The record-breaking rainfall brought by Typhoon Morakot was the main reason behind the floods and landslides that claimed hundreds of lives, but the natural disaster couldn＊t mask the calamitous man-made errors wrought by the present government＊s dysfunctional disaster prevention and rescue system, analysts said.
President Ma Ying-jeou＊s (堜褙朐) role in rescue efforts came under the most scrutiny.
Ma failed to employ his constitutionally enshrined right to declare a state of emergency and he failed to order the mobilization of the armed forces to help stranded typhoon victims at the very beginning of the disaster, some analysts said.
They said these two decisions hobbled the much-〝criticized rescue process from the start.
Ma＊s rationale that ※to proclaim emergency decrees was unnecessary as the 11 articles in the decree are incorporated into the Disaster Prevention and Protection Act [謈?衖洐跏]§ was ※unacceptable,§ said Chan Shou-chung (轙朄蘙), a former senior legislative aide involved in writing the Act in 2000.
※The issuance of an emergency decree has a dual meaning. Politically, it declares the government＊s determination to make an all-out effort to rescue people as well as the president＊s commitment to take charge of the relief work. Apparently Ma did not want this responsibility placed upon him,§ Chan said.
Furthermore, Chan said, not all of the principles of the emergency decrees are embodied in the Act.
※For example, the central government is entitled to deploy the military when an emergency decree is applied, but the Act stipulates that local governments may request support from the army in accordance with necessary procedures,§ he said.
Speaking of the difficulty a local government has in requesting military aerial support, Yang Chiu-hsing (暩灊?), commissioner of Kaohsiung County, where hundreds of people were buried by landslides, said that the National Rescue Command Center (NRCC) did not respond to his request positively until Aug. 10.
※[The NRCC] told me that they were waiting for a green light from their superiors, and it took two days,§ Yang said.
Data on the Web site of the Ministry of National Defense showed the number of soldiers sent to help typhoon victims in the six counties and cities did not reach more than 16,858 until Aug. 12, the fifth day after the disaster, up from 740 on the first day, 2,157 on the second, 5,358 on day three and 9,121 on the fourth day.
The NRCC is a standing agency of the National Fire Administration, under the Executive Yuan, responsible for aerial or marine rescues. Established after a tragedy in 2000 when four workers were washed away in Chiayi County＊s Pachang Creek (齰翲祂) after their rescue was delayed by dithering officials, the NRCC is supposed to coordinate the deployment of the country＊s rescue resources, but the disaster has called its effectiveness into question again.
※The case highlighted how inefficient and chaotic the rescue system is,§ Chan said.
Because Ma did not declare a state of emergency nor order the military to carry out rescue operations in his capacity as commander-in-chief, responsibility for the direct relief mission shifted onto the Central Emergency Operation Center (CEOC), an ad hoc facility.
The CEOC, led by Vice Premier Paul Chiu (珂櫆磡), who doubles as the chairman of the Executive Yuan＊s National Disaster Prevention and Protection Commission, was activated on Aug. 6 after the sea warning for Typhoon Morakot was issued, with Minister of the Interior Liao Liou-yi (翍羛鴗) appointed commander.
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