Morakot toll may surpass 500: officials
　

BURIED ALIVE: With more than 380 people missing in Xiaolin Village and feared dead, the scale of the crisis has overwhelmed ill-equipped authorities

By Loa Iok-sin, Mo Yan-chih and Shelley Shan
STAFF REPORTERS, WITH AGENCIES
Saturday, Aug 15, 2009, Page 1
　

“The mountain here is shaking, it is going to collapse. Taiwan is cursed. This has never happened before.”— Meilan Village resident

The death toll from Typhoon Morakot will pass 500, but the real figure might never be known, government officials said yesterday.

At a national security meeting yesterday — the first since the typhoon slammed southern Taiwan, wreaking havoc in mountainous regions — President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said 380 people in Xiaolin Village (小林) were buried alive, while 7,000 were left homeless.

“With 117 confirmed deaths from the typhoon and 380 people feared to have been buried alive by mudslides in Xiaolin Village, Taiwan’s death toll could rise to more than 500,” Ma said at the Presidential Office.

“The situation is far more serious than the Aug. 7 flood that damaged Taiwan 50 years ago ... The government must take full responsibility [for the damage] and conquer all difficulties to finish the task,” he said.

The typhoon dumped more than 3m of rain, setting off flooding and mudslides that tore through houses and buildings, wiped away roads and destroyed bridges.
　

The scale of the crisis has overwhelmed authorities, which have been criticized for being too slow in realizing the magnitude of the crisis.

As anger over the government’s response mounted, Ma yesterday vowed to help victims.

“The government will overcome all obstacles in accomplishing this mission,” he said.

Ma blamed the Executive Yuan for failing to evacuate residents living in threatened villages earlier, and demanded that it present a comprehensive plan for the evacuation of residents in the event of future disasters.
　

Ma asked the Ministry of National Defense to deploy 10,000 more soldiers and police academy students to help with rescue and relief work in disaster-hit areas, and said that central and local governments should set up post-disaster committees to handle reconstruction work.

The disaster operation center should issue prompt and accurate information, and the Ministry of Economic Affairs should invest at least NT$3 billion (US$91 million) in the next two years for flood control measures, he said, while asking the government to provide transparent information and inform victims that they would be helped.

When asked by reporters for comment on the president’s refusal to initiate the national security mechanism sooner, Presidential Office Spokesman Wang Yu-chi (王郁琦) said that when Ma saw the number of deaths climbing on Thursday, he decided to convene all government bodies to discuss rescue work yesterday.

In Xiaolin Village, in Kaohsiung County’s Jiaxian Township (甲仙), as many as 169 households comprising 389 people were still unaccounted for yesterday and were feared buried under mud as deep as 15m.

To find out the exact number of people who may not have survived, the Jiaxian Township Office interviewed Xiaolin survivors and made a list of people who were in the village on Sunday, and checked it against the list of Xiaolin villagers who were rescued.

Many survivors, especially those who returned to Xiaolin, said that their families, friends and neighbors who did not make it out had no chance of survival.

Video clips broadcast by local TV news channels showed that except for two houses, most of the village had been flattened and covered by mud and rocks.

Some survivors went back to the site with incense sticks, canned drinks and food to pay respects to their loved ones.

“I don’t think it would help if we dug up the area, so I think we should just leave them [buried victims] where they are,” a Xiaolin survivor said in a video clip aired by SET-TV. “We can erect a monument here to commemorate them and we can come back here to pay our respects on special days.”

“My mother, my two sons and one daughter are gone, they’ve all been buried,” said another Xiaolin survivor, Chen Chen-jung (陳振榮). “Don’t bother them again, let them rest in peace, that’s all I want.”

In response, Kaohsiung County Commissioner Yang Chiu-hsing (楊秋興) said he would respect the villagers’ wishes.

“It may cause the villagers more distress if we dig them up because the bodies could be torn apart [by excavators], so if the villagers want to leave their families buried and turn the site into a memorial park, we’d be glad to follow their wishes,” he said.

At a hot spring resort where rescuers yesterday found bodies buried by mudslides, volunteers snaked through 18km of roads ravaged by flash floods and three half-blocked tunnels. But they said they were still prevented from getting relief supplies across to the trapped victims because of a toppled bridge.

The National Police Agency said yesterday it had notified Kaohsiung County Government offices that a total of 37 corpses or human remains had been gathered around the county to be identified.

The agency called for relatives of people who had lost contact with their families since Typhoon Morakot to have their DNA taken at police stations to facilitate the search for those who have died or gone missing.

Work began early yesterday to evacuate residents living along the Laonong River (荖濃溪) in Kaohsiung County’s Taoyuan (桃源) and Liukuei (六龜) townships out of fear that a big barrier lake created by mudslides and torrents over the past week could burst.

Rock and mudslides have created choked-up lakes of various sizes in areas along the river, with the largest one covering 6 hectares, Kaohsiung officials said.

Meanwhile, repairs to the road leading to Liukuei were partially completed late yesterday, allowing more rescue workers to enter the township.

RAGING RIVERS

More than 50,000 troops were struggling to cross raging rivers and fallen bridges to reach victims yesterday, while helicopters airlifted supplies to stranded villagers and ferried people to safety. In Meilan Village (梅蘭), Kaohsiung County, two desperate young men waved a large yellow banner that read “Government, please help the people in Meilan and Changshan,” every time a helicopter hovered above them.

One of them, surnamed Hsieh (謝), said he left his work to return to his home village to search for 270 villagers who had been missing for a week.

“The mountain here is shaking, it is going to collapse,” he said, asking why rescue teams had neglected their villages. “Taiwan is cursed. This has never happened before.”

In Nantou, 53-year-old Chang Jui-hsien (張瑞賢), a volunteer firefighter who joined the effort to search for bodies of people who fell into the Choshui River (濁水溪) when Provincial Highway No. 16 along the river collapsed on Sunday, died after falling into the river.

At about 12pm yesterday, a boat that Chang piloted capsized in the surging waters. Two passengers were quickly rescued, while Chang was washed downstream.

Chang struggled to swim to the riverbank, but he did not make it until he reached an area where the current was slower. However, he fell unconscious as soon as he reached the bank.

Chang died about four hours after he was rushed to the emergency room at a nearby hospital. The emergency operation center in Nantou confirmed yesterday that by the time Chang was sent to the hospital, he was already found to be in Stage 3 of the Glasgow Coma Scale.

A car owned by Chuen Hsin-ying (全欣穎), one of the missing people, was found by rescuers yesterday in the Choshui River. The rescuers also found two bodies in the river whose identities still needed to be verified.

Many impatient people decided to extend a helping hand.

About 80 volunteers mobilized by the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan took generators, gasoline, food and other necessities into three villages in Chiayi County’s Alishan Township (阿里山), where more than 6,000 are trapped.

“The volunteers drove the items in cars to the spot where the road is obstructed, and then continued the rest of the trip on foot,” said Hosi Yudaw, a member of the group said. “Since the government’s rescue teams aren’t doing anything to help Alishan residents, we must give them a hand.”

Hosi said that the Church has organized other volunteer teams to help out in Taitung and Kaohsiung counties.

SPECIAL FORCE

Because Highway 18 was severely damaged by landslides, the Army yesterday dispatched a special task force to deliver food supplies and other resources to residents of Fanlu Township (番路) in Chiayi County. Each of the special task force members was required to carry 40kg of supplies in his or her knapsack.

The emergency operation center in Chiayi County said it believed nearly 9,000 people remained stranded there.

In Pingtung County, more than 200 villagers in Wutai Township (霧台) — one of the hardest-hit of the county’s townships — had been airlifted to safety as of 11am, with 100 more awaiting rescue. However, about 250 residents refused to be evacuated because the weather had cleared and the rain had subsided.

In southern parts of Taitung County, more than 20,000 residents remained stranded without food or potable water. Captain Lee Lu-tai (李魯臺), commander of Fleet 151, said yesterday that naval frigates, to be loaded with heavy vehicles for transport and clean-up jobs as well as other relief supplies, would anchor off Jhihben (知本) today.

The Taitung County Government, meanwhile, yesterday rescinded the order it made overnight that approximately 500 residents in Jialan (嘉蘭), Taiho (太和) and Hsianglan (香蘭) villages evacuate after it ascertained that a barrier lake upstream on the Taimali River (太麻里溪) did not likely endanger residents because its water level was much lower than the previous day.

More than 363,000 households in the southern counties of Tainan, Kaohsiung and Pingtung were still without running water as of 10am yesterday and more than 19,000 households throughout the Chiayi, Tainan, Kaohsiung, Pingtung and Taitung regions were still suffering from power outages.

Because of road blockages and downed bridges, repair teams were still unable to enter the battered zones, Taiwan Power Co (Taipower, 台電) said. In some areas, flood water caused by heavy rains have not subsided, nor dried up enough for Taipower to resume services, it said.

Child lead poisoning cases surge to 615 in China

AFP, BEIJING
Saturday, Aug 15, 2009, Page 1

The number of children showing lead poisoning blamed on a smelting plant in northern China has doubled to more than 600, state media reported.

Tests showed at least 615 children out of 731 living in two villages near the plant in Chang­qing Township, Shaanxi Province, had excessive lead levels in their blood, Xinhua news agency said, citing the local Fengxiang County government.

A total of 166 were hospitalized, while the rest were to be treated at home to rid their bodies of the excess lead, it said yesterday.

Authorities on Wednesday announced the closure of the plant blamed for the poisoning, the Dongling Lead and Zinc Smelting Co. Xinhua said it had yet to be directly established if pollution by the company caused the children’s illness.

Children living in other areas near the plant were also undergoing tests.

The lead levels in the blood of the children tested ranged from 100mg to more than 500mg per liter, compared with normal levels of between zero and 100mg, Xinhua reported.

More than 200mg is considered hazardous, with children more vulnerable to lead poisoning, which can harm the nervous system.

Villager Lei Xiaofei said his nine-year-old daughter was admitted to hospital yesterday after tests revealed high lead levels.

“Her blood lead level was 506mg a liter, the highest of all the children tested. I really fear it might do her permanent harm,” he told Xinhua.

Two other children were also admitted with lead levels of 480mg per liter and 499mg per liter.

It was not immediately clear how the children were poisoned, but officials have been taking samples of groundwater, soil, air and sewage to check for contamination.

Residents who lived within 500m of the plant were supposed to have been relocated, but so far only 156 families have been able to move to new homes, state media reported earlier this week.

The county government has begun building new homes for the 425 families still living next to the plant, Xinhua reported yesterday.

The new homes, located 1km from the factory, are expected to be ready within two years.

“I’m ready to move, the earlier the better, as long as the new place has water, electricity and easier access to transport,” Lu Tao, who lives 100m from the plant, was quoted as saying.

Many poverty-stricken regions in China’s interior have introduced high-polluting industries without the necessary environmental evaluation in a desperate bid to boost economic growth, state media said.

Clinton offers support to Liberian president

REUTERS, MONROVIA
Saturday, Aug 15, 2009, Page 6
　

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton gave firm support in Liberia on Thursday to Africa’s only woman president, a corruption fighter who has come under fire at home.

Liberian President Ellen ­Johnson-Sirleaf is trying to rebuild Liberia after a 1989 to 2003 civil war in the West African country founded by freed US slaves in the 19th century.

“President Sirleaf has been a very effective leader on behalf of the new Liberia. The United States officially supports what this government is doing,” Clinton said at a joint news conference. “We think that Liberia is on the right track, as difficult as the path might be.”

One of Clinton’s main messages to African countries during her seven-nation trip has been the importance of tackling corruption and improving governance as necessary steps towards attracting aid and investment.

“I think the people of Liberia should continue to speak out against corruption,” said Clinton, whose arrival in the city was cheered by thousands of onlookers who endured heavy rains to welcome her.

Johnson-Sirleaf is widely seen by the outside world to be doing a good job fighting graft, but the country’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission wants her barred from office because of her association with warlords during the civil war.

Clinton, asked several times about the commission’s recommendation, refused to comment directly on it.

“I am very supportive of actions that will lead to the peace, reconciliation and unity of Liberia,” she said.

The global economic crisis has come at a difficult time for Liberia as it recovers from years of conflict that ended in elections in 2005 when Johnson-Sirleaf became Africa’s first female president.

The government is trying to rebuild an economy shattered by the war, buying back US$1.2 billion of outstanding debt earlier this year, an important step towards ­attracting investment.

After meeting Johnson-Sirleaf, Clinton was to address parliament and visit the police academy. The US has provided funding for security forces in Liberia.

Clinton also praised what she called Liberia’s sound fiscal policies.

While many Monrovia residents were glad to welcome Clinton, and applauded the affirmation of a long-standing relationship, others saw little benefit.

“We cannot see what America is doing for us,” businesswoman Marie Sumo said.

“Look at Ghana, in terms of ­development. Take a look at us today. We are still behind today. For me, this is time that we make friends with our African brothers and sisters,” she said.

After Liberia, Clinton was to fly to Cape Verde where she would stay overnight before returning to Washington yesterday.

Washington urged to reassure Latin America over bases

AFP, WASHINGTON
Saturday, Aug 15, 2009, Page 7

The US needs to reassure Latin American countries about a deal allowing it to use military bases in Colombia, a top US general said on Thursday.

The controversial deal with Bogota, which has sparked an angry reaction in capitals across the region, would permit the US military to operate surveillance aircraft from seven bases to track drug-running boats in the Pacific Ocean.

“I think we need to do a better job of explaining to them what we’re doing and making it as transparent as possible, because anybody’s concerns are valid,” General James Cartwright, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told a news conference.

Washington sought out Colombia to make up for the loss of its hub for counter-narcotics operations in Ecuador.

Ecuadoran President Rafael Correa had refused to renew an agreement that had allowed the US military to fly out of the city of Manta for the past 10 years.

With the use of Ecuador’s base set to expire this year, US officials say they are close to sealing an agreement with Colombia that will allow US aircraft to continue tracking narcotics traffickers.

Colombia said on Wednesday it was close to finalizing talks with Washington on the US military’s use of seven of its bases. Colombian negotiators were in Washington on Thursday at work on the deal.

Colombia will receive more than US$40 million in the deal as well as US military assistance for Bogota’s counter-narcotics efforts, said a US defense official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Cartwright and US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates said the deal was not a unilateral move but the product of a partnership with Colombia designed to target drug cartels.

“The strategic intent is, in fact, to be able to provide to the Colombians what they need in order to continue to prosecute their efforts against the internal threats that they have,” Cartwright said.

Colombia raised concern throughout the region after announcing July 15 that it was negotiating a deal that would give US forces access to the bases.

Frank Mora, a Defense Department official for Latin America, however, insists that the controversy is a tempest in a teapot.

“This agreement simply formalizes what already almost exists right now,” he said by telephone.

You know you’re really one of us (II)
　

By Johnny Neihu 強尼內湖
Saturday, Aug 15, 2009, Page 8

Dear President Ma (馬英九),

Don’t take offense at me addressing you personally. Normally I avoid writing this way because it reeks of presumption. But I have to make an exception this time, because things are getting out of control — and I’m just about the last friend you’ve got.

Let’s face it: We’ve got a problem. Next to a river in remote Kaohsiung County there is a huge landslide. Under it are probably several hundred villagers. They’re not coming out.

No one blames you for that landslide, even if you’ve been blaming anyone you can find for the typhoon that triggered it. But now, a lot of people are holding you responsible for the government’s half-assed response to a bona fide national disaster. I’m even beginning to hear a woman’s name thrown around the office: “Katrina.” What could that mean?

Let me be candid. Your dour handling of Typhoon Morakot, more than anything else, has fired up your opponents in the KMT. They are questioning your leadership in public; Matsu only knows what they are saying about you among themselves.

Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平), who you once implied was on the take, nearly formed a bipartisan legislative front to urge you to take stronger action. Legislators Chiu Yi (邱毅), Lo Shu-lei (羅淑蕾) and other outspoken and media-ready KMT voices are more or less calling you an insensitive chump.

Trust me, I know you just don’t feel right having people touching you, and your face in particular — even if they are bereft typhoon victims. I feel your struggle when you look for words of comfort and congeniality but end up sounding callous. I feel your tension when you just can’t bring yourself to bury your head between the neck and shoulders of a sobbing woman who just lost everything that meant anything to her.

Hugging and getting teary should not be part of a president’s job description. That’s why I thought it was a classy move to get your wife into the disaster zone. She knows how to embrace someone and cop a noseful of sweat, tears, mud and shit. Great footage, by the way.

But not everyone is as understanding as I. And now, even your temporary friends in China are beginning to hack at you and undermine your credibility.

Our very own Taipei Times reported that Li Fei (李非), a visiting propagandist/academic from Xiamen University’s Taiwan Research Center, spoke in explicit detail about how an economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA) would pave the way for unification (“Chinese expert on Taiwan contradicts Ma’s ECFA claims,” Aug. 14, page 1). I believe him, too: You don’t work at that place unless you do as you’re told.

So much for no move toward unification in the next eight years, eh?

But there’s worse to come. The Asia Times Web site on Tuesday published another piece by Fudan University propagandist/academic Jian Junbo (簡軍波), who said you were backtracking from your commitment to unification and rudely accused you of opportunism, of being unable to “adhere to one principle from beginning to end” and of resembling former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝). The cheek!

I swear, give those Chicoms a peck on the cheek and they’ll respond by sticking their tongue down your throat and slurping out your innards.

What to do? It’s time for a history lesson.

I assume you’ve heard of the Xian Incident? The one where Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) was abducted at gunpoint and globally humiliated by one of his own? Well, that wasn’t the last time that Peanut had a gun pointed at his face. The second incident, to the very few in the know, is referred to as “Showdown at Chiaopanshan (角板山).”

Late one night in the late 1960s, relying on my special forces training and a few tips from local Aboriginal clergy, I slipped past Chiang’s security detail and sneaked inside one of his mountain retreats, located the study and saw the Peanutissimo seated at a desk. He was writing; it turned out that he was transcribing a book from the Old Testament in his dodgy calligraphy.

I raised my pistol.

“Mr. President.”

The old man looked up and saw death waiting.

“What is this?” he demanded in his tinny, whiny voice. “Who is this vile swarthy bumpkin I see cowering before me?”

“Sir, I am Johnny Neihu, former frogman, army major and wronged independent candidate for Taipei mayor, budding marine biologist, graduate in classical literature from National Taiwan University and stamp collector. I’ve also been top of the most wanted list two years running.”

“Why are you here, vermin?”

“Mr. President,” I said, cocking the trigger, “I am your past catching up with you.”

And it would have, too, except that Chiang Ching-kuo (蔣經國) had quietly entered the room.

“Mr. Neihu,” he said, with a slightly exasperated air. “If I may.”

Chiang the Younger indicated that he was unarmed, walked over, motioned for me to lean toward him, and whispered in my ear.

“Mr. Neihu,” he said, “I’ll be the first to admit that my ‘father’ is an irritating dumbass sonofabitch. But it would be most helpful at this time if you did not kill him.”

He paused for a while, then said, very slowly and deliberately: “If you put your gun down, walk out that door and disappear into the night, I promise you: After Father eventually passes, I will cultivate a native Taiwanese who will succeed me as president. He will take over the Kuomintang and turn it into something that all of you will be able to live with.

“And if, after returning home and having a good wash, you decide to behave yourself and try your hand at something inoffensive — journalism, say — there will be something special in store: a pronouncement, on my deathbed, that will push Taiwan in the direction it needs to go.

“Finally, if you do not kill Father, I will not round up your family and friends, take them to a detention center and have them tortured and shot.”

I thought for a few seconds, looked Chiang the Younger straight in the eye, and smiled.

“Deal,” I said.

And so I fled into the night, but not before some bodyguards and an enraged Peanut himself fired a couple dozen rounds at my fleeting torso.

So you see, Mr President, you and I have something in common other than a Taipei City residence: a crucial role in the history of my beloved homeland — and Chiang the Younger’s telephone number.

I know how much Chiang Ching-kuo meant to you. Of all the people in your life, he was the one who gave you a sense of belonging, dignity and professional self-respect. And you reciprocated by being the best damn English secretary he ever had. The problem is that these days you resemble not your mentor, but his father — except for his hair, bloodlust and dress sense.

After Chiang the Younger died, it was like you were in solitude. Since then, no matter what you have done, no matter how honorably you have conducted yourself, you have struggled to receive the respect that you deserve from anyone, including your family.

Family is so important. So I felt your agony when your senile father humiliated you on the verge of your gaining the KMT chairmanship and securing the presidential nomination. I was astounded when your daughters elected not to return from the US for the most important day of your professional life — your inauguration as president — and I was dumbstruck when your wife publicly criticized you during your Central American trip.

But, you see, with the death and destruction from the typhoon, the real vultures are beginning to circle. If you can’t rely on family to rally around you when you need them, how can you trust people in the political sphere?

It’s not too late. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: You know who your real friends are. So please be friends with us. Let yourself go. Be Taiwanese. We will forgive you.

May I finish with an anecdote? When I was doing military service, I spent some time on Kinmen. There I met a lovely lady, now long gone, who worked at the infamous “Vivien’s Retreat” bar and special services emporium. I won’t go into the nature of her work, other than to say she gave as good as she got and what she gave was as good as you’ll get.

Once, strolling along a mined beach at sunset, she said: “Darling Johnny, you may be too young to understand this, but take it from someone with haaaard experience. There’s much more to a relationship than being happy and stable. You gotta have the ‘connection’ — that thing about a person that grips you tight and makes you crazy. It’s worth fighting for, and it’s worth all the fights. If you don’t have it, you have nothing. And you will always be nothing. Now, lie down on the sand like a good little boy. I’ve got another 12 customers waiting.”

Mr President, some day soon, before it’s too late, you must ask yourself exactly what it is that you are connecting yourself to and if it is real — and tell us.

For now, from your friend, believe me when I say that your compatriots are waiting for you to wake from your China Redux reverie and embrace the hearts — and grime-caked bodies — of the only people that matter.

The alternative is a world of despair, disbelief and hate. And in that world, where even I will leave you behind, you will be in permanent solitude.

Yours, etc.
Dr Johnny Neihu IV, Esq.

JOHNNY NEIHU'S MAILBAG

Saturday, Aug 15, 2009, Page 8

Thwarted reputation

Dear Johnny,

President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) is reputedly proud of being able to conduct interviews with foreign reporters in English, something that former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) could not do. Through these interviews, Ma hopes to build his international reputation.

But with the recent article in the New York Times (“Taiwan president is target of anger after typhoon,” Aug. 13), his efforts have been thwarted. As a long-time commentator, what is your view on this? Also, will his failed effort push him to have closer ties with China ?

Karl Chang
Taipei

Johnny replies: I doubt that one New York Times article will bring the Ma presidency crashing down, but it might start opening eyes to the anger that is growing in the south.

I don’t think Ma needs to be pushed to have closer ties with China under any circumstances. On the contrary, what we might see is the president forced away from an aggressive agenda of cross-strait detente to concentrate on the disaster and salvage domestic support ahead of local elections.

Ironically, Ma’s adequate English hurt him when he told ITN that the villagers of Xiaolin were “not fully prepared” (i.e., taken by surprise). I reckon he was mistranslated and that locals thought he said that the villagers “didn’t prepare properly.” Ouch.

A disaster that could have been less painful
　

By Paul Lin 林保華
Saturday, Aug 15, 2009, Page 8

With flooding caused by Typhoon Morakot wreaking severe damage in southern Taiwan, experts must now consider how such a disaster could have been repeated 50 years after the notorious flooding of Aug. 7, 1959. Over the past two years, Taiwan’s ability to handle disasters has deteriorated. Compared with their disaster response measures last year, the incompetent bureaucrats in President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) government have made no progress.

First, Ma criticized the Central Weather Bureau for “misleading” the government last year, and he has done so again this time.

Second, flooding caused by heavy rains damaged central and southern Taiwan in late May and early June last year. Ma, however, was busy having a health check, acting like a zhainan (stay-at-home youth) and avoiding the front line. After severe criticism, he finally inspected the disaster area in mid-June.

But to avoid losing face because people might think he was admitting to making a mistake, Ma claimed he was simply visiting old friends.

On the evening that Typhoon Morakot struck, Ma attended the wedding of Taiwanese poet Chan Che (詹澈) and his Chinese wife. Chan was a celebrity among the “red shirts” who protested against former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁).

Third, in response to last year’s flooding, Council of Agriculture Minister Chen Wu-hsiung (陳武雄) said total losses were “only” about NT$20 million (US$608,000). Last Saturday, the media reported that former vice premier Chiou I-jen’s (邱義仁) watermelon farm in Kaohsiung County alone suffered losses of about NT$400,000 from Typhoon Morakot. Yet on the same day, the council estimated that losses in all of Taiwan amounted to only about NT$5 million.

Are these figures credible? Although the council’s figure increased to NT$5 billion two days later, the estimate by SinoPac Holdings (永豐金控) was already three times as high.

In China, officials often overestimate the impact of a disaster to attract greater donations. But in Taiwan, officials often underestimate the impact of a disaster to conceal their incompetence. Both breeds excel at what they do.

A look at the human contribution to this disaster reveals both remote and immediate causes. The remote cause is the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government, which has always seen itself as temporarily located in Taiwan. Based on this, a short-term approach was used in resource extraction and land management.

More recently, the government’s upgrade of select cities and counties was desgined to attract votes, not improve land management. This is a shortsighted policy that will damage Taiwan’s mountains and rivers.

On Aug. 9, Democratic Progressive Party Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) donated NT$1 million to Morakot’s victims. On Aug. 10, a friend called me from Hong Kong, asking how he could make a donation. Some enterprises and individuals have also extended a helping hand.

But the KMT’s heavyweights — both rich and very friendly with the Chinese communists — have been cold toward the victims. People still remember how Ma and first lady Chow Mei-ching (周美青) personally answered phone calls during a fundraising event for earthquake victims in China’s Sichuan Province last year.

But we have not seen Ma weep for Taiwan’s typhoon victims, who are struggling in a living hell. Instead, we watched him frowning as he met victims. Was this a sign of impatience?

Taiwan has been threatened by typhoons since ancient times. Despite this, we have built today’s Formosa, and we will pass this spirit on for generations to come.

Paul Lin is a political commentator.