Prevention is better than hindsight

The public needs to fully understand that there are many dangerous areas where floods and landslides take place easily. Residents living in these areas must learn from that other old Chinese saying, "Of the 36 strategies for handling a situation, the best is to get away at once" (三十六計走為上策), meaning evacuate before the heavy rains arrive.

Although it is necessary to build flood-prevention structures and to promote water and soil conservation, the government cannot provide protection measures in each and every dangerous area due to the huge costs -- not to mention their limited effect. As a consequence, the establishment of an educational program on disaster prevention and evacuation has become crucial.

Unnecessary loss of human life and property could be greatly reduced if the public were to evacuate dangerous areas in a timely fashion in the event of typhoons. It's never too late to take precautions. It is to be hoped that both the government and the public will face the above suggestions squarely.

Cheng Jie-dar is director of the Research Center for Conservation of Water Resources and Disaster Prevention at National Chung Hsing University.

Translated by Eddy Chang