Twelve days after Typhoon Morakot lashed the nation, President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday visited Xiaolin Village (小林), Kaohsiung County — one of the hardest hit areas.
Ma was confronted by angry relatives and friends of the approximately 400 people who are believed to have died when the village was destroyed by mudslides.
An unidentified woman screamed in Ma’s face, saying a government construction project had contributed to the Xiaolin disaster by weakening the foundations of several surrounding mountains.
One man recalled comments Ma made to Britain’s ITN News in which he appeared to blame the victims for their own fate, saying they did not evacuate storm-affected areas quickly enough.
“Why are you coming here to see us only now?” the man asked in footage broadcast by several TV stations. “You keep blaming the disaster on us for not evacuating earlier. We did not receive any instruction to leave before the storm hit.”
Leading government officials in a deep bow, Ma apologized for visiting so late. After listening to grievances at a temple in Jiaxian Township (甲仙), the president promised to complete reconstruction of Xiaolin during his first term of office. The project would include establishing a reconstruction fund and possibly a memorial park or plinth, he said.
He also vowed to finish the assembly of prefabricated housing a month after a suitable location had been found. Until then, Ma said the families would receive a monthly subsidy from the county government, ranging from NT$6,000 to NT$10,000 for rent, adding that the central government had wired NT$1 billion (US$31 million) to the county treasury.
The government watchdog, the Control Yuan, plans to launch an investigation into the Water Resources Agency’s water diversion project, Ma said, adding that the Executive Yuan would also begin an inquest into the matter and the Kaohsiung District Court would conduct a judicial inquiry. Should the government be found responsible, Ma said national compensation would apply.
Ma also assured the survivors that the process of obtaining death certificates for their loved ones would be simplified.
As the typhoon season is not over, Ma urged victims’ families to evacuate should the county government deem it necessary in future.
Before he sat down with victims’ families, Ma paid respects to Chang Shun-fa (張順發) and Huang Mei-chih (黃鎂智) in Taichung City.
They were among the three crew members of a UH-1H helicopter that crashed last week in the Yila Valley in Wutai Township (霧台), Pingtung County, during relief operations.
Former vice president Annette Lu (呂秀蓮), who also attended the event, said it would not solve the problem if Ma stepped down, but the government officials responsible should be replaced as soon as possible.
Taichung Mayor Jason Hu (胡志強) said the government should listen to calls for a Cabinet reshuffle and deliver a satisfactory result, but the government’s overall performance was more important.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY AP
NATIONAL SECURITY: Authorities are working to confirm the identities of the military personnel involved and investigating possible illegal conduct and regulatory violations Authorities are probing possible national security implications after Kinmen police and immigration officers on Sunday found a Chinese woman allegedly posing as a tourist while engaging in prostitution involving more than 10 military personnel. The woman, surnamed Chen (陳), has since been deported, authorities said, adding that investigators are still working to confirm the identities of those implicated, as the records only listed code names and aliases. The case stemmed from a report received by the Kinmen District Prosecutors’ Office on Friday last week from the Jinhu Precinct of the Kinmen County Police Bureau. On Sunday, police, along with the National Immigration
GLOBALGIVING: ‘ Caving to external pressure is not acceptable for an organization that has cultivated justice reform and human rights for 30 years,’ one NGO said A slew of non-government organizations (NGOs) have withdrawn from the GlobalGiving fundraising platform after it announced it would use “Chinese Taipei” instead of “Taiwan” from next month. The Taiwan Good Rice Association wrote on Facebook on Friday that it was informed on April 28 via a teleconference call of the change, which was made because the platform wanted to operate in China. Taiwan Good Rice is to terminate all cooperative relationships with GlobalGiving in response to the platform’s “unilateral and non-negotiable” decision to remove references to Taiwan, the NGO said. “Taiwan is in the official name of Taiwan Good Rice Association and the
STAY COOL: The HPA recommended that people stay hydrated, use air-conditioning or fans while indoors, wear loose-fitting clothes and walk in the shade while outdoors Employers must implement measures such as installing cooling equipment, and providing drinking water and rest breaks for outdoor workers starting from Monday next week, the Taipei Department of Labor said on Sunday. Employers who fail to comply could face fines of NT$30,000 to NT$300,000 under the Occupational Safety and Health Act (職業安全衛生法), the department said. Businesses in Taipei employing fewer than 100 workers, as well as registered self-employed workers with labor insurance coverage, could receive on-site assessments and guidance from occupational safety consultants to help them apply for central government subsidies to implement or improve heat-protection measures, it said. Under the Ministry of
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) yesterday briefed her party’s Central Standing Committee regarding her scheduled visit to the US between Monday next week and June 16, saying that her purpose would be to persuade the US that the Republic of China (ROC) Constitution was a “one China” constitution that would foster stable and peaceful cross-strait relations. The ROC Constitution is the most important defense for all Taiwanese citizens, as it upholds our democracy and has contributed to our robust economy, which aligns with international and US interests, she said. “We would not be troublemakers and drag the US under,”
RSS