It was astonishing to see extensive TV news coverage of the aftermath of Typhoon Aere: the mudslides in Tuchang Village in Hsinchu County's Wufeng Township, the first major flooding in more than three decades in Sanchung and Hsinchuang in Taipei County, the collapse of Miaoli County's Kueishan Bridge. This is the second time in less than two months that northern Taiwan has experienced such typhoon-related destruction.
Political disputes followed, including mutual criticism between Taipei City and County on their respective responsibilities. But after suffering deep pain and disappointment, we should reconsider, as a community, a bottom-up strategy on how to prevent or lower the severity of future disasters.
Taiwan is incessantly hit by natural disasters. Since Typhoon Herb devastated the nation in 1996, it has been difficult to predict the extent and severity of such disasters due to global warming and the fragility of Taiwan's geological structure caused by the 921Earthquake in 1999.
Furthermore, when disaster strikes, roads are often blocked and weather conditions are poor, so road and air rescue teams are not able to reach disaster areas rapidly. Therefore, getting through a critical period by helping oneself and supporting others within a community is the priority for disaster victims.
Statistical data on disaster casualties reveals that the majority of injured people who manage to survive are not saved by medical specialists or rescue workers, but rather by family members and close neighbors. Therefore, the important tasks for disaster-prone Taiwan are to promote awareness of community disaster prevention, strengthen disaster prevention organizations on the community level, replenish community disaster prevention equipment and educate villagers about community disaster prevention strategies.
Traditional community firefighters and other volunteer rescuers are competent at tackling everyday accidents such as car crashes and fires. But when it comes to mudslides, earthquakes and flooding, they often lack the strength and ability to handle such disasters effectively, despite their best efforts.
When mudslides were seen as inevitable after Typhoon Toraji hit in 2001, the government implemented an integrated community development project for disaster prevention and control in the areas damaged by the 921Earthquake.
Because residents living in mudslide-prone areas are the ones who best understand their environment, the project started with a field survey of these residents. Then it examined past experiences and data from the Soil and Water Conservation Bureau of the Council of Agriculture. Experts and residents then together drew a "community disaster prevention map" that identified high-risk locations and established evacuation routes and shelter locations in the event of mudslides.
Villagers built a consensus during the process. Then they were divided into groups and provided with training to organize the operation and integrate contributions from disaster prevention-related community organizations. Villagers were also trained in techniques for helping themselves while helping others in the event of a disaster.
A "disaster prevention community" goes beyond disaster rescue work that is launched during a critical period, to set up daily disaster prevention and preparedness tasks. This includes educating villagers to look for collapsed fissures on mountain slopes, fill in these fissures, clean sludge from culverts, observe hourly precipitation and promptly announce evacuation warnings. Practicing routine evacuation drills and fostering daily habits leads to more efficient rescue work and minimizes disaster casualties.
After the July 2 flooding, I went to Shangan and Fengchiu Villages to understand the effectiveness of their "disaster prevention communities." What consoles people is that these two villages were able to remain intact despite being inundated by nearly 1,000mm of rainfall. Another five "disaster prevention communities" in the area were also safe and sound.
Such communities can give valuable lessons to other areas and neighborhoods on how to prevent earthquake damage in places on fault lines, fires in narrow lanes and tall buildings and burglaries in high-class community villas.
Our greatest hope is to accumulate community disaster prevention and rescue experience and cast off the outdated belief of minding one's own affairs. In this way we can exert the effectiveness of a disaster prevention community's core notion of helping oneself while helping others.
Chen Chin-huang is the founder of the Hsin Kang Foundation of Culture and Education.
TRANSLATED BY LIN YA-TI
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