The government failed to learn from previous disasters and failed to improve inadequate flood prevention measures, Control Yuan President Wang Chien-shien (王建煊) said yesterday as he ordered Control Yuan members to launch an investigation into government accountability in the wake of Typhoon Morakot.
Wang said the Control Yuan would hold off on subpoenaing government officials for the moment to avoid obstructing disaster relief efforts.
He said the government failed to address problems and learn from the suggestions on disaster prevention measures that the Control Yuan had presented several times in the past.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Wang said he was deeply saddened by the tragedy.
“I was so angry that I wanted to scold and kill people, but I didn’t know who to blame. I believe Taiwanese are also feeling disheartened and indignant,” he said.
The Control Yuan last week issued corrective measures to 14 government agencies for their handling of Typhoon Kalmaegi last year, while similar warnings had been issued to government agencies in each of the previous three Control Yuan terms.
Wang said that a significant amount of heartache could have been prevented if the government had paid more attention.
“We will not allow the power of the Control Yuan to be disregarded. The Control Yuan will impeach the heads of government institutions who failed to improve the problems highlighted by the Control Yuan’s corrective measures,” Wang said.
He said government agencies’ defiance of corrective measures issued by the Control Yuan was more serious than corruption.
“The Control Yuan is entitled to impeach heads of government agencies repeatedly until they step down, and to keep impeaching their successors until problems are resolved,” Wang added.
Control Yuan Vice President Chen Jinn-lih (陳進利) will work with the heads of the four sitting Control Yuan committees to decide how to examine the government’s responsibility for losses suffered as a result of inadequate disaster prevention measures.
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) today issued a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-wong effective from 5:30pm, while local governments canceled school and work for tomorrow. A land warning is expected to be issued tomorrow morning before it is expected to make landfall on Wednesday, the agency said. Taoyuan, and well as Yilan, Hualien and Penghu counties canceled work and school for tomorrow, as well as mountainous district of Taipei and New Taipei City. For updated information on closures, please visit the Directorate-General of Personnel Administration Web site. As of 5pm today, Fung-wong was about 490km south-southwest of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan's southernmost point.
UNILATERAL MOVES: Officials have raised concerns that Beijing could try to exert economic control over Kinmen in a key development plan next year The Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) yesterday said that China has so far failed to provide any information about a new airport expected to open next year that is less than 10km from a Taiwanese airport, raising flight safety concerns. Xiamen Xiangan International Airport is only about 3km at its closest point from the islands in Kinmen County — the scene of on-off fighting during the Cold War — and construction work can be seen and heard clearly from the Taiwan side. In a written statement sent to Reuters, the CAA said that airports close to each other need detailed advanced
Tropical Storm Fung-Wong would likely strengthen into a typhoon later today as it continues moving westward across the Pacific before heading in Taiwan’s direction next week, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 8am, Fung-Wong was about 2,190km east-southeast of Cape Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, moving westward at 25kph and possibly accelerating to 31kph, CWA data showed. The tropical storm is currently over waters east of the Philippines and still far from Taiwan, CWA forecaster Tseng Chao-cheng (曾昭誠) said, adding that it could likely strengthen into a typhoon later in the day. It is forecast to reach the South China Sea
Almost a quarter of volunteer soldiers who signed up from 2021 to last year have sought early discharge, the Legislative Yuan’s Budget Center said in a report. The report said that 12,884 of 52,674 people who volunteered in the period had sought an early exit from the military, returning NT$895.96 million (US$28.86 million) to the government. In 2021, there was a 105.34 percent rise in the volunteer recruitment rate, but the number has steadily declined since then, missing recruitment targets, the Chinese-language United Daily News said, citing the report. In 2021, only 521 volunteers dropped out of the military, the report said, citing
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