With fear in her eyes, Lu Mei-hua (
"When they [the demolition team] were taking down my neighbors' houses, I was so afraid they would tear down my home as well -- like they did many times in the past," Lu said, as she watched her three daughters playing.
After posting a notice on Feb. 14 asking all residents to leave their homes within three days, the county government sent a team on Monday to tear down the first batch of houses, most of which were left vacant after the residents moved out.
"This is classified as a flood area, and the law prohibits anyone from living here," said Wu Chen-sheng (吳振聲), a county Indigenous Peoples Bureau (IPB) official. "We're just following orders on demolishing illegal constructions."
The community is located on the east bank of Dahan River (
Most of the residents are Amis Aborigines who moved to Taipei to work as coalminers or construction workers decades ago, and their descendants.
Unable to afford housing in the city, the Amis have settled and built their homes along the riverbank in Sanying, using abandoned wooden boards, canvas, tin sheets and other materials.
"My father-in-law has been living here since he worked as a miner at the Haishan Coal mine [
The Haishan Coalmine was the second-most productive mine in the country before it was closed in 1989. The explosion Chang mentioned occurred in 1984, killing 74 miners, mostly Amis.
The county government has built apartments to help residents living in flood areas relocate.
"We conducted a census in 2002 on five Aboriginal communities that were illegally staying in flood areas along the riverbanks," Wu said.
"We found that 133 households would need housing after their homes on the riverbank were demolished," Wu said.
new apartments
To solve the problem, the county government had built 150 apartments in Sansia, he said.
"In the 2002 census, we recorded 25 households in Sanying Community ... 15 of them have already moved into the new apartments," IPB chief secretary Yang Cheng-pin (楊正斌) told the Taipei Times by telephone.
However, nine more households moved into the community after the census, and thus were not registered. The problem now is finding shelter for "unregistered" households.
"We'll see what we can do and try to solve the problem before May," Wu said. "
"We'll have the 133 registered households move into the apartments first, and then we can consider having others move into the apartments if there are vacancies," he said.
After the first demolition on Monday, those who remained in the community were asked to sign an agreement volunteering to move out so that the houses could be torn down before the end of the month.
A number of households signed the agreement, but others did not.
Pan Chin-hua (
Without prior notice, the demolition team -- escorted by nearly 70 police officers, according to police sources -- moved into the community again.
Pan, who sat on a stool in front of her home in an attempt to block the demolition, was forcibly removed by police. A hydraulic shovel then came in, and Pan's house was demolished in less than five minutes despite Pan and her daughter's tears and pleadings.
"Where am I going to stay? I don't qualify for an apartment," Pan cried.
"We're just carrying out our superior's order. There's nothing we can do to help," a county Water Resource Bureau official, who declined to be named, told Pan.
"You didn't sign the agreement, so we can only [demolish your house]," said another bureau official, who also refused to give his name.
However, some of the "registered" residents, who are qualified to move into the apartments, said they cannot afford the move.
rent
"Of course we'd love to move into an apartment if we could afford it -- who wouldn't?" Lu said.
Lu lives with his father, four brothers and her four children, including one who is less than a month old.
"My father is unemployed. One of my brothers is doing military service, while the others are still in school. I have four children to feed, and my husband is in prison," Lu said. "There's practically no one making money in this family -- how are we supposed to pay NT$6,000 in rent?"
According to the IPB, a family of six to seven can move into a three-bedroom apartment that rents for NT$6,048 a month, while a family of three to five can get a two-bedroom apartment for NT$4,536 and a family of two can get a one-bedroom unit for NT$2,267. Single people have to share an apartment with others.
Aside from rent, they have to pay utility bills.
During the interview, Lu's brother, who is attending junior high school, came home for lunch. He made a bowl of instant noodles, ate half of it and passed it around for other members of the family to share.
"My father built our home himself. It's not a perfect place to live in, it leaks when it rains, but it's still our home," Lu said. "We really don't have money. I don't know where we will go if they tear down our house."
"Of course you have to pay rent if you want to live in an apartment. Not only have we offered the apartments at a discount, but we have also waived the maintenance fee," Yang told the Taipei Times when asked if the IPB has any plans to help those who qualify for apartments but can't afford them.
"If they really don't have money, they can apply for low-income family compensation from the Social Affairs Bureau," Yang said.
Taiwan is to have nine extended holidays next year, led by a nine-day Lunar New Year break, the Cabinet announced yesterday. The nine-day Lunar New Year holiday next year matches the length of this year’s holiday, which featured six extended holidays. The increase in extended holidays is due to the Act on the Implementation of Commemorative and Festival Holidays (紀念日及節日實施條例), which was passed early last month with support from the opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party. Under the new act, the day before Lunar New Year’s Eve is also a national holiday, and Labor Day would no longer be limited
COMMITMENTS: The company had a relatively low renewable ratio at 56 percent and did not have any goal to achieve 100 percent renewable energy, the report said Pegatron Corp ranked the lowest among five major final assembly suppliers in progressing toward Apple Inc’s commitment to be 100 percent carbon neutral by 2030, a Greenpeace East Asia report said yesterday. While Apple has set the goal of using 100 percent renewable energy across its entire business, supply chain and product lifecycle by 2030, carbon emissions from electronics manufacturing are rising globally due to increased energy consumption, it said. Given that carbon emissions from its supply chain accounted for more than half of its total emissions last year, Greenpeace East Asia evaluated the green transition performance of Apple’s five largest final
Taiwan is to extend its visa-waiver program for Philippine passport holders for another year, starting on Aug. 1, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said on Friday. Lin made the announcement during a reception in Taipei marking the 127th anniversary of Philippine independence and the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the Manila Economic and Cultural Office (MECO) in Taiwan, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. The decision reflected Taiwan’s commitment to deepening exchanges with the Philippines, the statement cited Lin as saying, adding that it was a key partner under the New Southbound Policy launched in 2016. Lin also expressed hope
Temperatures in New Taipei City’s Sindian District (新店) climbed past 37°C yesterday, as the Central Weather Administration (CWA) issued heat alerts for 16 municipalities, warning the public of intense heat expected across Taiwan. The hottest location in Taiwan was in Sindian, where the mercury reached 37.5°C at about 2pm, according to CWA data. Taipei’s Shilin District (士林) recorded a temperature of 37.4°C at noon, Taitung County’s Jinfeng Township (金峰) at 12:50 pm logged a temperature of 37.4°C and Miaoli County’s Toufen Township (頭份) reached 36.7°C at 11:40am, the CWA said. The weather agency yesterday issued a yellow level information notice for Taipei, New
RSS