Experts urged the government yesterday to prohibit people from living in areas at risk of mudslides.
Hung Hung-chih (洪鴻智), a professor at National Taipei University’s Department of Real Estate and Built Environment, said that because the typhoon season is not yet over, people who have been evacuated from mountainous areas in the wake of Typhoon Morakot should be banned from returning to their homes because of the danger of further mudslides.
Morakot, which battered the island on Aug. 7 and Aug. 8, dumped about 2,500mm of rain — more than a year’s rainfall — on southern Taiwan, triggering the most serious flooding and mudslides in five decades.
PHOTO: WANG YI-SUNG,TAIPEI TIMES
Furthermore, Hung said the government’s efforts to seek foreign aid for its search and rescue operation came too late.
“The best window of opportunity to find survivors is within 72 hours of a disaster,” he told the Central News Agency.
The government has come under increasing fire for rejecting foreign aid in the immediate aftermath of the disaster and for waiting several days before flip-flopping on its decision.
Taiwan has amassed a great deal of experience in relief operations since the 921 Earthquake on Sept. 21, 1999, Hung said, adding that unfortunately, this experience has not been translated into standard operating procedures that could help the country improve its disaster relief performance.
“As a result, the government has failed to deal with the present tragedy effectively,” he said.
The top priority now is to accommodate those people whose settlements have been destroyed by mudslides.
Meanwhile, Hsu Shi-jung (徐世榮), a professor at National Chengchi University’s Department of Land Economics, alerted the government to the many barrier lakes formed in valleys by mudslides.
“They could burst under the weight of the water they are holding back, leading to more flooding,” he said.
Both Hung and Hsu warned the government against letting the evacuees return to their mudslide-destroyed settlements, at least during the next three months, when the island is still vulnerable to typhoons.
It will take five years for the terrain in the devastated areas to solidify and only then should reconstruction be considered, the experts said.
They suggested that the government relocate residents of the areas to safe places and help them resettle by finding them jobs so that they do not have to move back into their dangerous mountain settlements.
FAST TRACK? Chinese spouses must renounce their Chinese citizenship and pledge allegiance to Taiwan to gain citizenship, some demonstrators said Opponents and supporters of a bill that would allow Chinese spouses to obtain Taiwanese citizenship in four years instead of six staged protests near the Legislative Yuan in Taipei yesterday morning. Those who oppose the bill proposed by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) demanded that Chinese spouses be granted citizenship only after renouncing their Chinese citizenship, passing a citizenship test and pledging allegiance to Taiwan. The demonstrators, who were protesting at a side entrance to the Legislative Yuan on Jinan Road, were mostly members of the Taiwan Association of University Professors and other organizations advocating Taiwanese independence. Supporters of the bill, led
SILENT MAJORITY: Only 1 percent of Chinese rejected all options but war to annex Taiwan, while one-third viewed war as unacceptable, a university study showed Many Chinese are more concerned with developments inside their country than with seeking unification with Taiwan, al-Jazeera reported on Friday. Although China claims Taiwan as its own territory and has vowed to annex it, by force if necessary, 23-year-old Chinese Shao Hongtian was quoted by al-Jazeera as saying that “hostilities are not the way to bring China and Taiwan together.” “I want unification to happen peacefully,” Shao said. Al-Jazeera said it changed Shao’s name to respect his wish for anonymity. If peaceful unification is not possible, Shao said he would prefer “things to remain as they are,” adding that many of his friends feel
Taiwan has “absolute air superiority” over China in its own airspace, Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) told a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee on Monday, amid concern over whether Taipei could defend itself against a military incursion by Beijing. Po made the remarks in response to a question from Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Chiu Chih-wei (邱志偉) on whether Taiwan would have partial or complete air superiority if Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) warplanes were to enter Taiwan’s airspace. Po, a retired pilot, said that the Taiwanese military has “absolute air superiority” over PLA
A shipment of basil pesto imported by Costco Wholesale Taiwan from the US in the middle of last month was intercepted at the border after testing positive for excessive pesticide residue, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday. Samples taken from a shipment of the Kirkland Signature brand of basil pesto imported by Costco contained 0.1 milligrams per kilogram of ethylene oxide, exceeding the non-detectable limit. Ethylene oxide is a carcinogenic substance that can be used as a pesticide. The 674kg shipment of basil pesto would either be destroyed or returned to its country of origin, as is the procedure for all