Flood and mudflow prevention engineering work around dams created by landslides during the 921 earthquake will be completed within three weeks, Chairman of the Council of Agriculture, Hsi-huang (
During a field inspection of disaster areas in Nantou County yesterday morning -- including the famous landslide dam formed on Chiufenerh Mountain (
"The safety of the barrier lake should not be an issue now because the spillways we originally built have been reinforced," said Chen, referring to the channels that drain excess water that might otherwise cause the dam to overflow during the forthcoming typhoon season.
PHOTO: LIN YOU-HUA, LIBERTY TIMES
"However, vulnerable villages in the lower part of the river must be protected by more fortifications, which will be completed by June 22," he said.
Officials from the council's Soil and Water Conservation Bureau (
"We are conducting engineering works to deal with the invisible deterioration of the dam caused by water erosion of the soil," said the bureau's director-general, Chen Chih-ching (
A number of underground streams have been discovered that surface downhill from the dam.
He said that engineers were also backfilling a number of holes dug after the quake by rescue teams searching for bodies that might have been buried in the landslide.
However, the director admitted he was worried that bad weather might slow the engineering works.
Council chairman Chen said that central Taiwan-based personnel, including forestry and water resources units, would cooperate with a new special commission to be launched on June 1.
The Cabinet-level Post-disaster Reconstruction Commission, composed of about 200 officials based in central Taiwan, was recently re-organized by Premier Tang Fei (
One priority for the commission is providing solutions to mudflow threats in mountainous areas.
Council chairman Chen said yesterday that a NT$200 million budget for supplementary issues had been earmarked for pro-active disaster-prevention measures, including flood and mudflow prevention engineering works.
Chen also visited several townships and villages in Nantou County, where more than 180 sites were listed as dangerously at risk from potential mudflows after the 921 earthquake.
Chen said that he had established 12 teams to manage these sites by building fortifications to prevent floods and mudflows.
Although the water catchments behind the landslide dams have stabilized, Chen said, the council would continue to monitor such sites and a long-term landslide hazard risk assessment and response plan has been developed.
‘ABUSE OF POWER’: Lee Chun-yi allegedly used a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a pet grooming salon and take his wife to restaurants, media reports said Control Yuan Secretary-General Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) resigned on Sunday night, admitting that he had misused a government vehicle, as reported by the media. Control Yuan Vice President Lee Hung-chun (李鴻鈞) yesterday apologized to the public over the issue. The watchdog body would follow up on similar accusations made by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and would investigate the alleged misuse of government vehicles by three other Control Yuan members: Su Li-chiung (蘇麗瓊), Lin Yu-jung (林郁容) and Wang Jung-chang (王榮璋), Lee Hung-chun said. Lee Chun-yi in a statement apologized for using a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a
Taiwan yesterday denied Chinese allegations that its military was behind a cyberattack on a technology company in Guangzhou, after city authorities issued warrants for 20 suspects. The Guangzhou Municipal Public Security Bureau earlier yesterday issued warrants for 20 people it identified as members of the Information, Communications and Electronic Force Command (ICEFCOM). The bureau alleged they were behind a May 20 cyberattack targeting the backend system of a self-service facility at the company. “ICEFCOM, under Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party, directed the illegal attack,” the warrant says. The bureau placed a bounty of 10,000 yuan (US$1,392) on each of the 20 people named in
INDO-PACIFIC REGION: Royal Navy ships exercise the right of freedom of navigation, including in the Taiwan Strait and South China Sea, the UK’s Tony Radakin told a summit Freedom of navigation in the Indo-Pacific region is as important as it is in the English Channel, British Chief of the Defence Staff Admiral Tony Radakin said at a summit in Singapore on Saturday. The remark came as the British Royal Navy’s flagship aircraft carrier, the HMS Prince of Wales, is on an eight-month deployment to the Indo-Pacific region as head of an international carrier strike group. “Upholding the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, and with it, the principles of the freedom of navigation, in this part of the world matters to us just as it matters in the
The High Court yesterday found a New Taipei City woman guilty of charges related to helping Beijing secure surrender agreements from military service members. Lee Huei-hsin (李慧馨) was sentenced to six years and eight months in prison for breaching the National Security Act (國家安全法), making illegal compacts with government employees and bribery, the court said. The verdict is final. Lee, the manager of a temple in the city’s Lujhou District (蘆洲), was accused of arranging for eight service members to make surrender pledges to the Chinese People’s Liberation Army in exchange for money, the court said. The pledges, which required them to provide identification
RSS