Ma apologizes for slow relief efforts
　

EXPERIENCE IS NOT ENOUGH: The president said the damage caused by Morakot was greater than expected and said that the government could have done more
　

By Mo Yan-chih
STAFF REPORTER
Sunday, Aug 16, 2009, Page 1

“The government has experience dealing with natural disasters, but the disasters get increasingly serious each time.”— President Ma Ying-jeou

President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday apologized for the government’s slow pace of rescue efforts, adding he would make the evacuation of residents in dangerous villages a priority in future rescue efforts.

“We could have done a better job and we could have done it faster. I am sorry that we did not do our job better and faster,” Ma said yesterday while visiting Nantou County.

Ma said bad weather hindered rescue missions after last weekend’s typhoon was followed by three days of torrential rain, which grounded helicopters.

During his visit in Nantou, Ma visited family members of volunteer firefighter Chang Jui-hsien (張瑞賢), who died on Friday during a rescue mission, and expressed his condolences.

Chang’s wife and son broke down and sobbed. The president also shed tears while consoling them. Fifty-three-year-old Chang died on Friday afternoon after falling into Choshui River (濁水溪) during a rescue mission in search of bodies of people who fell into the river after Provincial Highway No. 16, which runs along the river, collapsed last Sunday.

Ma also paid a visit to family members of three crewmembers who died on Tuesday when their rescue helicopter ferrying supplies crashed in the mountains of Pingtung County. The president promised to enhance aircraft equipment to ensure the safety of pilots and crewmembers.

In his weekly online video speech, Ma acknowledged that the scale of the damage brought by Typhoon Morakot was far more serious than expected and said the government should think about how humans can co-exist with the environment.

“The government has experience dealing with natural disasters, but the disasters get increasingly serious each time, making some experience useless. We must refresh our understanding of natural disasters,” he said in the video, which was taped during an inspection tour in Pingtung County on Wednesday.

Ma said the government would ask local governments to conduct disaster prevention drills before flood season and evacuate residents living in dangerous areas.

“People should not fight nature. So many problems would be solved if residents could be evacuated in time before floods or mudslides occur,” he said.

Ma lauded the media and various Internet networking systems for providing updates on the situation in disaster-hit areas and participating in the relief work, while urging the nation to join in rescue and reconstruction efforts.

At a separate setting yesterday, Premier Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄) said the government was “prompt in rescuing people” stranded by mudslides and floods as weather permitted after the typhoon.

He made the remarks while inspecting the disaster areas in ­Chiayi County.

Liu said the government did not delay the rescue and that the slow rescue work was mainly the result of weather conditions.

Saying that rescue work would not stop as long as the weather permits, Liu added the government had used all its personnel and machinery to rescue victims.

He said the government would “make up for delays in relief efforts from bad weather factors.”

Friends, families hold rituals for Morakot victims
　

By Loa Iok-sin and Shelley Shan
STAFF REPORTERS, WITH AGENCIES
Sunday, Aug 16, 2009, Page 1
　

Tears, sorrow, anger and emotional breakdowns yesterday marked the touqi (頭七) for victims buried alive in Xiaolin Village (小林), Jiaxian Township (甲仙), Kaohsiung County.

According to traditional Taiwanese belief, touqi — “the seventh day” after someone’s death — is the day when the spirit of the deceased returns home. According to tradition, family members of the deceased must prepare a treat for their loved ones and hold religious rituals to guide them to the proper destination.

Many Xiaolin villagers who were evacuated after most of the village was buried by landslides last Sunday returned yesterday to hold the touqi ritual.

Survivors walked back and forth across the bare ground, stopping to light incense sticks and burn paper money for the dead. A monk rang a small bell, which people believe will help the souls of the dead find their way home.

Mourners cried and hugged each other at the service honoring family and friends who perished in the storm.
　

“Mom! I’m such a useless person! I promised to buy a small plot of farmland in Taipei for you to live and grow some vegetables,” a man surnamed Yeh (葉) cried on his knees. “But now everything’s gone, it’s gone, it’s all gone!”

Another woman in tears held a stack of photos and told reporters who the people in the pictures were.

“These are my parents, my brother, my nephews, their wives,” she said. “A total of 17 people in my family were all gone overnight.”

A man hit his head with a wine bottle and started bleeding after apologizing to his mother for not saving her. He was rushed to the township office for treatment.

Morakot dumped almost 3m of rain on southern Taiwan, triggering mudslides in southern highlands that stranded thousands in mountainous villages.

As many as 400 residents of Xiaolin village are believed to have been buried alive under mud as deep as 15m last Sunday.

The villagers had asked the army to stop digging for the victims because they want the dead to be left in peace and their mud-­covered village turned into a memorial park.

Meanwhile, two navy landing craft yesterday morning landed on beaches in Taitung County’s Jhihben (知本) to deliver 200 tonnes of water and food supplies to Hsianglan (香蘭), Jinluen (金崙) and Dawu (大武) townships, where more than 20,000 residents were still stranded without food or potable water.

Vehicles carrying rescuers and supplies were also able to enter Highway 9 yesterday after the Directorate General of Highways managed to make the entire highway accessible from Taimali (太麻里) in Taitung County to Fonggang (楓港) in Pingtung County.

The Central Emergency Operation Center said yesterday that a total of 35,134 people had been evacuated.

About 3,200 remained stranded in Kaohsiung County and an additional 3,700 people remained cut off in Taitung county, while 9,000 were trapped in Chiayi county, local government officials said yesterday.

The National Police Agency asked those who had lost contact with loved ones since the typhoon to provide DNA samples at local police stations to help identify the dead.

Mount Zion, a Christian community living in isolation in the mountains in heavily devastated Namasiya Township (那瑪夏) in Kaohsiung County said that all its members — including seven who had been missing for seven days — survived the disaster, attributing their survival to God’s blessing.

“All [Mount Zion residents] did was keep praying to God,” Chang Ming-fa (張明法), a Mount Zion preacher, said in a video clip aired by FTV. “They prayed more than 10 times a day [when Typhoon Morakot hit].”

He also criticized the government for its delayed rescue effort.

“[President] Ma Ying-jeou [馬英九] is so proud that he doesn’t regard his own people as humans,” he said.

Criticism has been mounting on the Ma administration, with many claiming that the situation would not have been as serious had people living in disaster-torn areas been evacuated earlier.

On Thursday, Ma told Independent Television Network reporter Rahit Kachroo that if the victims had been better prepared, they would have left much earlier, adding that the disaster occurred because people didn’t fully understand the danger of remaining where they were.

Ma made a similar comment in his weekly video chat yesterday, saying that if people “could have been evacuated earlier, so many problems could have been solved.”

In a message posted on the PTT Bulletin Board System, a user named Easterly wrote that the designated evacuation point for Xiaolin Village was the Xiaolin Elementary School, which was also wiped out.

An evacuation map for the village on the Soil and Water Conservation Bureau’s Web site confirmed the claim.

“Could villagers really have avoided the tragedy by seeking refuge in that school?” he asked.

Another PTT user named Showgrace quoted a friend living in Sandimen Township (三地門), Pingtung County, as saying that when Typhoon Toraji hit in 2001, “military trucks were in the village waiting to evacuate us before the rain started pouring. But this time around, the mountains had collapsed and we still didn’t receive any help.”

“We heard all kinds of rumors: Some said the road was obstructed and told us to stay behind; others told us to go as soon as possible,” Showgrace quoted his friend as saying. “If no one would give us accurate information — such as whether the roads are still there — how were we supposed to evacuate?”

Scores of people protested when Ma yesterday tried to throw the opening pitch for a youth baseball championship in Taichung City. The president ended up leaving without throwing the ball.

Some spectators gave him the thumbs-down sign while security guards scuffled with protesters trying to unfurl a banner in the stands.

“So many people were killed and you attend a baseball game. Can you sleep at night?” an unidentified man shouted in front of TV cameras outside the stadium.

At press time yesterday, the fatalities from Typhoon Morakot had increased to 123, with 54 reported missing and 45 injured. Ma on Friday said the death toll could exceed 500 as hundreds are feared buried beneath the rubble.

Meanwhile, water supplies to 315,540 households remained cut off yesterday, while 18,140 households were still affected by power outages

Also awaiting repair were telephone services for 8,642 households, as well as 207 mobile phone base stations.

Financial losses suffered by the nation’s agricultural sector had reached nearly NT$11.8 billion (US$358.8 million) as of yesterday, statistics released by the Council of Agriculture showed.

The worst agricultural losses in Taiwan’s history were suffered when Typhoon Herb hit the nation in 1996, causing NT$18.8 billion in losses.

The long-term costs of Morakot

Sunday, Aug 16, 2009, Page 8

Long after Typhoon Morakot hit Taiwan, the destruction it wrought and the cost of post-disaster recovery will still be evident.

The disaster has devastated agriculture, tourism and traditional industries in southern Taiwan. Its impact is likely to have a negative effect on the nation’s third-quarter economic performance after the economy saw a record 10.24 percent year-on-year contraction in the first quarter.

The Council of Agriculture estimated agricultural losses at NT$12.1 billion (US$367 million) as of yesterday afternoon, with 26 percent of farmland in the disaster areas damaged by flooding or mudslides.

On Wednesday, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said Typhoon Morakot’s damage to power supplies, hydraulic systems and state-owned enterprises would cost at least NT$1.24 billion, while the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said it would need at least NT$20 billion to rebuild broken bridges and roads.

The cost of typhoon-related expenses is expected to rise as the ministries continue to receive damage estimates from subordinate agencies. On Friday, the Executive Yuan said it would propose a special budget of up to NT$110 billion for disaster relief and reconstruction. A special statute allowing for this budget should be presented to the legislature on Thursday.

Although agriculture and tourism are considered to be among the worst-hit sectors, their impact on the nation’s economy will be limited because they comprise a smaller share of GDP. However, in addition to the livelihoods lost, the damage to crops and livestock at key production areas in the south will mean higher prices for vegetables, fruit and meat in the coming weeks.

The economic losses caused by Typhoon Morakot would have been much higher had the typhoon struck the nation’s key manufacturing areas and industrial parks, such as those in Hsinchu and Taichung.

The overall economic impact could be short-lived, as the reconstruction effort, with the spending proposed by the Executive Yuan, could boost domestic investment and contribute to GDP growth in the medium term, offsetting the fallout from lower farming production, paralyzed transportation networks and lower tourism revenue in the south.

As economists wait for the government to release its second-quarter GDP figure and forecasts for the following two quarters and for the whole year on Thursday, it is important to remember that the economic losses are recoverable, even if the reconstruction will be slow. They are also measurable, while the suffering of disaster victims is not.

Looking ahead, one challenge will be implementing post-typhoon reconstruction work and disaster prevention measures. Past investments of billions of dollars have not worked out as expected, casting doubt on government effectiveness and preparedness.

But the biggest challenge is the potential loss of confidence in the government’s crisis management and emergency response ability. President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration has shown that it was not capable of handling an emergency of this scale.

Government fails Morakot victims

Sunday, Aug 16, 2009, Page 8

‘Although the government’s rescue work has proceeded slowly, at this crucial moment when lives are at risk, it was busy boasting about how it could handle the situation.’

The devastation wrought by Typhoon Morakot, now called the “8/8 Flood Disaster” in Chinese, was caused by the worst flooding since the Aug. 7 to Aug. 9, 1959, flooding caused by Typhoon Ellen. There is much international concern, with media abroad running front page stories on the destruction and relief efforts and many countries expressing concern and donating money.

US Assistant Secretary of State Philip Crowley said in a press briefing on Tuesday that although Taiwan had not requested aid from the US, “we have formidable assets in the region” and since the devastating Dec. 26, 2004, tsunami, “we have the ability to respond aggressively and in a timely way to these kinds of tragedies.”

If Taiwan has “any particular need, obviously we’ll do anything in our power to help them,” he said, adding that the US was “gravely concerned.”

Thousands of people are still trapped in Aboriginal villages deep in mountainous areas and because of old airplanes and rescue helicopters that cannot do frequent flights without crashing, US advanced rescue equipment and helicopters would alleviate the disaster by helping to rescue people still caught in flooded areas.

Although Premier Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄) said the government had not rejected foreign aid, the US offer to provide assistance was answered with a statement from Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Chen Ming-cheng (陳銘証) that said Taiwan could handle the relief effort and that the government would ask the international community for help if it needed it.

In other words, although the government’s rescue work has proceeded slowly, at this crucial moment when lives are at risk, it was busy boasting about how it could handle the situation and saying it hadn’t rejected foreign aid. It was clearly in no hurry, however, to ask the US for help to rescue people.

In addition, the poorly organized response made it impossible to assign sufficient military manpower and equipment to the rescue effort.

This left many people trapped in the disaster zones, and it is still unclear how many lives have been lost.

Post-disaster subsidies, grants and reconstruction are frequently funded outside of the regular budget. The funding that will be needed to deal with the worst flooding in 50 years will be immense and the assignment of regular disaster relief manpower, resources and funds are insufficient.

Both the pan-blue and pan-green camps are therefore calling on President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) to declare a state of emergency, submit a special budget to get around restrictions, take charge of the disaster response and strengthen efforts to rescue people and handle long-term effects.

Yet Ma has refused to declare a state of emergency, saying that the disaster relief effort is sufficient and that the government has NT$40 billion to spend on disaster relief.

The government’s initial response to the disaster could be characterized as a “three noes” policy: No help from abroad; no state of emergency; no special budget.

The government at first did not want help from countries with ample experience in disaster relief, preferring to stand by and watch people suffer.

Rather than declaring a state of emergency, it preferred a chaotic response to the disaster, slow progress and inefficient utilization of military manpower and equipment.

The government didn’t think twice about spending more than NT$80 billion on consumer vouchers to revive the economy, yet was reluctant at first to seek a special budget to deal with destroyed bridges, buried villages and the incalculable losses of life and property.

Frankly speaking, if Taiwan’s own capacity to handle this disaster is insufficient, it would only be natural to call for international assistance. Taiwan’s disaster response teams often travel long distances to help with relief efforts when disasters occur abroad.

Now that it is facing its worst flooding in five decades and experiencing serious problems with disaster relief organization, manpower and equipment, the government’s first priority needs to be saving lives. It must swallow its pride and ask for help from abroad.

Ma should also take the responsibility and declare a state of emergency. He should direct the relief effort, ensure that as many lives are saved as possible and encourage cooperation between the government and opposition to secure a special budget for the post-disaster reconstruction and other follow up measures.

In short, the government must stop ignoring the plight of victims.

It should apologize to residents in the disaster areas and admit it reacted too late. The government should act responsibly and cooperate with local governments in the disaster areas and friendly governments abroad to make up for some of the mistakes made.

Rescuing people trapped in isolated villages and helping Taiwan get through these tough times are the priority.

Townships under sea level must be relocated
　

By Liu Chung-ming 柳中明
Sunday, Aug 16, 2009, Page 8

Typhoon Morakot unleashed record rainfall on the south and wrought the worst damage of any typhoon in the past 50 years. Areas of Pingtung County affected by land subsidence — in which the land sinks below sea level — that had never flooded before ended up under water.

Flooding is a very real risk for areas affected by land subsidence and residents in these areas should have been aware of this. Flooding in upstream areas of Pingtung County was caused by a buildup of water that could not be naturally redirected into the ocean in time, which had dire consequences.

Apart from the record rainfall, there were two main reasons for the flooding. First, poor upstream soil conservation meant that the land was unable to absorb the rainwater effectively. Second, downstream, sea walls that had been built in the hope of protecting areas affected by land subsidence actually impeded the drainage of floodwater.

Many coastal areas are affected by land subsidence and the next time Taiwan experiences record rainfall, a similar disaster could occur.

I visited Pingtung in April for a forum on water management. While there, I noticed that many water control projects were under way in the area, such as increasing the height of sea walls, building pumping stations, widening drains, building underground reservoirs, recharging groundwater and conducting lowland afforestation.

These measures will only be effective for approximately 30 years and the aim is to minimize the amount of damage done by floods during those 30 years. However, the real problem is that residents are willing to put up with floods a few days out of a year but unwilling to leave areas affected by land subsidence.

For example, one residential building too close to the Chiang Yuan pumping station floods every time it rains. Other houses in the area have had special pumps installed.

Current strategies for water control are merely aimed at solving today’s problems because residents are unwilling to leave flood-affected areas, while the problems that make these areas susceptible to floods are getting worse.

For example, land subsidence in Linbian (林邊) and Jiadong (佳冬) townships, which are crammed full of cultivation farms, is on average 3m per century. Combined with the possibility that sea levels could rise 1m in the future, it has been estimated that land in these areas could drop another 3m between next year and 2040.

Land subsidence will continue to be a problem. Water control measures aim to solve local floods but do not solve the broader problems posed by inclement weather over large areas. The combination of these two realities means rescue work will become more important than water control projects as more areas sink below sea level.

The best way to adapt to these problems would be to make plans for Linbian and Jiadong townships for 30 years from now and to cooperate with the townships.

Since we cannot stop land subsidence in these areas, we should look at ways to relocate people from areas that will clearly continue to suffer from land subsidence over the next 30 years. We should also remove sea walls that are no longer necessary to allow excess water to flow freely into the ocean.

If we can meet these challenges, we could perhaps slow down the pace of land subsidence over the next 30 years and help minimize future disasters caused by heavy rainstorms.

Liu Chung-ming is director of the Global Change Research Center at National Taiwan University.