The devastation wrought by Typhoon Morakot, now called the “8/8 Flood Disaster” in Chinese, was caused by the worst flooding since the Aug. 7 to Aug. 9, 1959, flooding caused by Typhoon Ellen. There is much international concern, with media abroad running front page stories on the destruction and relief efforts and many countries expressing concern and donating money.
US Assistant Secretary of State Philip Crowley said in a press briefing on Tuesday that although Taiwan had not requested aid from the US, “we have formidable assets in the region” and since the devastating Dec. 26, 2004, tsunami, “we have the ability to respond aggressively and in a timely way to these kinds of tragedies.”
If Taiwan has “any particular need, obviously we’ll do anything in our power to help them,” he said, adding that the US was “gravely concerned.”
Thousands of people are still trapped in Aboriginal villages deep in mountainous areas and because of old airplanes and rescue helicopters that cannot do frequent flights without crashing, US advanced rescue equipment and helicopters would alleviate the disaster by helping to rescue people still caught in flooded areas.
Although Premier Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄) said the government had not rejected foreign aid, the US offer to provide assistance was answered with a statement from Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Chen Ming-cheng (陳銘証) that said Taiwan could handle the relief effort and that the government would ask the international community for help if it needed it.
In other words, although the government’s rescue work has proceeded slowly, at this crucial moment when lives are at risk, it was busy boasting about how it could handle the situation and saying it hadn’t rejected foreign aid. It was clearly in no hurry, however, to ask the US for help to rescue people.
In addition, the poorly organized response made it impossible to assign sufficient military manpower and equipment to the rescue effort.
This left many people trapped in the disaster zones, and it is still unclear how many lives have been lost.
Post-disaster subsidies, grants and reconstruction are frequently funded outside of the regular budget. The funding that will be needed to deal with the worst flooding in 50 years will be immense and the assignment of regular disaster relief manpower, resources and funds are insufficient.
Both the pan-blue and pan-green camps are therefore calling on President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) to declare a state of emergency, submit a special budget to get around restrictions, take charge of the disaster response and strengthen efforts to rescue people and handle long-term effects.
Yet Ma has refused to declare a state of emergency, saying that the disaster relief effort is sufficient and that the government has NT$40 billion to spend on disaster relief.
The government’s initial response to the disaster could be characterized as a “three noes” policy: No help from abroad; no state of emergency; no special budget.
The government at first did not want help from countries with ample experience in disaster relief, preferring to stand by and watch people suffer.
Rather than declaring a state of emergency, it preferred a chaotic response to the disaster, slow progress and inefficient utilization of military manpower and equipment.
The government didn’t think twice about spending more than NT$80 billion on consumer vouchers to revive the economy, yet was reluctant at first to seek a special budget to deal with destroyed bridges, buried villages and the incalculable losses of life and property.
Frankly speaking, if Taiwan’s own capacity to handle this disaster is insufficient, it would only be natural to call for international assistance. Taiwan’s disaster response teams often travel long distances to help with relief efforts when disasters occur abroad.
Now that it is facing its worst flooding in five decades and experiencing serious problems with disaster relief organization, manpower and equipment, the government’s first priority needs to be saving lives. It must swallow its pride and ask for help from abroad.
Ma should also take the responsibility and declare a state of emergency. He should direct the relief effort, ensure that as many lives are saved as possible and encourage cooperation between the government and opposition to secure a special budget for the post-disaster reconstruction and other follow up measures.
In short, the government must stop ignoring the plight of victims.
It should apologize to residents in the disaster areas and admit it reacted too late. The government should act responsibly and cooperate with local governments in the disaster areas and friendly governments abroad to make up for some of the mistakes made.
Rescuing people trapped in isolated villages and helping Taiwan get through these tough times are the priority.
TRANSLATED BY PERRY SVENSSON
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