The Council of Indigenous Peoples (CIP) and the Executive Yuan yesterday pointed fingers at each other over who should shoulder the blame for failing to prevent a fire that killed one person and consumed three homes on Friday night at an Aboriginal village in Hsinchu County.
The affected families are demanding compensation from the government, arguing that it had not put sufficient effort into preventing fires.
At a public hearing held by Non-Partisan Solidarity Union Legislator May Chin (高金素梅), both government agencies said their hands were tied and blamed low budgets and lack of manpower for the government not living up to its word to boost firefighting capabilities in Aboriginal communities.
Premier Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄) last year said the government would convene a cross-agency committee to solve the problem of insufficient water supply that has been plaguing all 282 Aboriginal villages around the nation.
“Has the premier fulfilled his promise? Has the committee been established? The government is so skilled at making promises, but completely inept in solving problems” said Chin, who is half Atayal.
She panned the government, saying it murdered Chiang Wen-cheng (江文政), the 32 year-old man that died in the blaze.
Chin said the government had done nothing over the last seven years in response to her repeated requests to improve water supplies and firefighting systems for Aboriginal people.
Executive Yuan First Department Director-General Su Yong-fu (蘇永富) admitted the committee had not been established but accused CIP representatives of not submitting a proposal as requested.
The Executive Yuan had repeatedly asked the CIP to submit a proposal detailing the problems and possible solutions, including an itemized list of firefighting equipment, but the CIP had not bothered to comply, he said.
CIP Deputy Chairman Wang Chin-fa (王進發), however, complained of a lack of money and manpower, which had prevented it from fulfilling the administration’s expectations. He said the council would be happy to help the Ministry of the Interior to find out what the communities needed, but added that it lacked the necessary resources to execute the plan.
“The real problem is the CIP. After all these years, what has the council done for Aborigines?” asked Chiang Chao-hsi (江朝西), a representative of Taikan Village (泰崗部落) in Jianshih Township (尖石), speaking on behalf of the victims.
His cousin was the man who died in last week’s fire.
He said that there was only one fire hose in the entire village and it was recently damaged. The village also lacks working infrastructure to help store the water needed for irrigation, firefighting and human use.
“We don’t need a NT$1 billion plan, what we need is a NT$1,260 fire extinguisher for all the 80 households in the village,” said Chiang, adding that it takes more than two hours for the nearest fire department to get a truck to the village because it is so remote.
He said that most of the houses in the densely populated village were made of wood.
During the fire last week, the villagers had to use tap water to try to douse the fire.
An undersea cable to Penghu County has been severed, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said today, with a Chinese-funded ship suspected of being responsible. It comes just a month after a Chinese ship was suspected of severing an undersea cable north of Keelung Harbor. The National Communications and Cyber Security Center received a report at 3:03am today from Chunghwa Telecom that the No. 3 cable from Taiwan to Penghu was severed 14.7km off the coast of Tainan, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said. The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) upon receiving a report from Chunghwa Telecom began to monitor the Togolese-flagged Hong Tai (宏泰)
EVA Air is prohibiting the use of portable chargers on board all flights starting from Saturday, while China Airlines is advising passengers not to use them, following the lead of South Korean airlines. Current regulations prohibit portable chargers and lithium batteries from check-in luggage and require them to be properly packed in carry-on baggage, EVA Air said. To improve onboard safety, portable chargers and spare lithium batteries would be prohibited from use on all fights starting on Saturday, it said. Passengers are advised to fully charge electronic devices before boarding and use the AC and USB charging outlets at their seat, it said. South
WAR SIMULATION: The developers of the board game ‘2045’ consulted experts and analysts, and made maps based on real-life Chinese People’s Liberation Army exercises To stop invading Chinese forces seizing Taiwan, board gamer Ruth Zhong chooses the nuclear option: Dropping an atomic bomb on Taipei to secure the nation’s freedom and her victory. The Taiwanese board game 2045 is a zero-sum contest of military strategy and individual self-interest that puts players on the front lines of a simulated Chinese attack. Their battlefield game tactics would determine the theoretical future of Taiwan, which in the real world faces the constant threat of a Chinese invasion. “The most interesting part of this game is that you have to make continuous decisions based on the evolving situation,
Actor Lee Wei (李威) was released on bail on Monday after being named as a suspect in the death of a woman whose body was found in the meeting place of a Buddhist group in Taipei’s Daan District (大安) last year, prosecutors said. Lee, 44, was released on NT$300,000 (US$9,148) bail, while his wife, surnamed Chien (簡), was released on NT$150,000 bail after both were summoned to give statements regarding the woman’s death. The home of Lee, who has retreated from the entertainment business in the past few years, was also searched by prosecutors and police earlier on Monday. Lee was questioned three
RSS