Don't underestimate nature
The force of nature should never be underestimated or ignored. There's a lesson to be learned in each event, and ultimately, the conclusion one should reach is that no matter how devastating or destructive the force of nature is, it is man who helps nature along.
How so? The article by Shi Wen-Lung (
There's one moral here: Greed and prosperity go hand in hand.
These lessons should be applied to Taiwan. A better life is everybody's dream, but at what expense? It's like killing the golden goose in the belief that gold lies within its belly, but the end result is that the very source of the gold is killed.
I was in Taipei with my family during the 921 quake. It was a disaster waiting to happen. Inferior materials used for construction, a lack of solid foundations, unscrupulous building contractors who substitute building compounds with trash and the quick construction of buildings and roads on grounds not fully tested for the loads that they are required to sustain all contributed to significant disaster and heartbreak.
I have always advocated preparing for natural disaster, such as keeping an adequate stock of dry food, bottled water and essential survival items such as candles, matches, flashlights and blankets. While they might sound like small matters, you will never know how handy it can be to have all these on hand when you need them.
This recent typhoon caught many by surprise. The lesson learned? Don't be a victim of your own mistakes.
True, natural disasters cannot be avoided, but one can be better prepared, and if we take a step toward restoring the ecological balance, maybe then we will all stand a chance of survival.
My sympathies go out to those affected by this storm. It is regrettable that lives had to be lost. Perhaps we can all work together to help one another to overcome our grief and brace ourselves once again for the next storm to come.
Denis Ong
Singapore
Don't crucify Mayor Ma
I don't think that Taipei City Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) should be crucified for getting less publicity these days or not being "seen" at the scenes of disasters as suggested by your editorial ("Ma absent without leave," Sept. 24, page 8).
Taipei residents would agree that we don't choose a politician to be our mayor for his ability to "put on shows" for personal publicity. Rather, we want a mayor who does his best to get the job done.
It is unsatisfactory that there are still tonnes of garbage to be cleared away, power to be restored for tens of thousands of households and the MRT has yet to resume full service. And certainly Ma has the responsibility to see to all the problems left by Typhoon Nari.
But that does not mean we have to see him clearing up the trash on the roadside in front of TV cameras, just as he and Taipei County Commissioner Su Cheng-chang (蘇貞昌) didn't have to sit in the disaster control headquarters to answer President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) phone call. What Ma has actually done in coordinating and supervising disaster relief and reconstruction work is what matters, not how often we see him on TV or in the newspapers.
Haven't we seen the scene in which the people in a flooded area told Chen that he shouldn't have shown up because his presence helped very little -- or even hindered -- the cleanup?
US President George W. Bush may have been criticized for not being in New York and Washington in the immediate aftermath of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, but his handling of the attacks has won him an approval rate of around 90 percent.
So please save your editorials for constructive suggestions instead of destructive personal attacks.
Pat Chen
Taipei
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