More than a year after the Typhoon Morakot disaster, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Huang Sue-ying (黃淑英) yesterday revealed that more than half of the relief funds applied for under the Regulations Governing Charity Donations Destined For Social Welfare Funds (公益勸募條例) by 15 city and county governments were still sitting unused, languishing in various local government bank accounts.
Huang said some governments have neglected to keep detailed records of how the funds were spent, adding that in some cases the funds were used for activities that had a tenuous connection with the post-disaster reconstruction program. She said that the Nantou County Government, for example, had allocated more than NT$10 million (US$313,000) of its disaster funds budget for this year’s Taiwan-Zhejiang (Province) Cultural Festival.
“This,” she said, “was an abuse of donations made in good faith by members of the public in the aftermath of the disaster last August.”
Huang said that, from the latest information about the use of the donations posted on the Ministry of the Interior and city and county government Web sites, six of the local governments have yet to spend half of the funds allocated to them. Of these, Taichung still has NT$75 million, 88.6 percent, of its original NT$85 million allocation, Taitung County retains more than NT$120 million, or about 70 percent, of its original NT$180 million, and Nantou County still has more than NT$130 million, or 68.5 percent, of its original allocation of NT$190 million. Kaohsiung County, Chiayi County and Taipei County still have more than 50 percent of their original fund allocations sitting in their coffers.
Huang said the majority of post-disaster reconstruction efforts should have been instigated within the first year after the typhoon. However, the worst-hit areas, including Taitung County, Nantou County and Kaohsiung County, still had not touched more than half of the funds donated by the public for the relief efforts. Further questions remain as to why disaster relief funds were allocated to relatively unaffected areas such as Taichung City and Taipei County, she said, adding that no provision was made in the legislation for the transfer of funds from these areas to locations that were more seriously affected, and there was consequently no mechanism to keep tabs on where the funds went in the event that they were transferred.
In response, Huang Hung-mo (黃宏謨), deputy director of the social administration department of the ministry’s central district office, said city and county governments are expected to submit reports on the use of funds by February next year, which will be reviewed by the Control Yuan National Audit Office.
Chen Yan-cheng (陳彥丞), head of the ministry’s Department of Social Affairs, added that local governments had been asked to submit reports of how the funds were used in July this year, but of the 15 areas, only the Taipei City and Kaohsiung County governments had submitted the documents.
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