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MORAKOT: THE AFTERMATH: UN gives positive evaluation about typhoon response

A resident of Guanglin Village in Pingtung County points at the mud-filled street behind her house yesterday. The woman, surnamed Lin, says her home has no running water and she cannot stand living in such an environment much longer. PHOTO: KUO CHING-HUI, TAIPEI TIMES

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has given a positive evaluation of Taiwan’s response operations in the aftermath of Typhoon Morakot, after OCHA sent a mission to Taiwan to assess the country’s humanitarian needs.

The OCHA disaster assessment and coordination mission, which was in Taiwan from Monday to Friday, reported that there was “a large and seemingly well coordinated capacity of government as well as civilian actors on the ground.”

The team visited the seven most severely affected villages in Kaohsiung County and also the southern coastal areas of Pingtung County where a massive clean-up operation involving 13,000 people was in progress, the report said.

Another disaster relief team dispatched by the Japanese International Cooperation Agency during the same period has not come across any serious health problems in the shelters, the OCHA report said.

The Japanese team focused its support on displaced individuals housed in temporary shelters in Kaohsiung County.

Meanwhile, the US Pacific Command has concluded its humanitarian operations in Taiwan, with cargo planes and helicopters conducting a total of 55 missions to deliver relief supplies and 20 pieces of excavation equipment to affected areas, the report said.

Japan continues to provide relief supplies to Kaohsiung County, while 600 of the 1,000 prefabricated houses donated by China have reached Taiwan, it said.

“The international community continues to express concern and send donations to assist authorities in Taipei to conduct residual relief and reconstruction activities,” the report said.

To date, 77 countries, the EU and 20 international organizations have donated NT$137 million (US$4.2 million) in funds to Taiwan, the report said.

The official figures released by Taiwanese authorities show that as of Wednesday, the disaster caused by Morakot had left 461 people dead and 254 others missing, but the real death toll might never be known because there were many feared buried alive in mountainous villages.
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