The first 154 permanent houses built in Pingtung County’s Changjhih Township (長治) for residents displaced by Typhoon Morakot were officially declared ready for occupancy yesterday ahead of the first anniversary of the disaster tomorrow.
The community will house Morakot victims from seven Aboriginal villages in Wutai (霧台) and Sandimen (三地門) townships.
It is the second Morakot housing project sponsored by the Buddhist Compassionate Relief Tzu Chi Foundation to open. The first, which opened in February, is in Kaohsiung County’s Shanlin Township (杉林).
PHOTO: CNA
Presiding over the opening ceremony along with Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義), President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) urged the public to applaud Tzu Chi for its efforts to help victims of the disaster.
Ma dismissed criticism from certain quarters that Tzu Chi was disrupting life in the community by organizing on-site visits to Shanlin by “outsiders,” arguing that the visitors bring business opportunities that are crucial to the livelihoods of the residents.
The president said post-disaster reconstruction involves not only the rebuilding of homes but also the rebuilding of industries in the affected areas.
Post-Morakot reconstruction work has been highly efficient, thanks mainly to the private sector’s participation. This experience of public-private sector cooperation has established a model for future reconstruction, he said.
Ma later inspected another community for Morakot victims in Pingtung that was built by World Vision Taiwan in Majia Township (瑪家).
Earlier yesterday in Taipei, the Executive Yuan called a press conference marking the first anniversary of Morakot, which caused landslides and flooding that killed more than 600 people in Taiwan.
Reporting on the progress in reconstruction efforts, Chern Jenn-chuan (陳振川), deputy minister of the Public Construction Commission who also serves as vice chairman of the Executive Yuan’s Post-Typhoon Morakot Reconstruction Commission, said the commission had inspected 291 sites damaged by the storm. Of those, 136 were considered safe to live in and 155 unsafe, he said.
About three-quarters of the affected people were Aborigines, Chern said, adding that one-third of the victims chose to move from their hometowns.
Chern said that the permanent houses built or to be built in 30 sites to accommodate people living in unsafe areas have a total capacity of 2,583 households.
“The percentage of people who registered to live in permanent houses and have moved into new homes will reach 70.01 percent by tomorrow,” he said.
To ensure the safety of those residents who chose to stay in their own villages, especially those designated unsafe during rainy seasons, the government has also built nearby evacuation sites, he said.
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