As millions of Taiwanese hit the road, took the high-speed rail or flew home to celebrate the Lunar New Year last week, one area of Taiwan had nothing festive about it: Three years on, many parts of Greater Kaohsiung devastated by Typhoon Morakot in August 2009 continue to bear the scars of nature’s fury and government inattention.
Traveling the area, one is struck by how little has changed since Morakot, the most damaging Typhoon to hit Taiwan in decades, swept through southern parts of the nation, causing billions of dollars in damage and killing as many as 700 people.
Most roads around Siaolin Village (小林) and Namasiya Township (那瑪夏) remain unpaved, making it very difficult for vehicles to drive around and subjecting visitors to unbearable dust clouds.
In Siaolin, a single, forlorn house that by pure luck was spared in a landslide that killed hundreds, remains defiantly. Underneath the heavy canopy of rocks lie the remains of bodies never uncovered, a reminder of our powerlessness against the forces of nature. The area is filled with dry rivers filled with rocks, crushed roads and tunnels, and the sundry remnants of man-made objects pulverized by a much greater force.
Nearby, parts of Namasiya Township look like they belong in war zones in Iraq or Afghanistan, not in a modern, wealthy country. The town has seen little rebuilding since 2009. Schools and community centers all lie empty, the walls still bearing the signs of waters rising to unfathomable levels.
New, slightly out of place pastel-colored bridges are being built, with several others standing temporarily. The entire zone has the feel of an immense construction site, with cars and trucks negotiating gravel roads at a snail’s pace, often near dangerous cliffs.
Some communities have been rebuilt, such as one with the assistance of World Vision, but the progress is largely insufficient and has been far too slow to compensate for the thousands of households that were wiped out during the deluge. One wonders whether the small communities that have been rebuilt — often with little attention paid to the traditions of the Aborigines whose homes were destroyed — were not erected simply to show that the government was doing something and providing convenient photo opportunities when necessary.
More than three years after the catastrophe, surely there should be more signs of progress. That this is not the case highlights the lack of commitment by local and central government to sustained and durable efforts to help rebuild the lives of those hit by the typhoon.
Given the magnitude of the devastation, the Greater Kaohsiung government alone cannot be responsible; this requires a coordinated effort at both local and national levels, with investment to rehabilitate the largely Aboriginal part of the nation.
The little progress that has been seen serves as a reminder that governments often regard Aborigines as second-class citizens, leaving them to fend for themselves, while the rest of the country presses ahead with science parks, glitzy shopping malls, casinos and extravaganzas of all sorts.
Worse is that while other emblems of social injustice — from government-sanctioned theft of agricultural land to the exploitation of workers — manage to make the news and become part of the national discourse, the inhabitants of the wastelands left behind by Morakot are simply ignored, compassion for their ongoing plight having faded a long time ago.
You wish every Taiwanese spoke English like I do. I was not born an anglophone, yet I am paid to write and speak in English. It is my working language and my primary idiom in private. I am more than bilingual: I think in English; it is my language now. Can you guess how many native English speakers I had as teachers in my entire life? Zero. I only lived in an English-speaking country, Australia, in my 30s, and it was because I was already fluent that I was able to live and pursue a career. English became my main language during adulthood
Taiwan on Monday celebrated Freedom of Speech Day. The commemoration is not an international day, and was first established in Tainan by President William Lai (賴清德) in 2012, when he was mayor of that city. The day was elevated to a national holiday in 2016 by then-president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文). Lai chose April 7, because it marks the anniversary of the death of democracy advocate Deng Nan-jung (鄭南榕), who started Freedom Era Weekly to promote freedom of expression. Thirty-six years ago, a warrant for Deng’s arrest had been issued after he refused to appear in court to answer charges of
The international women’s soccer match between Taiwan and New Zealand at the Kaohsiung Nanzih Football Stadium, scheduled for Tuesday last week, was canceled at the last minute amid safety concerns over poor field conditions raised by the visiting team. The Football Ferns, as New Zealand’s women’s soccer team are known, had arrived in Taiwan one week earlier to prepare and soon raised their concerns. Efforts were made to improve the field, but the replacement patches of grass could not grow fast enough. The Football Ferns canceled the closed-door training match and then days later, the main event against Team Taiwan. The safety
The National Immigration Agency on Tuesday said it had notified some naturalized citizens from China that they still had to renounce their People’s Republic of China (PRC) citizenship. They must provide proof that they have canceled their household registration in China within three months of the receipt of the notice. If they do not, the agency said it would cancel their household registration in Taiwan. Chinese are required to give up their PRC citizenship and household registration to become Republic of China (ROC) nationals, Mainland Affairs Council Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said. He was referring to Article 9-1 of the Act
RSS