When Lee Hong-yuan (李鴻源) was appointed minister of the Public Construction Commission, he announced a change in direction. The first thing he wanted to organize, he said, was a “disaster response map” for Taiwan.
I recall reports at the time of the flooding caused by Typhoon Morakot in 2009 saying that for a full week, the Emergency Management Information System (EMIS) failed to provide even a single map of the disaster area, citing that they simply did not have the time to do it. Usually, when the government organizes disaster response drills, it produces absolutely wonderful maps. In the field, however, they are of very little practical value. No wonder the EMIS leadership failed.
Extreme weather used to be the exception. More and more, it is becoming the norm and natural disasters seem to be hitting us with increasing frequency and violence. Effective disaster response requires a comprehensive cross-disciplinary approach. It is a struggle that we must be adequately equipped for. A good map is needed to effectively orchestrate a military campaign and battles have been won and lost because of decisions made in war tents set up kilometers from the battlefield, by generals and their advisors. The maps they use are indispensable if they are to make informed decisions. This has been the case in the past and the principle still holds true today.
Of course, maps are much more sophisticated these days, incorporating 3D imaging as well as GIS (geographic information system) and GPS technologies. If the authorities take full advantage of these capabilities, it will transform the way they can view events as they unfold. Morakot is a case in point. There are a lot of small townships and villages dotted around southern Taiwan, places such as Namasiya (那瑪夏) and Siaolin (小林), that were badly hit during the Morakot disaster. Even local county commissioners would be hard pressed to identify the exact location of all of them. A simple online search using tools like Google Maps will tell you that they are located near the Gaoping River basin. If you then zoom out, you discover that they are in the southern foothills of Yushan (玉山). The weight of water dumped on the region by Morakot caused serious land movements in high elevations within this area, resulting in the landslides and debris flows that caused so much destruction in the Gaoping region.
This strategic viewpoint, which offers a view of the wider area, allows us to see more clearly how the NT$120 billion (US$4.12 billion) reconstruction budget would best be allocated. What happens when the next disaster hits and all we have done is to reconstruct the affected areas at individual points of destruction, or spent most of the money in the Gaoping basin and essentially disregarded the root causes of the disaster? The next big typhoon we get, all of this money is going to get swept away in another massive debris flow. We have yet to be told exactly what happened on Yushan itself during Morakot. We know that there was major land movement and debris flow on the south side, affecting the Gaoping basin, and along the Jinmendong Cliffs (金門峒大斷崖) to the north, where torrential waters decimated villages and destroyed bridges on the Nantou side. One has to ask what percentage of the reconstruction budget the government actually allocated to addressing the root causes.
Another advantage of maps is that they can allow the authorities to get closer to the experience of people on the ground, to see things from the perspective of the residents of the disaster-hit areas. If the government were to create a map platform, it would be able to detail each and every engineering team, the names of the people in charge, and the contractors and construction teams involved in the reconstruction efforts. Members of the public could upload the latest photos and videos of these efforts, both to monitor the progress and identify where things are not going according to plan. This would essentially be the first fully transparent, democratic reconstruction engineering project in the world, monitored by the public.
Maps also make it possible to find economic benefit in the aftermath of these natural disasters. The huge amounts of sediment and driftwood delivered by the flooding and debris flows during Morakot could be turned to our advantage. It has been estimated that the value of the materials washed down from the mountains far exceeded the NT$120 billion reconstruction budget. The problem is, how can the government collect it all and exploit it? The cameras on some mobile phones these days already come with image positioning software and with a map management platform in place — all the government need do is encourage the public to take photos and upload them to the platform. This would enable us to prevent scavenging and, more importantly, it would also mean the government wouldn’t need to worry about raising funds to allocate to post-disaster reconstruction.
This new map of Taiwan will need to take into account the location of geological fault zones, population distribution, transport routes along which supplies can be shipped in and out, the hydrology of the land surface and potential risks underground. Of utmost importance is the development of populated areas in the mountains. We cannot allow ourselves to lose the battle against disaster because of lack of preparedness. And this strategic viewpoint, from which all of this needs to be seen, starts with Yushan.
I look forward to the day when GIS technologies and adequate planning allow us to reduce the impact of natural disasters to a minimum. The people in charge can personally orchestrate the response effort from disaster centers, analyzing GIS data and strategic maps detailing information on disaster reports, the location of emergency escape facilities, evacuation routes and the distribution of emergency medical resources, rescue personnel and areas at risk.
Ho Chin-shan is the secretary-general of the Green Consumers’ Foundation.
TRANSLATED BY PAUL COOPER
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