Rescue and cleanup work after the Morakot catastrophe entered its 11th day yesterday, as the focus shifted from rescue to retrieval of bodies and funeral arrangements.
Soldiers yesterday began using small flagpoles to mark the spots in Xiaolin Village (小林), Kaohsiung County, where bodies or portions of bodies had been found. They found three bodies and some 30 sets of remains.
Xiaolin survivors say about 500 residents were buried under the 15m of mud that covers their former homes.
The survivors were divided yesterday over whether to agree to move to a new site in Wulipu (五里埔), where the government wants them to relocate.
Kaohsiung County Commissioner Yang Chiu-hsing (楊秋興) announced on Monday that the government had chosen a 40-hectare site in Wulipu, which is near Xiaolin.
One survivor said the remaining villagers should rely on themselves instead of the government to rebuild their homes at Wulipu.
“If Xiaolin villagers can stop crying, then the whole of Taiwan will stop crying, because we have made it through, and no one has suffered more than we have,” he said.
One elderly woman said she would never return to Xiaolin.
“I lost some 40 members of my family there. I do not want those memories to be brought back,” she said.
At a makeshift morgue in Cishan Township (旗山), a senior police officer told Agence France-Presse that only 50 bodies had been processed because they were badly damaged and would require DNA identification.
“We have been working around-the-clock here for days. But while we hope to help families recover the bodies of their loved ones on the mountain, it is not easy to find them. The mud they were buried in is often a few stories high,” said the officer, who gave only his surname, Chang.
US military helicopters joined the relief operations yesterday, lifting excavation equipment into areas that have been cut off for 10 days by flooding and mudslides.
TV footage showed heavy-lift military helicopters carrying crane shovels into the disaster area to help speed up repairs to blocked roads.
A spokesman for the Army’s 8th Legion, Hu Jui-chou (胡瑞舟), said the US helicopters will return to the Austin-class USS Denver, which is anchored offshore near Tainan, when they finish their work each day.
The Ministry of National Defense will pay for the cost of using the US helicopters, such as fuel.
Rescue officials and tribal elders said rescue operations continued at a slow pace yesterday as many typhoon victims, mostly Aboriginal, refused to leave cut-off villages, fearing they would not be allowed to return.
Central Emergency Operations Center (CEOC) commander Mao Chi-kuo (毛治國) has said the military may have to start removing people by force because it would be too expensive to airlift food and supplies to villages in the six months it is expected to take to rebuild roads.
The government’s casualty count stood at 128 dead and 307 missing yesterday, not including those possibly buried in the Xiaolin landslide.
In related news, National Fire Administration Director-General Huang Chi-min (黃季敏) collapsed at the CECOC around noon, apparently because of fatigue and work pressure.
He fell to the floor unconscious and began foaming at the mouth. He was rushed to West Garden Hospital in Taipei City’s Wanhua District (萬華) for treatment.
The hospital said Huang had regained consciousness and his condition was not life threatening. Further examinations were needed because he struck his head on the floor when he fell and because the reason for his collapse remained unclear, the hospital said.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY JIMMY CHUANG AND CNA
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake struck off the coast of Hualien County in eastern Taiwan at 7pm yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The epicenter of the temblor was at sea, about 69.9km south of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 30.9km, it said. There were no immediate reports of damage resulting from the quake. The earthquake’s intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was highest in Taitung County’s Changbin Township (長濱), where it measured 5 on Taiwan’s seven-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 4 in Hualien, Nantou, Chiayi, Yunlin, Changhua and Miaoli counties, as well as
Taiwan is to have nine extended holidays next year, led by a nine-day Lunar New Year break, the Cabinet announced yesterday. The nine-day Lunar New Year holiday next year matches the length of this year’s holiday, which featured six extended holidays. The increase in extended holidays is due to the Act on the Implementation of Commemorative and Festival Holidays (紀念日及節日實施條例), which was passed early last month with support from the opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party. Under the new act, the day before Lunar New Year’s Eve is also a national holiday, and Labor Day would no longer be limited
COMMITMENTS: The company had a relatively low renewable ratio at 56 percent and did not have any goal to achieve 100 percent renewable energy, the report said Pegatron Corp ranked the lowest among five major final assembly suppliers in progressing toward Apple Inc’s commitment to be 100 percent carbon neutral by 2030, a Greenpeace East Asia report said yesterday. While Apple has set the goal of using 100 percent renewable energy across its entire business, supply chain and product lifecycle by 2030, carbon emissions from electronics manufacturing are rising globally due to increased energy consumption, it said. Given that carbon emissions from its supply chain accounted for more than half of its total emissions last year, Greenpeace East Asia evaluated the green transition performance of Apple’s five largest final
Taiwan is to extend its visa-waiver program for Philippine passport holders for another year, starting on Aug. 1, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said on Friday. Lin made the announcement during a reception in Taipei marking the 127th anniversary of Philippine independence and the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the Manila Economic and Cultural Office (MECO) in Taiwan, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. The decision reflected Taiwan’s commitment to deepening exchanges with the Philippines, the statement cited Lin as saying, adding that it was a key partner under the New Southbound Policy launched in 2016. Lin also expressed hope
RSS