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Cabinet reviews typhoon damage

The Cabinet yesterday reviewed a report on the damage caused by Typhoon Trami (潭美) which said the typhoon left five people dead, brought the worst flooding in southern Taiwan in 39 years and left 13,000 families without electricity.

At the weekly Cabinet meeting yesterday, Kaohsiung Mayor Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) first blamed the Central Weather Bureau for inaccurate weather forecasting and then lashed out at the Taiwan Power Co (Taipower, 台電) for its failure to restore power to the greater Kaohsiung area by last Friday as it had promised. Power was not restored until Monday.

At a press conference following the meeting, Cabinet spokesman Su Tzen-ping (蘇正平) reported that economics minister Lin Hsin-yi (林信義), whose Ministry of Economic Affairs oversees Taipower, said Taipower had underestimated the typhoon's strength. He said the ministry would ensure that appropriate measures were taken in the future to try to prevent power outages.

"Taipower will soon hold a meeting to review its emergency remedial procedures," Su said, adding that no administrative penalties would be imposed on Taipower staff.

According to Su, Lin also said that most power distribution units, located on floors below ground level in buildings in Kaohsiung City, had been severely damaged by the flood, further delaying the restoration of power. He added that the ministry has decided to revise existing regulations to stipulate that all power distribution units be installed above the ground floor, Lin added.

At yesterday's meeting, Minister of Transportation and Communications Yeh Chu-lan (葉菊蘭) explained why the weather bureau forecast that rain would arrive six hours later than it actually did, attributing it to "lack of technical support to accurately monitor the weather."

She then urged the Cabinet to immediately approve a project proposed by the ministry's Central Weather Bureau to reinforce its severe weather forecast capabilities.

The project, called "The Climate Variation and Severe Weather Monitoring System and Development Project" (象候變異與劇烈氣象觀測預報系統與發展計劃), aims to enhance the bureau's severe-weather forecasting capabilities by making numerical weather predictions concerning the precise areas through which the typhoon will pass, including its exact rainfall volume.

According to the director of the bureau's computer center, Shen Shiang-shyoung (申湘雄), it will take six to eight years to complete the project at a total cost of NT$1 billion if the project is approved by the Cabinet.

Upon completion of four Doppler radar stations in Taipei, Hualien and Tainan Counties and the Kenting area, Shen said that the bureau would then cooperate with the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to deploy the weather monitoring system.

Premier Chang Chun-hsiung (張俊雄), in addition, yesterday instructed the government to immediately distribute emergency relief funds to victims, following the precedent set in the aftermath of Typhoon Xangsane last November.

Families of the dead will receive NT$100,000 in compensation from the central government, while those who are seriously injured will receive NT$50,000. Both Kaohsiung city and county governments have already paid NT$200,000 in compensation to each of the families of the deceased.

Households whose homes completely collapsed during the typhoon are entitled to compensation of NT$100,000, while those whose homes partially collapsed are entitled to half that amount. Chang also instructed the interior ministry to immediately inspect the damage in the disaster-hit areas.

Since agricultural losses in the south from Trami have amounted to NT$73 million, Chang has also instructed the Council of Agriculture to provide reconstruction assistance and loans to farmers.
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