An Air China flight was also expected to bring blankets, sleeping bags and disinfectants to Kaohsiung's airport later in the day.

Japan sent two officials to Taiwan yesterday to have a look at local needs. Japan had a storage center in Singapore which could supply goods needed for reconstruction when Taiwan asked, the officials said. The disaster was entering a new stage where health care, hygiene and prevention were becoming more important, the Japanese visitors said, adding their country could make useful contributions in those fields.

Japan said it would add NT$35 million to the NT$3.5 million already donated last week as the size of the disaster had escalated.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that by late Monday, a total of 71 countries and 16 international organizations had made donations totaling NT$94 million.

The official death toll went up by only one to 127 yesterday, but the number of missing multiplied to 307, with 45 injured.

The Council for Economic Planning and Development said the government would spend NT$100 billion on reconstruction. The Cabinet would decide on the size and details of the special budget at its regular weekly meeting tomorrow, said CEPD Vice Chairman Hu Chung-ying.

Separate government departments could come up with their additional reconstruction plans for severely affected sectors like tourism and agriculture, Hu told a meeting of industrialists.

The special budget would cover programs to help victims find work and to relocate entire villages if necessary, Hu said.

Following complaints by factories having to buy bottled water, Economics Minister Yiin Chii-ming promised Kaohsiung City would see its tapwater supply return to normal after today and tomorrow.

Taiwan's second city, and especially its northern districts, has been plagued by water shortages since Typhoon Morakot hit more than a week ago. The problem was not a lack of water at the Nanhua Reservoir which supplies the area, but the low purity levels, Yiin said. The supply was reaching a normal level, but there were still problems delivering the extra needs after many days of disruption.

Yiin said his Ministry of Economic Affairs was now focusing on the task of reconstruction, especially since the management of rivers, reservoirs, water, electricity and gas fell under its jurisdiction.

Justice Minister Wang Ching-feng promised tough action against the theft of relief goods after bags of rice donated to typhoon victims turned up at a retirement home run by the wife of a mayor in Pingtung County. Prosecutors said yesterday they were investigating a second case where boxes and bags bearing the names of humanitarian organizations were found on a truck. The truck driver was unable to explain the origin of the goods, reports said.