President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said yesterday during a visit to one of the villages hardest hit by Typhoon Morakot last month that his administration would do its utmost so that people do not have to live in fear of natural disasters.
“The government will work to the best of its ability to protect the public from living with the fear of natural disasters,” Ma said during an inspection of Sinfong Village (新豐) in Pingtung County’s Gaoshu Township (高樹).
Ma was met by a teary Liao Lin Mei-lan upon his arrival.
Liao, who previously lived beside the Jiouliao dike along the Laonong River (荖濃溪), which was washed away by floods, told Ma that her home and farmland had been destroyed.
When the Jiouliao dike burst, it washed away 117 hectares of farmland that the 60-plus Sinfong households relied upon for their income.
“The dike has burst twice in the past, but we hope that this time the rebuilt embankment will be able to withstand flooding to ensure our safety,” she told Ma. “We hope the president himself will oversee the project.”
In response, Ma said he would see to it that the reconstruction project was completed before next May’s plum rains.
Ma said the new dike and other flood-prevention projects would be able to withstand a “once-in-200-years” flood, while the previous infrastructure had been designed to withstand once-in-a-century flooding.
At a separate setting yesterday, Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) said the central government would publicize a post-Morakot report on Wednesday.
Wu told a press conference after presiding over his first post-typhoon reconstruction committee meeting last week that the government was expected to complete its evaluation of mudslide-prone areas by today.
People living in areas that are not safe will be relocated in accordance with the Post-Typhoon Morakot Reconstruction Special Act (莫拉克颱風災後重建特別條例), Wu said, adding that the act had made it much easier for the government to acquire land for relocation purposes.
The central government and civic groups helping to build housing will share responsibility for building public facilities for the new communities, Wu said.
Wu said residents who needed to relocate would have to make a choice by next Saturday.
In addition to the government’s NT$120 billion (US$3.6 billion) special budget request for reconstruction, the government will use next year’s budget earmarked for less urgent government projects to carry out reconstruction work, Wu said.
Hong Kong singer Andy Lau’s (劉德華) concert in Taipei tonight has been cancelled due to Typhoon Kong-rei and is to be held at noon on Saturday instead, the concert organizer SuperDome said in a statement this afternoon. Tonight’s concert at Taipei Arena was to be the first of four consecutive nightly performances by Lau in Taipei, but it was called off at the request of Taipei Metro, the operator of the venue, due to the weather, said the organizer. Taipei Metro said the concert was cancelled out of consideration for the audience’s safety. The decision disappointed a number of Lau’s fans who had
A tropical depression east of the Philippines became a tropical storm early yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, less than a week after a typhoon barreled across the nation. The agency issued an advisory at 3:30am stating that the 22nd tropical storm, named Yinxing, of the Pacific typhoon season formed at 2am. As of 8am, the storm was 1,730km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, with a 100km radius. It was moving west-northwest at 32kph, with maximum sustained winds of 83kph and gusts of up to 108kph. Based on its current path, the storm is not expected to hit Taiwan, CWA
Commuters in Taipei picked their way through debris and navigated disrupted transit schedules this morning on their way to work and school, as the city was still working to clear the streets in the aftermath of Typhoon Kong-rey. By 11pm yesterday, there were estimated 2,000 trees down in the city, as well as 390 reports of infrastructure damage, 318 reports of building damage and 307 reports of fallen signs, the Taipei Public Works Department said. Workers were mobilized late last night to clear the debris as soon as possible, the department said. However, as of this morning, many people were leaving messages
A Canadian dental assistant was recently indicted by prosecutors after she was caught in August trying to smuggle 32kg of marijuana into Taiwan, the Aviation Police Bureau said on Wednesday. The 30-year-old was arrested on Aug. 4 after arriving on a flight to Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, Chang Tsung-lung (張驄瀧), a squad chief in the Aviation Police Bureau’s Criminal Investigation Division, told reporters. Customs officials noticed irregularities when the woman’s two suitcases passed through X-ray baggage scanners, Chang said. Upon searching them, officers discovered 32.61kg of marijuana, which local media outlets estimated to have a market value of more than NT$50 million (US$1.56
RSS