The government has given NT$480 million to Nantou County to help it recover from last week's typhoon, Premier Chang Chun-hsiung (
Chang also instructed the local construction bureau to complete by tomorrow work on the new Kuohsing Bridge so the area's transportation links can be re-established.
Also yesterday, the Cabinet's reconstruction task force, headed by minister without portfolio Chen Chin-huang (
Chen said the Council of Agriculture had proposed at the meeting that gravel left over by mudslides be used in concrete in construction projects such as the east-west expressway in central Taiwan.
Chen said the Cabinet has worked out a way to accommodate for the law's inflexibility on the gravel matter.
"If the gravel is taken from the vicinity of typhoon-hit rivers, related water conservation regulations would be able to facilitate the cleanup and use of the gravel," he said. However, if the gravel is located elsewhere, the applications can be filed on a case-by-case basis."
Chen added that the gravel could also be listed and handled as waste in construction contracts if used as part of government reconstruction efforts.
To help farmers recover from their agricultural losses, the council yesterday promised to complete the distribution of government subsidies and low-interest loans to farmers by the end of this month.
At yesterday's meeting, the Ministry of the Interior said that prefabricated houses leftover from the 921 earthquake are being used for typhoon victims.
The Ministry of Education said that it plans to appropriate NT$10 million to 54 elementary and junior high schools in Nantou County that were seriously damaged.
After President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) on Sunday said the government would provide typhoon victims interest-free loans to buy new homes, state-run Taiwan Sugar yesterday offered to sell its 38 vacant houses in Hualien's Fonglin township and Kuangfu township.
In addition, the Ministry of Finance has instructed banks to extend any outstanding loans from typhoon victims for another six-month period past their December due date.
The Council of Labor Affairs yesterday agreed to provide typhoon victims with part-time employment opportunities with a daily wage of NT$542.
Meanwhile, the Council of Aboriginal Affairs said that it would give NT$50,000 in compensation per family of deceased Aboriginal victims, along with a funeral subsidy of NT$15,000.
Aboriginal students -- from kindergartners to college students -- are entitled to receive grants of NT$10,000 to NT$40,000 per person for their studies.
Typhoon victims, moreover, are able to receive medical care regardless of whether they have health insurance.
If victims are unable to afford insurance premiums now, the health administration will grant loans to ensure that urgent medical needs are met.
RETHINK? The defense ministry and Navy Command Headquarters could take over the indigenous submarine project and change its production timeline, a source said Admiral Huang Shu-kuang’s (黃曙光) resignation as head of the Indigenous Submarine Program and as a member of the National Security Council could affect the production of submarines, a source said yesterday. Huang in a statement last night said he had decided to resign due to national security concerns while expressing the hope that it would put a stop to political wrangling that only undermines the advancement of the nation’s defense capabilities. Taiwan People’s Party Legislator Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) yesterday said that the admiral, her older brother, felt it was time for him to step down and that he had completed what he
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
CHINA REACTS: The patrol and reconnaissance plane ‘transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,’ the 7th Fleet said, while Taipei said it saw nothing unusual The US 7th Fleet yesterday said that a US Navy P-8A Poseidon flew through the Taiwan Strait, a day after US and Chinese defense heads held their first talks since November 2022 in an effort to reduce regional tensions. The patrol and reconnaissance plane “transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,” the 7th Fleet said in a news release. “By operating within the Taiwan Strait in accordance with international law, the United States upholds the navigational rights and freedoms of all nations.” In a separate statement, the Ministry of National Defense said that it monitored nearby waters and airspace as the aircraft