The Executive Yuan will stand by Greater Kaohsiung residents as they recover from the disaster caused by last week’s gas explosions, Premier Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺) said yesterday in a bid to appease anger following reports that he has a “three noes” policy on the post-disaster reconstruction work.
Several media outlets reported that Jiang chaired a meeting on Monday that agreed on three principles — that there is no need to enact a special law, allocate a budget or establish an ad hoc institution to handle the reconstruction work.
What the reports termed a “three noes” policy prompted lawmakers from the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the opposition parties to request meetings with Jiang, which took place at noon and in the afternoon yesterday.
After meeting with the KMT lawmakers, Jiang said the Executive Yuan would assist the Greater Kaohsiung Government “with its full strength.”
“The Executive Yuan will roll up its sleeves to assist Greater Kaohsiung with reconstruction,” Jiang said.
However, Jiang remained steadfast in his position on the three principles.
Executive Yuan spokesperson Sun Lih-chuyn (孫立群) said Jiang was still of the opinion that the Executive Yuan can fully cooperate with the Greater Kaohsiung Government within the current legal framework.
All the problems facing the local government in relation to post-disaster reconstruction can be resolved through cooperation between the Executive Yuan and the local government “without revising any rules and regulations,” Sun said.
Sun said Jiang told opposition lawmakers that the local government would cover the expenses needed for post-disaster reconstruction, but that the Executive Yuan would appropriate funding when the local government faces a shortage.
Jiang did not consider it necessary to enact special legislation that would require the Executive Yuan to earmark a special budget and establish an ad hoc agency to handle the reconstruction, Sun said.
The Greater Kaohsiung Government is not in the situation several local governments were in during 2009, when the Typhoon Morakot-affected counties and cities needed special legislation to deal with post-typhoon reconstruction, Sun said.
According to Sun, in response to the DPP’s request that the Executive Yuan should use public funds to compensate the victims on behalf of LCY Chemical Corp (李長榮化工), owner of the pipeline suspected to have been the source of the gas leak, and that the Executive Yuan should then recover the money from LCY Chemical, Jiang said it was the Greater Kaohsiung Government, not the Executive Yuan, that should take the responsibility for subrogation, as stipulated by the Crime Victim Protection Act (犯罪被害人保護法) and State Compensation Act (國家賠償法).
Super Typhoon Kong-rey is the largest cyclone to impact Taiwan in 27 years, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said today. Kong-rey’s radius of maximum wind (RMW) — the distance between the center of a cyclone and its band of strongest winds — has expanded to 320km, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. The last time a typhoon of comparable strength with an RMW larger than 300km made landfall in Taiwan was Typhoon Herb in 1996, he said. Herb made landfall between Keelung and Suao (蘇澳) in Yilan County with an RMW of 350km, Chang said. The weather station in Alishan (阿里山) recorded 1.09m of
NO WORK, CLASS: President William Lai urged people in the eastern, southern and northern parts of the country to be on alert, with Typhoon Kong-rey approaching Typhoon Kong-rey is expected to make landfall on Taiwan’s east coast today, with work and classes canceled nationwide. Packing gusts of nearly 300kph, the storm yesterday intensified into a typhoon and was expected to gain even more strength before hitting Taitung County, the US Navy’s Joint Typhoon Warning Center said. The storm is forecast to cross Taiwan’s south, enter the Taiwan Strait and head toward China, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The CWA labeled the storm a “strong typhoon,” the most powerful on its scale. Up to 1.2m of rainfall was expected in mountainous areas of eastern Taiwan and destructive winds are likely
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday at 5:30pm issued a sea warning for Typhoon Kong-rey as the storm drew closer to the east coast. As of 8pm yesterday, the storm was 670km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻) and traveling northwest at 12kph to 16kph. It was packing maximum sustained winds of 162kph and gusts of up to 198kph, the CWA said. A land warning might be issued this morning for the storm, which is expected to have the strongest impact on Taiwan from tonight to early Friday morning, the agency said. Orchid Island (Lanyu, 蘭嶼) and Green Island (綠島) canceled classes and work
KONG-REY: A woman was killed in a vehicle hit by a tree, while 205 people were injured as the storm moved across the nation and entered the Taiwan Strait Typhoon Kong-rey slammed into Taiwan yesterday as one of the biggest storms to hit the nation in decades, whipping up 10m waves, triggering floods and claiming at least one life. Kong-rey made landfall in Taitung County’s Chenggong Township (成功) at 1:40pm, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The typhoon — the first in Taiwan’s history to make landfall after mid-October — was moving north-northwest at 21kph when it hit land, CWA data showed. The fast-moving storm was packing maximum sustained winds of 184kph, with gusts of up to 227kph, CWA data showed. It was the same strength as Typhoon Gaemi, which was the most
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