“All [Mount Zion residents] did was keep praying to God,” Chang Ming-fa (張明法), a Mount Zion preacher, said in a video clip aired by FTV. “They prayed more than 10 times a day [when Typhoon Morakot hit].”
He also criticized the government for its delayed rescue effort.
“[President] Ma Ying-jeou [馬英九] is so proud that he doesn’t regard his own people as humans,” he said.
Criticism has been mounting on the Ma administration, with many claiming that the situation would not have been as serious had people living in disaster-torn areas been evacuated earlier.
On Thursday, Ma told Independent Television Network reporter Rahit Kachroo that if the victims had been better prepared, they would have left much earlier, adding that the disaster occurred because people didn’t fully understand the danger of remaining where they were.
Ma made a similar comment in his weekly video chat yesterday, saying that if people “could have been evacuated earlier, so many problems could have been solved.”
In a message posted on the PTT Bulletin Board System, a user named Easterly wrote that the designated evacuation point for Xiaolin Village was the Xiaolin Elementary School, which was also wiped out.
An evacuation map for the village on the Soil and Water Conservation Bureau’s Web site confirmed the claim.
“Could villagers really have avoided the tragedy by seeking refuge in that school?” he asked.
Another PTT user named Showgrace quoted a friend living in Sandimen Township (三地門), Pingtung County, as saying that when Typhoon Toraji hit in 2001, “military trucks were in the village waiting to evacuate us before the rain started pouring. But this time around, the mountains had collapsed and we still didn’t receive any help.”
“We heard all kinds of rumors: Some said the road was obstructed and told us to stay behind; others told us to go as soon as possible,” Showgrace quoted his friend as saying. “If no one would give us accurate information — such as whether the roads are still there — how were we supposed to evacuate?”
Scores of people protested when Ma yesterday tried to throw the opening pitch for a youth baseball championship in Taichung City. The president ended up leaving without throwing the ball.
Some spectators gave him the thumbs-down sign while security guards scuffled with protesters trying to unfurl a banner in the stands.
“So many people were killed and you attend a baseball game. Can you sleep at night?” an unidentified man shouted in front of TV cameras outside the stadium.
At press time yesterday, the fatalities from Typhoon Morakot had increased to 123, with 54 reported missing and 45 injured. Ma on Friday said the death toll could exceed 500 as hundreds are feared buried beneath the rubble.
Meanwhile, water supplies to 315,540 households remained cut off yesterday, while 18,140 households were still affected by power outages
Also awaiting repair were telephone services for 8,642 households, as well as 207 mobile phone base stations.
Financial losses suffered by the nation’s agricultural sector had reached nearly NT$11.8 billion (US$358.8 million) as of yesterday, statistics released by the Council of Agriculture showed.
The worst agricultural losses in Taiwan’s history were suffered when Typhoon Herb hit the nation in 1996, causing NT$18.8 billion in losses.
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