921 victims forgotten
There's a pressing issue that is being neglected and I feel that it is the media's responsibility to create an awareness of the ongoing struggle of victims of the 921 earthquake to gain proper housing.
After the quake, there were 14 temporary villages providing shelter for homeless victims in Puli. Funding for these structures came from donations gathered both in Taiwan and overseas.
But the government, for electoral reasons, is tearing down the villages, aiming to complete the task within a year, because the people are supposed to have found proper housing by now (with government help, an obligation that the DPP has neglected.) But shouldn't we decide? It was our donations and our taxes that funded the villages.
In particular, the seventh village, situated in a remote, inconvenient place, is an absolute dump. Rubbish is scattered everywhere. Pipes are leaking. The place stinks. Most heartbreaking of all, the people assigned to the village are mainly either disabled or single parents. None of them can find work. Who wants to hire someone without appropriate qualifications who is older than 40 -- or someone who's blind or deaf or illiterate, for example? All these people are of Aboriginal descent and can do only temporary work.
Yes, the government has helped with job-training programs. But, for example, one man (from Puli) attended the classes and received certification as a steel worker. Once he had qualified, it was the government's obligation to place him in a job.
But the government tells him there's a job in Miaoli. That's ridiculous. It's a long way away and the cost of rented accommodation is prohibitive. His travel costs alone would amount to what he can earn if he stays in Puli. What about his family? A woman with two children gets paid only NT$30 per hour for temporary work -- if she's lucky.
Residents of many of the other villages have been moved to a more sophisticated, cleaner village built by the Buddhist Compassionate Relief Tzu Chi Foundation. The residents had to meet certain criteria. Now the government wants to move residents of the seventh village to there -- when they know there's no room and half the shelters there have no sinks or doors. Who's going to pay for the moving van? The people can't afford to repair their leaking pipes. They can't even afford doctors because they're temporary workers who don't qualify for health insurance. Some are living in cargo containers.
Is Taiwan a Third-World country? The problem is that hardly any of the people affected are educated enough to take on the government, which keeps threatening to cut off their water and electricity. Who will help them?
Would it be possible for the media to investigate this issue? The situation is disgusting. No one cares about the victims because no one knows about them.
Christine Tung
Taipei
Medical reforms
In response to your editorial ("Time to take the bull by the horns," Nov. 20, page 8), I would like to offer the following story.
A patient has been suffering from a terminal disease for years. His young doctor suggests an operation to save him. However, his retired doctor criticizes the new physician as someone who only knows how to pass his medical exams, not how to operate. The patient's friends are also opposed to any operation and claim that his new doctor will kill him.
The patient and his acquaintances picket against the operation in front of the doctor's clinic. The doctor decides not to operate.
In my opinion, the young doctor should examine the patient thoroughly and tell him in layman's language about the disease so that the patient will accept the operation, if needed. Both during the examination and operation, the young doctor should consult with the retired doctor, who is an expert in this specialized field.
Only by doing this will the new doctor gain practical training. His diagnosis will be accurate and his operation will be successful. Not only the patient will survive, but also the entire society will be healthy and prosperous.
Charles Hong
Columbus, Ohio
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