The only thing Jenny Ke (柯芮緹) wants is to return to her own home. But for the 38-year-old homeowner, the road back has been far too long.
Ke has been denied access to her residence in Taipei's Neihu district since Typhoon Nari savaged the nation between Sept. 16 and Sept. 19.
Visiting the site yesterday afternoon, Ke said that a two-story-high mudflow ambling down a mountain has covered the road in front of her house since Sept. 17.
"It's been there for almost two months, and I'm still not sure when I'll be able to go home," she said.
Frightening experience
Ke said that she remembers the night of the disaster vividly.
"It was about 9 or 10 o'clock in the evening. I was reading and eating by candlelight because there had been no electricity, water or a dial tone for two days," she said. "Just as I was thinking that the typhoon would soon be over, all of a sudden I heard something sounding that sounded like an egg cracking."
Just seconds later, a mass of mud and rock was tumbling down the mountain, covering the road and blocking the front door of her house.
"I felt a violent tremor but I didn't know what had happened because it was pitch dark outside. Nor could I see with the flashlight, because it was raining cats and dogs," she said.
After some of the building's residents used their cellphones to call 119, a fire truck arrived at the scene about five minutes later, asking them to evacuate the site.
"I was so scared that I didn't know what to take with me except for my briefcase," she said.
Ke was one of 44 families evacuated that night. There were about 50 other families evacuated from other buildings on the road.
Some have been renting rooms elsewhere, while others moved in with their families. A few stubbornly chose to stay.
Ke said that she is very disappointed with how the city government has handled the matter over the past two months.
"Is it less important to provide a safe home for city residents than to crack down on the sex industry?" she said. "I'm sure things would be very different if Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (
Although the building's residents meet on a weekly basis, Ke said that she was not interested in going this time. The meeting was scheduled for last night.
"There's no point in attending such meetings since I don't see any progress being made," she said.
Ke's simple dream of going home might not be soon realized, because the city government said that rehabilitation work may not be completed until next February.
No easy solution
"It's easy to clear away the mud. [It would take] one week tops. However, we have to be careful and make sure that every step we take is safe," said Chang Cheng-hui (
Before removing the mud, Chang said, they need to hammer in stakes to secure the fragile hill and eight of the damaged buildings.
"The buildings may collapse on us if we don't secure them first," he said.
Chang added that the NT$80 million rehabilitation project was delayed because some residents of the damaged buildings opposed the city's plan of hammering stakes into their buildings, fearing even more damage would be caused.
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