Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) will invite the premier and select lawmakers to discuss whether the president should declare a state of emergency to deal with the aftermath of Typhoon Morakot.
He said he would ask Premier Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄) and key caucus members to discuss disaster relief efforts.
“We will finalize a decision after everyone has a full understanding of the situation we are facing,” Wang said.
The Constitution authorizes the president to declare a state of emergency during major disasters or political or economic crises after the Cabinet reaches a resolution to support such a move. The legislature then has 10 days to confirm the announcement. A state of emergency was declared after the 921 Earthquake in 1999 and after flooding in central and southern Taiwan on Aug. 7, 1959.
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus yesterday called on President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) to declare a state of emergency.
Caucus secretary-general Yang Chiung-ying (楊瓊瓔) told a press conference that the caucus might push for an extraordinary legislative session to discuss a special budget for reconstruction.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus whip Wang Sing-nan (王幸男) said the DPP would support the KMT’s call for a state of emergency.
“We are willing to grant the government the utmost authority to save victims of the disaster and help them rebuild their homes and clean up after the flooding, including a state of emergency,” Wang Sing-nan said.
Presidential Office Spokesman Wang Yu-chi (王郁琦), however, reiterated that a state of emergency was not necessary because the Disaster Prevention and Response Act (災害防救法) clearly stipulates disaster relief efforts.
The Act was passed after the 921 Earthquake because the legislature realized emergency decrees should not be the normal response to a disaster and that disaster relief efforts must be legalized, he said.
Meanwhile, legislators across party lines urged Ma to show more compassion for flood victims in the wake of his widely reported comments to two disaster victims in Taitung on Monday. The visibly distraught pair had complained to Ma that his bodyguards had tried to stop them from telling him about their father, who was missing after the flooding.
Ma responded by saying: “I didn’t know you were looking for me” and “I have come, haven’t I?”
KMT Legislator Chiu Yi (邱毅) urged Ma and other officials to be more understanding when dealing with upset people trying to locate missing family members.
“If you are unable to have empathy for those who suffered in this disaster, your promise to feel the pain of the people was nothing but a lie,” DPP Legislator Huang Wei-cher (黃偉哲) said.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY KO SHU-LING
A magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck off the coast of Yilan County at 8:39pm tonight, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, with no immediate reports of damage or injuries. The epicenter was 38.7km east-northeast of Yilan County Hall at a focal depth of 98.3km, the CWA’s Seismological Center said. The quake’s maximum intensity, which gauges the actual physical effect of a seismic event, was a level 4 on Taiwan’s 7-tier intensity scale, the center said. That intensity level was recorded in Yilan County’s Nanao Township (南澳), Hsinchu County’s Guansi Township (關西), Nantou County’s Hehuanshan (合歡山) and Hualien County’s Yanliao (鹽寮). An intensity of 3 was
Instead of focusing solely on the threat of a full-scale military invasion, the US and its allies must prepare for a potential Chinese “quarantine” of Taiwan enforced through customs inspections, Stanford University Hoover fellow Eyck Freymann said in a Foreign Affairs article published on Wednesday. China could use various “gray zone” tactics in “reconfiguring the regional and ultimately the global economic order without a war,” said Freymann, who is also a nonresident research fellow at the US Naval War College. China might seize control of Taiwan’s links to the outside world by requiring all flights and ships entering or leaving Taiwan
The next minimum wage hike is expected to exceed NT$30,000, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday during an award ceremony honoring “model workers,” including migrant workers, at the Presidential Office ahead of Workers’ Day today. Lai said he wished to thank the awardees on behalf of the nation and extend his most sincere respect for their hard work, on which Taiwan’s prosperity has been built. Lai specifically thanked 10 migrant workers selected for the award, saying that although they left their home countries to further their own goals, their efforts have benefited Taiwan as well. The nation’s industrial sector and small businesses lay
Quarantine awareness posters at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport have gone viral for their use of wordplay. Issued by the airport branch of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency, the posters feature sniffer dogs making a range of facial expressions, paired with advisory messages built around homophones. “We update the messages for holidays and campaign needs, periodically refreshing materials to attract people’s attention,” quarantine officials said. “The aim is to use the dogs’ appeal to draw focus to quarantine regulations.” A Japanese traveler visiting Taiwan has posted a photo on X of a poster showing a quarantine dog with a
RSS