The government has identified 38 Aboriginal villages unsafe or partly unsafe in the wake of last month’s devastating typhoon and will consider relocation plans for their residents, officials said yesterday.
After an initial review of 55 villages in counties hit by Typhoon Morakot, 17 were found to be safe, 31 unsafe and seven partly safe for habitation, Council of Indigenous Peoples (CIP) Minister Sun Ta-chuan (孫大川) said after the fifth meeting of the Post Typhoon Morakot Reconstruction Commission.
He said the review had been conducted by experts and covered 14 percent of the country’s 774 Aboriginal villages. The villages reviewed had populations ranging from 30 to more than 1,000, he said.
“There have been reports saying that we conducted the review by naked eye and without inspecting the places and that we disregarded the opinions of the villagers ... That is not true,” Sun said.
Sun said, however, that the experts had not been able to inspect Jiamu (佳暮) and Ali (阿里) villages in Wutai Township (霧台), Pingtung County, as the roads leading there remained blocked.
Apart from these exceptions, the villages in the report had all been inspected by experts accompanied by residents, who also gave their opinions.
The initial report was based on the inspections, aerial photos, cadastral data and records of mudslides and precipitation.
“We reached a comprehensive judgment, not a rash conclusion,” Su said.
Su declined to make public the list of unsafe and partly unsafe villages, saying the results would first be presented to concerned parties — including representatives of the communities, Aboriginal elected officials and local officials — at a meeting in Kaohsiung tomorrow.
Sun said the council would inspect more potentially unsafe villages.
At the meeting yesterday, Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) instructed the CIP to seek within three weeks the opinions of residents in unsafe areas concerning the review and possible relocation of their villages.
“We will not rush our discussions with villagers. Whether [they] intend to move will be the determining factor in relocation,” Sun said.
Sun said villagers would be fully informed of the conditions in their surroundings and the government’s plans and that their opinions would be sought.
In related developments, Council for Cultural Affairs Minister Huang Pi-twan (黃碧端) said yesterday that Morakot had damaged six national historic sites, six county-level historic sites, six historic buildings and one village designated as a cultural asset.
Huang said the council hoped to repair the damage by 2012.
Meanwhile, Council of Agriculture Minister Chen Wu-hsiung (陳武雄) said his agency would relax regulations for applying for typhoon subsidies in the wake of Morakot.
This could help nearly 9,000 households apply for government aid to repair damage to fish farms and animal husbandry facilities, Chen said.
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