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
Police have issued warnings against traveling to Cambodia or Thailand when others have paid for the travel fare in light of increasing cases of teenagers, middle-aged and elderly people being tricked into traveling to these countries and then being held for ransom. Recounting their ordeal, one victim on Monday said she was asked by a friend to visit Thailand and help set up a bank account there, for which they would be paid NT$70,000 to NT$100,000 (US$2,136 to US$3,051). The victim said she had not found it strange that her friend was not coming along on the trip, adding that when she
TRAGEDY: An expert said that the incident was uncommon as the chance of a ground crew member being sucked into an IDF engine was ‘minuscule’ A master sergeant yesterday morning died after she was sucked into an engine during a routine inspection of a fighter jet at an air base in Taichung, the Air Force Command Headquarters said. The officer, surnamed Hu (胡), was conducting final landing checks at Ching Chuan Kang (清泉崗) Air Base when she was pulled into the jet’s engine for unknown reasons, the air force said in a news release. She was transported to a hospital for emergency treatment, but could not be revived, it said. The air force expressed its deepest sympathies over the incident, and vowed to work with authorities as they
A tourist who was struck and injured by a train in a scenic area of New Taipei City’s Pingsi District (平溪) on Monday might be fined for trespassing on the tracks, the Railway Police Bureau said yesterday. The New Taipei City Fire Department said it received a call at 4:37pm on Monday about an incident in Shifen (十分), a tourist destination on the Pingsi Railway Line. After arriving on the scene, paramedics treated a woman in her 30s for a 3cm to 5cm laceration on her head, the department said. She was taken to a hospital in Keelung, it said. Surveillance footage from a
INFRASTRUCTURE: Work on the second segment, from Kaohsiung to Pingtung, is expected to begin in 2028 and be completed by 2039, the railway bureau said Planned high-speed rail (HSR) extensions would blanket Taiwan proper in four 90-minute commute blocs to facilitate regional economic and livelihood integration, Railway Bureau Deputy Director-General Yang Cheng-chun (楊正君) said in an interview published yesterday. A project to extend the high-speed rail from Zuoying Station in Kaohsiung to Pingtung County’s Lioukuaicuo Township (六塊厝) is the first part of the bureau’s greater plan to expand rail coverage, he told the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times). The bureau’s long-term plan is to build a loop to circle Taiwan proper that would consist of four sections running from Taipei to Hualien, Hualien to
RSS