Government unveils refugee housing plan

The central government yesterday announced temporary and long-term plans to relocate those left homeless after Tuesday's disastrous earthquake.

The plans include a preferential package to help the displaced purchase low-cost public housing. Under the package, a total of 4,446 units of public housing in Hsinchu City, Miaoli County, Taichung City, Taichung County, Changhua County, Yunlin and Chiayi counties are open for registration by families whose homes have been destroyed, partially destroyed or determined dangerous. The deadline for registration is March 31, 2000.

Premier Vincent Siew (蕭萬長) said houses whose market values range from NT$52,000 to NT$92,000 per ping (one ping = 3.24 square meters), will be sold at a 70 percent discount to families that qualify for the assistance.

Siew said families can move in by paying an initial installment of NT$100,000. Each household will enjoy an interest-free loan of NT$1 million.

As for short-term relocation arrangements, Siew said a plan will be ready in a month that will allow people made homeless by the quake to choose between a monthly rent subsidy of NT$3,000 per person or government-provided prefabricated temporary housing.

The Construction and Planning Administration (CPA) yesterday started to accept applications for temporary housing.

Tang Ming-chien (唐明健), director of the CPA's Bureau of Housing and Urban Planning, said that a preliminary count has shown that at least 27,240 families are in need of temporary housing.

These include 17,610 families in Taichung County, 8,664 in Nantou County, 441 in Changhua County, 300 in Miaoli County and 225 in Taipei County, he said.

Under the government plan, each temporary house will be eight pings in area and will house four people. While each unit will have two rooms and a kitchen, there will be one bathroom for every two households.

CPA Director-General Lin Yi-hou (林益厚) said the administration will draft a detailed proposal on the design of the temporary houses on Monday.

The administration hopes to start building in a week once investigations into the actual demand and the amount of government-owned land available for construction have been completed.

A huge number of buildings have been destroyed or damaged in the earthquake.

According to statistics from the National Fire Administration, which is coordinating rescue efforts, 6,257 homes have been completely destroyed and 2,189 partially destroyed.

The CPA, meanwhile, has mobilized 1,500 civil engineers and architects to conduct thorough safety inspections on buildings in quake-affected areas.

Of the 905 buildings that have been inspected in Taipei, Taichung City, Taichung County, Changhua County, Yunlin County and Nantou County as of Thursday, 237 have been determined "dangerous" and must be torn down immediately.

Another 298 are listed as requiring further professional assessment, and 370 have qualified as safe. The majority of the dangerous buildings are located in Nantou County and Taichung City.

Most people displaced by the quake are living in tents set up in local government agencies, schools, public assembly halls and military camps.

Siew said that although the military has provided tents for 18,900 people and the private sector has made contributions as well, there are still a number of refugees who are in desperate need of tents and sleeping bags. Siew estimated that there is a a shortage of 10,000 tents and 30,000 sleeping bags.