To ensure Taipei City will resume its routine operations today, Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) led over 5,000 government employees in a cleanup of the city yesterday, five days after Typhoon Nari left northern Taiwan.
Nari inundated thousands of office buildings and homes last week, resulting in problems with power, trash, public transportation and sanitation.
As of yesterday, the city government had taken away about 100,000 tonnes of trash since last Monday, but more clearing work is required.
"Taipei's toughest challenges are flooding and garbage. I hope that the city's government employees can help Taipei residents rebuild their hometown," Ma told the cleanup crew yesterday morning.
Over 1,000 government employees helped clean the City Government building's flooded basement and parking lot yesterday morning. Over 4,000 workers, which included high school students and teachers, were assigned to the Hsinyi and Sungshan districts.
"We will complete the cleanup of the government's offices Sunday, and start functioning normally on Monday," said city government spokesperson Wu Yu-sheng (吳育昇).
Hsinyi and Sungshan residents were surprised by all of the assistance and voiced their gratitude.
"We really appreciate the help these government employees are providing, especially on their day off," a Sungshan resident told Chinese-language media yesterday.
The city's environmental protection bureau said it was optimistic that all the trash would be cleaned up by this morning, and appealed to residents to refrain from dumping trash or destroyed furniture.
Meanwhile, President Chen Shui-bian (
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