The Taiwan International Family Association (TIFA) yesterday called on the government to provide more assistance to immigrant spouses and foreign workers whose lives were affected by Typhoon Morakot.
“We went through many disasters in the past decade — the 921 Earthquake in 1999, the SARS epidemic in 2003 and flooding and mudslides triggered by Typhoon Morakot,” TIWA secretary-general Wu Jing-ju (吳靜如) told a press conference in Taipei. “Yet we still pretend that migrant workers and immigrants who have contributed to this country do not exist when we launch rescue and relief efforts.”
Executive director Chang Yu-hua (張育華) said it was very difficult for families and friends of foreign workers and immigrants back in their home country to know whether their loved ones were safe because “in government documentation, there is no special nationality note for immigrant spouses and migrant workers who are rescued.”
“As the Council of Labor Affairs [CLA] and the National Immigration Agency [TIFA] have lists of migrant workers and immigrant spouses and where they live, they should be able to help put out the information,” Chang said. “Otherwise, because of the language barrier, it could be a problem for immigrants to get in touch with their families back home, or vice versa.”
A Vietnamese woman known as Ah-fang (阿芳), who married a Taiwanese and moved to Taiwan three months ago, said her mother in Vietnam was very worried during the first few days before she was rescued from the disaster-torn Namasiya Township in Kaohsiung County.
“My mother saw news about the typhoon on TV and saw that many roads were damaged and bridges down. She thought I was dead,” Ah-fang said at the press conference.
“When I finally called her after I was rescued, she just cried and cried,” she said.
While A-hong (阿紅), a Vietnamese caregiver, was rescued with her employer’s family from Taoyuan Township (桃源) in Kaohsiung, but she had yet to hear back from her Vietnamese friend Doan Thi Tham.
“We lived in the same city in Vietnam and the only thing I knew about her life in Taiwan is that she was living in Siaolin Viallage [小林, Jiasian Township [甲仙], Kaohsiung County] after getting married [seven years ago],” A-hong said. “I really want to know where you [Doan] are now.”
TIFA called on the CLA and the NIA to compile a bilingual list of immigrant spouses and foreign workers and to send a copy to diplomatic missions in Taiwan.
It called on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to provide assistance to victims’ families wishing to come to Taiwan.
Immigrant spouses and foreign workers in Taiwan who need any help can contact the association at (07) 7675-462 or (02) 2280-9500.
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