Several Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers expressed frustration yesterday over the lack of coordination in the government’s post-Typhoon Morakot relief efforts after taking part in relief work in the south over the past week.
KMT Legislator Liao Wan-ju (廖婉汝), who worked in flooded areas in Pingtung, said the government’s clean-up and reconstruction work had been “chaotic.”
Liao said the Environmental Protection Administration and the Department of Health should dispatch officials to stay in the devastated areas to supervise relief efforts instead of holding meetings with local government officials and then leaving.
While the Ministry of National Defense has deployed troops to help in Pingtung, no senior officials have been put in charge of personnel coordination and resource distribution, Liao said.
She said she hadn’t been able to get help from the Water Resources Agency’s river management offices when she asked them to provide waders, disinfectants or help removing sand from fish ponds or from other agencies she contacted.
KMT Legislator Lo Shu-lei (羅淑蕾) said many of her colleagues had encountered similar problems, leaving them feeling that they had only their colleagues or their own connections to rely on.
Lo said she had managed to deliver 2,000 rubber shoes to the south and buy face masks and gloves through the Certified Public Accountants Association, of which she is a senior member.
Lawmakers have also helped raise funds to cover the expenses of volunteers in some areas, she said, adding that she had given more than NT$1 million.
Civic groups have played a leading role, while government agencies were often absent, she said. For example, the Disaster Prevention and Protection Act (災害防救法) says the Ministry of Economic Affairs is in charge of flood prevention, Lo said, “but where has Minister of Economic Affairs Yiin Chii-ming (尹啟銘) been?”
KMT Legislator Hsiao Ching-tien (蕭景田) said the government’s relief efforts have been noticeable by their absence.
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