A torrential rainstorm on Sept. 11 once again inundated northern Taiwan with widespread flooding, and the record-breaking precipitation brought by southwestern air currents made the dire environmental threats portrayed in the film The Day After Tomorrow vividly real. The downpours haven't ceased yet, but voices of dissent and blame have emerged in close succession.
No matter whether it is a natural or man-made disaster, if flooding becomes a norm following a considerable amount of rain, disaster prevention must be extended outward from mountain areas to metropolitan areas; therefore, how to prepare for and respond to natural calamity and environmental change becomes a topic that everyone must focus on.
In terms of short-term or temporary solutions, the standard operation protocols (SOP) of disaster prevention, ranging from command systems to floodgate operations, should be reviewed and implemented. Many developed countries regard emergency response plans as crucial infrastructure. Taiwan's Environmental Impact Assessment Act (EIA, 環境影響評估法) has a similar policy to set emergency response as a priority.
At the moment, each level of government should have a disaster response mechanism. But, recent flooding revealed slow mobilization by rescue personnel, a lack of coordination between local and central governments, an inability to mobilize heavy-duty equipment like water pumps and towing vehicles for disaster relief, etc. At the least, integration and coordination must be greatly improved.
Although large-scale infrastructure projects can't be completed in a short period of time, there must be concrete disaster preparedness and response plans in place while the work is taking place on these projects. Unfortunately, most of the time these plans are merely useless paper documents attached to each infrastructure project.
The recent reform of central government institutions seems to be geared toward the idea of forming a "minister of homeland disaster prevention." We should seek sustainable development rather than temporary relief remedies during environmental crises since the latter only attend to the superficial and neglect the essential.
In other words, from a long-term perspective of governing, planning should encompass three essential aspects: ecology, life and production.
The flooding in northern Taiwan was without doubt a result of high density development, overexploitation of land and competition for land between human beings and mother earth.
Mistaken beliefs
Providing disaster insurance and compensation is not a long-term panacea, and this kind of mistaken belief has been discarded by many countries.
In order to be prepared for future disasters, we should consider the new concepts of land planning such as urban renewal, building houses on stilts, increasing the number of meadows to absorb floodwaters, banning construction that narrows rivers, preventing further development in basins and restoring the function of wetlands as a buffer zone to prevent floods.
If we don't promptly put these new concepts into practice, we will not be able to fight increasingly destructive natural disasters in the future.
Chiau Wen-yan is an associate professor of marine environment and engineering at National Sun Yat-sen University and a leader of the legal administration section of the Water Resources Agency of the Ministry of Economic Affairs.
TRANSLATED BY LIN YA-TI
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