The explosions in Greater Kao
hsiung’s Cianjhen (前鎮) and Lingya (苓雅) districts last week have caused at least 1,500 stores to close temporarily as the city government works to rebuild roads and repair structural damage caused by the blasts.
Tsai Chih-liang (蔡志亮), the owner of an electrical appliances store, said he opened for business on Sunday, but that the ruined roads have definitely affected customer numbers.
Photo: Fang Chih-hsien, Taipei Times
Tsai said he estimated he would be lucky to make NT$5 million (US$166,600) this year, half of what he usually sees in annual sales, due to the blasts.
Hundreds of businesses on Lizai Road, which was completely ruined, have closed due to a lack of customers.
A scooter repair shop owner surnamed Liu (劉), who has run his business for 30 years, said Yisin Road used to offer many business opportunities due to its large volume of pedestrian traffic, but the explosions have changed that.
Photo: CNA
“I heard it will take half a year for the roads to be repaved, and while I want to move the business temporarily, there are no good spots,” Liu said.
Wang Mao-pin (王茂彬), the owner of an event decoration store, said that while he can still conduct his business online, he was at a loss as to how to provide supplies as trucks are unable to reach his store, adding that he did not know what his losses might add up to.
Kaisyuan Road, commonly called “car rental street” due to the number of car rental agencies on it, was also severely hit by the blasts, with cars and buildings damaged.
Photo: Ko You-hao, Taipei Times
Some business owners on Kaisyuan Road are already seeking to relocate rather than wait for reconstruction to finish, saying they had to make a living and “couldn’t stand around and starve.”
The Greater Kaohsiung Government said it was preparing to repair 6km of road damaged by the explosions.
Economic Development Bureau Director Tseng Wen-sheng (曾文生) said that 1,275 companies that have registered for compensation related to the disaster so far.
There are easily 1,500 stores that suffered damage from the explosions, but have not registered, Tseng said, adding that the losses the stores have suffered are off the charts.
The city government will reduce taxes for stores affected by the blasts and construct paths to allow access to areas without roading, Tseng said, adding that businesses could also apply for social aid.
Yesterday morning, traffic in Cianjhen District was in gridlock on the first business day after the blasts ripped up several streets in the district on Thursday night and early Friday morning.
The roads were clogged with vehicles as police blocked traffic into the area to allow technicians to check for gas leaks in underground pipelines.
In the Sanduo business center, which is usually packed with shoppers, it was relatively slow yesterday morning.
Meanwhile, soldiers deployed to help with rescue operations continued to dig in the area, searching for people killed in the disaster, while residents tried to deal with the stench of what they believe to be decomposing bodies.
Additional reporting by CNA
An essay competition jointly organized by a local writing society and a publisher affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) might have contravened the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said on Thursday. “In this case, the partner organization is clearly an agency under the CCP’s Fujian Provincial Committee,” MAC Deputy Minister and spokesperson Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said at a news briefing in Taipei. “It also involves bringing Taiwanese students to China with all-expenses-paid arrangements to attend award ceremonies and camps,” Liang said. Those two “characteristics” are typically sufficient
A magnitude 5.9 earthquake that struck about 33km off the coast of Hualien City was the "main shock" in a series of quakes in the area, with aftershocks expected over the next three days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Prior to the magnitude 5.9 quake shaking most of Taiwan at 6:53pm yesterday, six other earthquakes stronger than a magnitude of 4, starting with a magnitude 5.5 quake at 6:09pm, occurred in the area. CWA Seismological Center Director Wu Chien-fu (吳健富) confirmed that the quakes were all part of the same series and that the magnitude 5.5 temblor was
The brilliant blue waters, thick foliage and bucolic atmosphere on this seemingly idyllic archipelago deep in the Pacific Ocean belie the key role it now plays in a titanic geopolitical struggle. Palau is again on the front line as China, and the US and its allies prepare their forces in an intensifying contest for control over the Asia-Pacific region. The democratic nation of just 17,000 people hosts US-controlled airstrips and soon-to-be-completed radar installations that the US military describes as “critical” to monitoring vast swathes of water and airspace. It is also a key piece of the second island chain, a string of
The Central Weather Administration has issued a heat alert for southeastern Taiwan, warning of temperatures as high as 36°C today, while alerting some coastal areas of strong winds later in the day. Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門) and Pingtung County’s Neipu Township (內埔) are under an orange heat alert, which warns of temperatures as high as 36°C for three consecutive days, the CWA said, citing southwest winds. The heat would also extend to Tainan’s Nansi (楠西) and Yujing (玉井) districts, as well as Pingtung’s Gaoshu (高樹), Yanpu (鹽埔) and Majia (瑪家) townships, it said, forecasting highs of up to 36°C in those areas
RSS