A little more than a month before the 10th anniversary of the 921 Earthquake, Typhoon Morakot devastated central and southern Taiwan. Nature reminded us that we live in a disaster-prone land and face drastic climate change. The question is whether the public is fully aware of this.
The annual water volume of Kaoping River (高屏溪) is 8 billion tonnes, the largest of Taiwan’s rivers. Eighty-five percent of the water runs into the sea, while the average percentage of other rivers is 70 percent.
Both Kaohsiung and Pingtung have plenty of groundwater, with the result that Pingtung County residents rely on this instead of public tap water. The excessive pumping of groundwater for years has caused some areas to sink below sea level.
Exploiting water resources in an area already prone to flooding has ended in disaster.
Furthermore, climate change has caused an increased concentration of rainwater within a storm system. No one expected Morakot to bring more than 2m of rain.
Water control projects are designed to allow water to run into the sea quickly. However, the flow in ditch-style rivers is too fast and the rainwater cannot be absorbed by the soil. As a result, even relatively light rain can cause trouble because the rainwater flows to these rivers and hits embankments and bridges with force. Bridges and other infrastructure cannot hold up. Poor water management is exacerbating this problem.
One question to ask now is whether the government’s eight-year, NT$116 billion (US$3.5 million) water management project — launched in 2006 — has led to faster flow in rivers during storms.
About 2,400 people died in the earthquake 10 years ago. In the wake of the quake, Taiwan began to control the planting of betel nut trees on slopes and identify areas at risk of mudslides, and it stopped repairs on the damaged section of the Central Cross-Island Highway.
Unfortunately, repairs restarted last year.
Has Taiwan done enough?
Looking at this latest disaster and listening to the criticism of foreign media, it has become clear that Taiwan never made a conscious decision on what measures to take.
How can Taiwan compensate those who have lost family members and land to Morakot? Taiwan needs to draft long-term plans for the disaster areas.
Industry and villages in Kaohsiung and Pingtung counties should be part of national land management plans. This would help develop business activities suitable to the local topography and culture. Tourism and local Aboriginal arts should be promoted, for example.
More than NT$4.5 billion donated after the 921 Earthquake and kept by the Cabinet’s disaster relief foundation should be unfrozen and put toward improving disaster prevention measures and the efficiency of disaster response mechanisms.
The government and lawmakers across party lines should cooperate to pass national land protection legislation — including the draft national land planning act and national land restoration act.
The government at all levels should draw up conservation areas and propose agricultural plans in accordance with these laws.
The government should also approve the management guidelines for Kaoping River and the special act regarding the management of related catchment areas, which was drafted in March. It should also set a deadline to draw up guidelines for dealing with the management of catchment areas for Taiwan’s four other major rivers.
Hochen Tan is chairman of the Taiwan Ecological Engineering Development Foundation.
TRANSLATED BY EDDY CHANG
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