At least 15 people were killed when a landslide triggered by a fierce typhoon buried a mountain village in Taiwan, and rescue workers were digging through rubble on Thursday to see if there were any more victims. Typhoon Aere, the strongest storm to hit Taipei this year, has killed at least 30 people in Taiwan, Japan and China this week, with another 10 people reported missing in the region. The typhoon has now weakened to a tropical storm and is swirling over China's southern Fujian province, Taiwan's Central Weather Bureau said. The storm is forecast to move west over Guangdong and Hong Kong in the next two days. "It happened very quickly yesterday. In about 10 seconds, mudslides buried the village. They had no time to escape," said Hsinchu county chief Cheng Yung-chin. He said 15 people were buried by the landslide at Wu Feng in the northern county of Hsinchu, including eight local villagers and three policemen. More than 100 people were registered as residents but only about 20 actually lived in the village. "Unfortunately, they were buried and killed," said a relief official in Hsinchu. "Rescuers are searching to see if more are buried." Helicopters airlifted food and medical supplies to hundreds of people, many of aboriginal descent, who were trapped in the hilly area as mudslides and flash floods had cut off roads. The helicopters brought back elderly and people in need of medical treatment, local television showed. Aere made landfall in southern China on Wednesday after more than half a million people had been evacuated, a Chinese official said. Typhoon Rananim had killed 164 people in the same area earlier this month. "Early reports say one person has died and four are missing following three shipping accidents caused by high seas," the China Daily newspaper said. The Xinhua news agency said one villager was also missing in the eastern province of Zhejiang, north of Fujian. Authorities in Zhejiang had evacuated nearly 250,000 people and called vessels back to port, it said. Typhoons gather their strength from warm sea waters and tend to dissipate after making landfall. By 2300 EDT, Aere had weakened to a tropical storm with sustained winds of up to 56 mph and gusts of 62 miles, Taiwan's Central Weather Bureau said. Weather forecasters say a "super typhoon," Chaba, is heading toward Asia and could hit Japan's Okinawa in coming days. It is too early to say whether that storm will affect Taiwan. Over-development in mountainous areas in Taiwan has made slopes prone to landslides after heavy rain. Last month, Typhoon Mindulle killed at least 22 people in the central and south. Typhoons and tropical storms frequently hit Taiwan, Japan the Philippines, Hong Kong and other parts of the southern coast of China during summer months. On average, Taiwan is threatened by three to four typhoons every year. In 2001, one of Taiwan's deadliest years for storms, Typhoon Toraji, killed 200 people. A few months later, Typhoon Nari caused Taipei's worst flooding on record and killed 100 people. **PHOTO CAPTION*** Residents walk along a flooded street in the typhoon-hit town of Shangchung, Taipei August 25, 2004. (Reuters)