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Group to
prepare for trip to Haiti
LOGISTICS: One Taiwanese
rescue team already in the Dominican Republic was held up for days as it sought
to fly into Haiti. The team will proceed by land instead
By Shih Hsiu-chuan
and Mo Yan-chih
STAFF REPORTERS, WITH CNA
Sunday, Jan 17, 2010, Page 3
“It’s very difficult for
planes to land and those that can land are unable to take off again because they
don’t have fuel.”— Shen Lyushun, vice minister of foreign affairs
Embassy staff pose for
a photo after raising the national flag at the temporary office of Taiwan’s
embassy in Haiti yesterday.
PHOTO: CNA
The Taiwan Root Medical Peace Corps had by yesterday organized a team of 60
medical personnel and volunteers to deliver medical help in Haiti, the
organization’s president, Liu Chi-chun (劉啟群), said yesterday.
The team is scheduled to depart for Haiti on Tuesday.
“We at the Taiwan Root Medical Peace Corps have conducted visits to Haiti and
the Dominican Republic to provide free medical services at least five times
before,” he said. “We hope to drive over land to Haiti from the Dominican
Republic as soon as possible, as we are familiar with the roads.”
The organization has been preparing medical supplies for its relief effort,
which Liu said would hopefully be larger in scale than resources allowed after
the 2004 tsunami in Southeast Asia, when a 51-person team delivered 2,600kg in
medical supplies.
Meanwhile, Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Shen Lyu-hsun (沈呂巡) yesterday said
the first Taiwanese rescue team of 23 people, which left on Tuesday night, had
been forced to wait a few days in the Dominican Republic before proceeding to
Haiti.
“The current situation in Haiti is very serious and the airport in
Port-au-Prince is barely functioning,” Shen said on the sidelines of a ceremony
marking the inauguration of the World Taiwanese Chamber of Commerce in Taipei.
“It’s very difficult for planes to land and those that can land are unable to
take off again because they don’t have fuel.”
“The flight clearance [for the Taiwanese rescue team] was postponed time and
again. We initially expected it to arrive in Haiti early [Friday] morning, but
then it was put off,” he said.
Getting to Haiti was “the biggest difficulty,” he said.
Later yesterday it was confirmed that the team would proceed to Haiti by land.
Lin Chien-chih (林謙志), the rescue team’s leader, said in a news clip broadcast by
SET-TV yesterday that his team hoped to reach Haiti by land, although it had
safety concerns given the risk of looting and the value of the supplies they
were transporting.
In addition to Lin’s team, a rescue team of 33 professional rescuers,
firefighters and military medical workers sent by the Red Cross Society of the
Republic of China, the Taipei City Fire Department and Taipei Tri-Service
General Hospital, took off from Taipei late last night.
More than 5,000kg of equipment and medical supplies were shipped to Haiti as
well, said Steven Chen (陳士魁), secretary-general of the Red Cross Society of the
Republic of China.
Shen also praised overseas Taiwanese businesspeople for helping rescue Taiwan’s
injured ambassador and another official in Haiti after this week’s devastating
earthquake.
“We extend our appreciation to Taiwanese businesspeople based in the Dominican
Republic who helped charter a small plane that successfully landed in
Port-au-Prince and picked up Ambassador Hsu Mien-sheng [徐勉生]. Fortunately,
X-rays showed that Hsu does not have any broken bones, despite being buried in
rubble for six hours,” Shen said, adding that Hsu is now in hospital and insists
on returning to Haiti after finishing a 48-hour observation period.
The plane took Hsu and Consul Chi Wang-the (齊王德), who sustained a serious head
injury, to the Dominican Republic for treatment.
On Taiwan’s collapsed embassy building in Haiti, Shen said that “the embassy
still exists.”
“We are now using a Taiwanese businessman’s local office [as an embassy] and are
flying the national flag there and continuing our services,” he said.
In other developments, President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday said the
government was considering ways to express the nation’s sympathies to Haiti and
would decide within a few days whether he should visit the Dominican Republic
next week, when he is scheduled to make a state visit to Honduras.
“Haiti is one of 23 allies that have maintained long-tem relations with us. We
would feel bad about visiting a nearby country without showing our support,” Ma
said in Changhua County.
The Presidential Office and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said they were
considering the option of arranging for Ma to visit the Dominican Republic.
Ma is scheduled to visit Honduras from Jan. 25 to Jan. 30 to attend the
inauguration of president-elect Porfirio Lobo Sosa.
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