The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus yesterday lashed out at the government, accusing it of neglecting its duties by not inspecting areas damaged by Typhoon Krosa over the weekend.
"The typhoon claimed at least five lives, left 56 people injured and caused agricultural damage amounting to NT$800 million [US$24.5 million], but our Cabinet chiefs have stayed in their air-conditioned rooms and haven't carried out any inspections in disaster-hit areas," KMT caucus whip Kuo Su-chun (郭素春) said.
Showing the press a photograph of Education Minister Tu Cheng-sheng (杜正勝) leaning back in his chair and with his eyes closed during a government briefing on Saturday night, Kuo questioned the Cabinet's ability to handle the disaster.
Kuo said statistics showed that the Cabinet had appropriated funds for "unnecessary" things such as the government's UN bid under the name "Taiwan." Kuo also criticized the government for allocating NT$2.5 million from the Water Resources Agency's budget for "river and ocean drainage."
Kuo urged the government to prioritize disaster relief over the UN bid or its National Day celebrations.
Kuo later confronted Tu with the picture of him reclining during an interpellation session in the Education and Culture Committee. But Tu shrugged off Kuo's accusation that he had fallen asleep, saying that no one had heard him snore during the briefing.
Meanwhile, Premier Chang Chun-hsiung (張俊雄) yesterday visited Chungliao Township (中寮) in Nantou County, and Tanei (大內) and Kuantien (官田) townships in Tainan County to inspect the damage.
Chang said he hadn't visited disaster areas sooner because he didn't want to interfere with rescue attempts.
"I was worried that inspections of the disaster areas would occupy lots of people who were supposed to be busy with disaster relief," Chang told reporters.
Local government officials would have had to suspend their rescue operations to brief central government officials, Government Information Office Spokesman Shieh Jhy-wey (
Shieh added that Chang had decided to make post-disaster inspections after visiting the Central Emergency Response Center.
The premier had given instructions that restoring bridges and roads should be regarded as the first priority, Shieh said. He added that the central government would provide disaster relief funding for local governments that had insufficient funds.
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