Siew pledges funds by weekend

Relief funds for victims of the 921 earthquake will be distributed by Saturday, Premier Vincent Siew (蕭萬長) announced yesterday.

"Except for questionable relief applications currently under review, I specifically asked related ministries to complete the task of household identification of collapsed or partially collapsed buildings before this Friday [Oct. 15] and furthermore, to finish distributing relief funds to earthquake survivors by the next day,'' Siew said yesterday.

Siew's announcement came after the fourth meeting of the Cabinet-level Post-disaster Reconstruction Commission, which addressed the issue of speeding up relief efforts.

The announcement was intended to placate the grumbling of quake victims -- which erupted into a full-blown protest demonstration in front of the Presidential Office over the weekend -- that disbursement of relief funds was simply not happening fast enough.

Members of the 921 Earthquake Disaster Victims' Coalition (921大地震受災戶聯盟), who held the demonstration in front of the Presidential Office, expressed disappointment with the government's work.

"It has already been over 20 days since the quake hit, and we have already filled out all kinds of forms at least four times. How come we still can't get any money?'' one member complained.

Vice Premier Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄), however, appeared to have such complaints in mind.

"Please, do not invent any new forms," he told members of the Cabinet committee yesterday.

As for the difficult task of dismantling dangerous buildings around the island, the Public Construction Commission Chairman Tsay Jaw-yang (蔡兆陽) said the job would be completed within three months.

Tsay said that there were a total of 123 dangerous buildings needing demolition as a result of the quake, of which 56 which were not the subject of legal disputes and could be torn down by the end of this month.

Apart from relief work, Siew has also urged all related departments to draw up detailed implementation guidelines in connection with the scope of the emergency decree before next Monday.

The media has recently put a critical spotlight on what can and cannot be authorized under the emergency decree, such as the establishment of power plants run by private enterprises without going through the usual environmental impact assessment hoops.

Many media reports have cast doubts over the motives of the government, questioning the building of power plants in non-disaster areas under the umbrella of the emergency decree.

To clarify the government's position, government spokesman C. J. Chen (程建人) answered that the actual content of the emergency decree was written clearly for all to see and in such circumstances it would be impossible for the government to abuse its authority.

Chen added, however, that "Considering time, coordination between related ministries and the complexity of the emergency decree, we think it is still necessary to draw up a more specific operation plan."