President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday declined to comment on whether government officials should apologize or step down to take responsibility for the damage and deaths caused by Typhoon Sinlaku. Instead, he said that the government would complete an investigation within a week.
Typhoon Sinlaku claimed 12 lives and several people remain missing after landslides near the Fengciou Tunnel (豐丘隧道) in Nantou County on Monday and the collapse of part of Houfeng Bridge (后豐橋) on Sunday.
Ma said yesterday that he and Premier Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄) had agreed that the government would decide within a week whether government officials should be held responsible for the deaths.
PHOTO: OU SU-MEI, TAIPEI TIMES
The Nantou District Prosecutors’ Office and Taichung District Prosecutors’ Office have also launched probes into whether any civil servants should be held criminally responsible, he said.
Ma also requested that the Nantou County Government find out whether the hot spring hotels in the county were built legally. He said that any illegally built or condemned buildings should be demolished.
Regarding criticism that he had taken too long to visit the disaster areas, Ma said that he believed that it would not have been a good idea for him to go there before firefighters and rescue workers had completed their work.
He and Liu had different responsibilities, he said, adding that to avoid causing unnecessary trouble, he would rather visit disaster areas after search and rescue operations came to an end, a more appropriate time to determine how to tackle similar problems in future.
At a separate setting earlier yesterday, Liu said the government would determine which officials should take responsibility for the casualties within a week.
“Because of the problems of global warming and climate change, natural disasters pose a greater threat. Although natural disasters are terrible, man-made calamities are intolerable,” Liu said at the Cabinet’s weekly meeting.
Minister of Transportation and Communications Mao Chi-kuo (毛治國) was singled out by some Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers, who demanded he resign over the tragic incidents.
Mao said yesterday that he would reflect on the situation, but stopped short of taking any responsibility.
CARGO LOSS: About 50 containers at the stern of the ‘Ever Lunar’ cargo ship went overboard, prompting the temporary closure of the port and disrupting operations Evergreen Marine Corp, Taiwan’s largest container shipper, yesterday said that all crew members aboard the Ever Lunar (長月) were safe after dozens of containers fell overboard off the coast of Peru the previous day. The incident occurred at 9:40am on Friday as the Ever Lunar was anchored and waiting to enter the Port of Callao when it suddenly experienced severe rolling, Evergreen said in a statement. The rolling, which caused the containers to fall, might have been caused by factors including a tsunami triggered by an earthquake in Russia, poor winter sea conditions in South America or a sudden influx of waves,
The Ministry of Culture yesterday officially launched the “We TAIWAN” cultural program on Osaka’s Nakanoshima sandbank, with the program’s mascot receiving overwhelming popularity. The cultural program, which runs from Aug. 2 to 20, was designed to partner with and capitalize on the 2025 World Expo that is being held in Osaka, Japan, from April 13 to Oct. 13, the ministry said. On the first day of the cultural program, its mascot, a green creature named “a-We,” proved to be extremely popular, as its merch was immediately in high demand. Long lines formed yesterday for the opening
The Taipei Summer Festival is to begin tomorrow at Dadaocheng Wharf (大稻埕), featuring four themed firework shows and five live music performances throughout the month, the Taipei Department of Information and Tourism said today. The festival in the city’s Datong District (大同) is to run until Aug. 30, holding firework displays on Wednesdays and the final Saturday of the event. The first show is scheduled for tomorrow, followed by Aug. 13, 20 and 30. To celebrate the 30th anniversary of Disney Pixar's movie Toy Story, the festival has partnered with Walt Disney Co (Taiwan) to host a special themed area on
BE CAREFUL: The virus rarely causes severe illness or death, but newborns, older people and those with medical conditions are at risk of more severe illness As more than 7,000 cases of chikungunya fever have been reported in China’s Guangdong Province this year, including 2,892 new cases last week, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday said it is monitoring the situation and considering raising the travel notice level, which might be announced today. The CDC issued a level 1 travel notice, or “watch,” for Guangdong Province on July 22, citing an outbreak in Foshan, a manufacturing hub in the south of the province, that was reported early last month. Between July 27 and Saturday, the province reported 2,892 new cases of chikungunya, reaching a total of 7,716
RSS