The military will devote more time and effort to help in disaster relief work and other emergency services to better serve the people, President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said yesterday.
Ma said the military was praised by the public for helping with the relief and reconstruction work in the wake of Typhoon Morakot, and sending out planes to help carry homebound travelers on Saturday. He said he expected the military to provide more emergency services in addition to defending the nation.
“The military demonstrated its spirit by helping with the reconstruction of the disaster-hit areas and carrying people home for the holidays. Disaster relief work and helping civilians will be new priorities for the military,” Ma said while visiting the Taipei Veteran’s House to give Lunar New Year greetings to the residents.
Ma praised the Ministry of National Defense for deploying C-130 transport planes that carried more than 1,400 passengers to fog-bound Kinmen in time for the Lunar New Year holidays. Dense fog on Thursday and Friday led to the cancelation of many commercial flights to the island, stranding thousands of people headed home for the holidays.
The military also played a key role after Morakot hit central and southern Taiwan last August, deploying helicopters and planes that flew more than 5,000 rescue and evacuation missions, the president said.
Soldiers were stationed in the disaster-hit areas to work on reconstruction projects, he said.
The military’s assistance in completing a temporary village in Taitung County last week was a good example of the close cooperation between the military and civilians in the reconstruction work, he said.
“In addition to defending the nation, the military plays a key role in building the nation,” Ma said.
The Taipei Department of Health yesterday said it has launched a probe into a restaurant at Far Eastern Sogo Xinyi A13 Department Store after a customer died of suspected food poisoning. A preliminary investigation on Sunday found missing employee health status reports and unsanitary kitchen utensils at Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) in the department store’s basement food court, the department said. No direct relationship between the food poisoning death and the restaurant was established, as no food from the day of the incident was available for testing and no other customers had reported health complaints, it said, adding that the investigation is ongoing. Later
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