Victims of 921 quake appeal to candidates

A young girl attends a rally by 921 earthquake victims to demand that the presidential candidates address their needs. PHOTO: GEORGE TSORNG, TAIPEI TIMES

Braving drizzling rain, nearly 2,000 victims of the 921 earthquake marched across Taipei City yesterday with their appeals ringing out loud and clear to the three major presidential candidates.

"Wish me a home!" "Give me a reason to vote for you!" shouted the crowd that came from the dozens of communities in central Taiwan affected by the disaster.

Campaign staff from all three camps came out to accept petitions from the victims' alliance.

The demonstrators were pressing for more relief measures as well as reminding the candidates that the 921 earthquake had struck only six months ago.

"After six months we are only seeing more empty promises and this proves the incompetence of the government," said Chen Hui-tze (陳惠澤), chairman of the 921 Earthquake Victims Alliance (九二一大地震受災戶聯盟).

The alliance made five major demands: the government should work as claim settling agents; they should take up the burden of victims' housing loans; help claim indemnity from building developers; civilian relief should be used solely for reconstruction, not for political reasons; and quake-related judicial cases should be taken to trial immediately.

The crowd first marched to DPP candidate Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) headquarters. Lee Yuan-chih (李元基), a campaign official for Chen, accepted a petition and promised Chen would strive to carry out the five demands, if elected.

When marchers approached the KMT Lien-Siew camp, the alliance confronted members of Lien's campaign who were also on a march. As the police blocked victims from entering Jenai Road, small verbal clashes broke out between the crowd and the police.

Later, deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs David Lee (李大維) appeared from Lien's headquarters and spoke on behalf of Lien. "I feel deeply sorry that you had to come all this way to Taipei, marching in such rain. But the government has heard your demands," he said.

Chiu Yi (邱毅), Soong's spokesman, said he agreed with the victims' demands. "The government should step in as agents to settle the issue of compensation between developers and victims," he said.

Chiu also delivered Soong's promise to set up a special committee to address problems caused by the quake.

Responding to marchers' demands, the Cabinet later released a statement saying the government had given out condolences and relief funds of up to NT$30 billion.