The very survival of the tribe is bound to the land on which it lives: Without this land there would be no tribe and no tribal culture. The government is therefore duty bound to respect the identity of the tribe and ensure it can return to its original land, including state-owned forest around mountainous areas and public lands, so that tribes can live, cultivate crops and hunt in order to sustain their way of life and keep their culture alive.
Additionally, reconstruction and relocation efforts should also allow for temporary provisions in the event of disasters. Tribes should be allowed to remain self-sufficient and maintain their lifestyles and respective cultures in their own homes and villages in the mountainous regions, while also having a base further down the mountain where they can shelter in times of disasters.
Irrespective of the type of housing built by charities for the disaster victims, it is important that these are considered temporary housing only. The government should do its best to keep mountain roads open so that people can move up and down the mountains and seek shelter when floods arrive.
The government also needs to recognize the sociocultural organizational differences between these Aboriginal tribes and other social groups. This includes the natural environment in which the Aboriginal villages are located, seen as the homeland of tribal spirit. The appropriate way to decide things like the number of households in the village and the size of the houses is through consultation with the tribes, not by household registration, house address or tax address information as it stood on Aug. 8 last year.
Finally, the government should repair damaged transportation infrastructure that has a low impact on the environment, including suspension bridges and cable cars. In addition, it should also help tribes build bases self-sufficient in energy, communications, food and emergency medical care. The government should also provide generators (or solar-energy batteries), wireless communication facilities, fridges and granaries, excavators, off-road motorcycles (including spare fuel) and first aid kits, and maintain its rescue operations so that people and communities are prepared and self-sufficient when the next natural disaster hits.
Along Chen is assistant professor at Kainan University’s Department of Tourism and Hospitality and convener of the Workshop for Bio-Cultural Diversity.
TRANSLATED BY TAIJING WU
RSS