Heavy downpours on Sunday evening brought flooding and landslides to more than half of Chiayi County, blocking many key roadways. Areas including Jhongpu (中埔), Singang (新港), Minsyong (民雄), Jhuci (竹崎) and Fanlu (番路) townships had more than 200mm of rain on Sunday evening. Firefighters rescued 32 people near the Jhonghe Exchange along Provincial Highway No. 82 in Shueishang Township (水上).
However, damage and several deaths have led the public to accuse the government of failing to issue an advance warning. In the face of the public’s grievances, the government probably feels that its hands were tied, as mudslides are difficult to predict, even with the most modern technology.
This does not mean that landslides are beyond human control. The Landslide Susceptibility Index (LSI) was adopted to map and evaluate landslide susceptibility and to classify areas into five susceptibility zones: “very low,” “low,” “moderate,” “high” and “very high.” As mudslides are caused by a combination of factors, such as soil properties, geology, and soil and water conservation, prediction is a great challenge. The recent unexpected landslide in Jhuci is one such example. On Aug. 4, Nantou County’s Renai Township (仁愛) also experienced a major mudslide.
Nevertheless, prediction is still possible, as precipitation monitoring provides a certain degree of reliability. Hourly, daily and accumulated precipitation data are an important index for landslides. Once precipitation reaches a certain level in mountainous regions, the government should launch evacuation operations as a precaution. To better predict landslides, the following three factors could play a decisive role in the accuracy of predictions:
The first is widespread public awareness and education. Landslide incidents have shown that people’s disaster awareness, sensitivity and preparedness play a huge role in reducing loss of life, personal injury and damage from natural disasters. Precipitation monitoring provides officials and the public with the easiest index for predicting landslides and floods. The Agency of Rural Development and Soil and Water Conservation provides landslide-prone areas with rain gauges so that communities can monitor rainfall and take corresponding action.
Second, education and training are crucial in landslide predictions. While reading weather and precipitation data require professional training, the public should be taught basic knowledge and skills on the subject. This education should be coupled with the government’s disaster-resistant community policy promotion so that the public and community can have systematic learning and a higher awareness of disaster prevention and reduction.
Third, communities should form stronger ties with authorities. As the authorities are responsible for issuing warnings in landslide-prone areas, when the public has close connections with the authorities, they can ask for help to read the data and increase prediction accuracy.
According to my experience, the more proactive the community is, the more help they can get from the authorities in the event of disasters.
Even though landslides are difficult to predict, there are still some clues to follow for preliminary assessments, but these have to be built upon after the implementation of the three aforementioned factors.
Yang Yung-nane is a political science professor at National Cheng Kung University and a member of the board of directors of Transparency International Chinese Taipei.
Translated by Rita Wang
US President Donald Trump has gotten off to a head-spinning start in his foreign policy. He has pressured Denmark to cede Greenland to the United States, threatened to take over the Panama Canal, urged Canada to become the 51st US state, unilaterally renamed the Gulf of Mexico to “the Gulf of America” and announced plans for the United States to annex and administer Gaza. He has imposed and then suspended 25 percent tariffs on Canada and Mexico for their roles in the flow of fentanyl into the United States, while at the same time increasing tariffs on China by 10
Trying to force a partnership between Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) and Intel Corp would be a wildly complex ordeal. Already, the reported request from the Trump administration for TSMC to take a controlling stake in Intel’s US factories is facing valid questions about feasibility from all sides. Washington would likely not support a foreign company operating Intel’s domestic factories, Reuters reported — just look at how that is going over in the steel sector. Meanwhile, many in Taiwan are concerned about the company being forced to transfer its bleeding-edge tech capabilities and give up its strategic advantage. This is especially
US President Donald Trump last week announced plans to impose reciprocal tariffs on eight countries. As Taiwan, a key hub for semiconductor manufacturing, is among them, the policy would significantly affect the country. In response, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) dispatched two officials to the US for negotiations, and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC) board of directors convened its first-ever meeting in the US. Those developments highlight how the US’ unstable trade policies are posing a growing threat to Taiwan. Can the US truly gain an advantage in chip manufacturing by reversing trade liberalization? Is it realistic to
Last week, 24 Republican representatives in the US Congress proposed a resolution calling for US President Donald Trump’s administration to abandon the US’ “one China” policy, calling it outdated, counterproductive and not reflective of reality, and to restore official diplomatic relations with Taiwan, enter bilateral free-trade agreement negotiations and support its entry into international organizations. That is an exciting and inspiring development. To help the US government and other nations further understand that Taiwan is not a part of China, that those “one China” policies are contrary to the fact that the two countries across the Taiwan Strait are independent and
RSS