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921 Aftermath: Quake victims struggle with government regulations

Liu Wen-ho, second right, and his wife, center, talk to a Taipei Times reporter about life in a temporary housing unit in Taomi Village. PHOTO: CHANG YU-JUNG, TAIPEI TIMES

Three years to the day since the devastating 921 earthquake, the rebuilding of homes in quake-affected areas remains the most difficult, complex and most criticized aspect of post-quake reconstruction efforts.

Despite the government's pledge of "settlement before dismantlement" of temporary housing units built to accommodate those made homeless by the quake, many residents feel anxious, angry and powerless about the government's efforts.

Ms. Liu carries a bag of longan bought from the van that comes to her doorstep daily with vegetables and fruits. Her husband, Liu Wen-ho (劉文和), is lunching in front of the TV. This doesn't seem terribly unusual in the countryside in central Taiwan, except that the "home" of the 60-something couple is one of the two-room, 12-ping temporary housing units of Taomi Village (桃米村), Puli township, Nantou County.

Along with 10 other households, the Lius have being living in the temporary shelter in Taomi since the 921 quake. Like many quake victims, they slept in tents for months before being placed in the prefabricated housing as part of the government's emergency settlement measures.

But with the stipulated three-year lifespan for the prefabricated housing expiring at the end of this year and the merger and dismantlement of prefabricated housing in other quake-devastated areas, the Lius don't know where to go if the government asks them to move out of their temporary home.

"A score of households have moved elsewhere because the housing units might be torn down by year's end. We are still here because we don't have anywhere else to go. Now we cannot afford to rent an apartment, not to mention build or buy a new one," Liu Wen-ho said.

The Lius' small food stand was ruined in the quake, along with the apartment they rented in Puli. Liu Wen-ho has been ill and unable to walk normally for nearly two years. They have been living on the government relief funds ever since.

But even so the Lius are categorized by the Cabinet-level 921 Earthquake Post-Disaster Recovery Commission's regulations as "ineligible" for housing because -- under ad hoc regulations introduced to address post-quake homelessness -- only those owning the title to damaged property are entitled to live in temporary housing. The regulations were made after the government had provided temporary accommodation for all those made homeless by the quake.

Under the eligibility criteria, among the 4,487 households still living in the housing, a total of 2,754 households, or about 55 percent, are actually "ineligible." The regulations have been criticized by the 921 Recovery Scrutiny Unit, an organization formed by opposition lawmakers and families who lived near the epicenter of the 921 earthquake.

"The recovery commission just wants to hide its inefficient reconstruction efforts by tearing down the housing. By raising the eligibility requirements of quake victims and thereby reducing the number of people for whose resettlement the government is responsible, the recovery committee can then boast about its achievements," said Kao Ding-sheng (高鼎盛), committee chairman of Chang-wang Village -- a prefabricated housing compound in Tali City, Taichung County.

Invoking Article 23 of the Temporary Statute for Post-Earthquake Reconstruction (九二一震災重建暫行條例), the recovery commission has been instructing local governments to start merging and dismantling the temporary housing. The article stipulates that except for those granted a one-year extension by local governments, temporary housing can only be used for three years. So the recovery commission has set the year's end as a deadline for housing mergers and removals. It says all the temporary units must be leveled no later than the end of next year.

So far, six prefabricated housing villages, mostly in Nantou County, have been demolished. Although the recovery commission says the dismantled villages were all empty and its policy is "settlement before dismantlement," the deadline is causing fear among remaining residents that they are going to be left without a roof over their heads. The residents' petitions, protests and -- quite literally in some cases -- grovelling in front of visiting government officials have become more frequent. Suicides among quake survivors who lost their homes are reported to have increased.

"By forcefully pulling down the prefabricated housing without assured replacement measures, the recovery commission is driving many quake victims to desperation," Kao said.

But the recovery committee seems determined to carry out its dismantlement plan on schedule.

"Staying in the prefabricated housing is only a short-term solution for quake victims," said Huang Wen-kuang (黃文光), chief of the recovery commission's division of housing and community reconstruction.

"The quake victims should have used the period of three to fours years as a buffer to reclaim their normal lives instead of worrying about losing the temporary shelters just the day before the houses are to be torn down," he said.

Like the Lius, however, many of the people still living in the temporary housing cannot afford new accommodation without financial assistance.

"Who would want to live in prefabricated housing if they had an alternative?" said Tien Mei-ling (田梅玲), an Aborigine living in Taichung County's Ta-ai Village in Tongshi township, who is waiting for her apartment to be rebuilt.

Chen Jin-huang (陳錦煌), former executive director of the recovery commission, said that the key element in housing reconstruction is money and that the unemployment problemand the nation's sluggish economy has made the quake victims' lives more difficult

"Without steady employment and sufficient income, it is very hard for the victims to pay interest or obtain loans from the banks," said Chen.

As for employment in quake-affected areas, the government is hoping to help quake victims obtain jobs or vocational training.

Su Ming-chung (蘇明傳), chief of the recovery commission's division of employment and vocational training, said,"The commission has implemented a series of emergency employment measures in the quake-affected areas to offer the quake victims employment opportunities. But the effort has been partly hampered by the overall economic downturn."

"The quake victims should not become refugees and the recovery commission's job should be to relieve the needy but not the poor. We hope to help the quake victims to stand on their own two feet instead of continuing to rely on government relief," Su said.

Liu was thankful that she and her husband will be were allowed to live in the prefabricated housing for another year, but they still don't know what will become of them when their unit is leveled next year.

"We will move when the government asks us to. But we may have no choice but to sleep in a tent again," Liu said.
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