Taiwan is coordinating public and private resources to assist the Philippines after Typhoon Haiyan devastated parts of the Southeast Asian country last week, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday.
“Our representative office in Manila conveyed a message of sympathy on behalf of our government and people to the Philippines right after the storm hit on Nov. 8,” ministry spokeswoman Anna Kao (高安) said in an interview.
The government is donating US$200,000 to the post-disaster relief efforts in the Philippines, Kao said.
Photo: CNA
She added that the ministry was coordinating with local non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and charities to work out how best to help with the relief efforts in the Philippines.
Meanwhile, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) donated US$10,000 to the Philippine government for disaster relief.
DPP Chairman Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) instructed Department of International Affairs Director Liu Shih-chung (劉世忠), who was in Manila for a Council of Asian Liberals and Democrats (CALD) meeting, to make the donation.
DPP Legislator Hsiao Bikhim (蕭美琴) also donated US$1,000.
In related news, a Taiwanese man who has been teaching at a Chinese-language school in Tacloban, one of the hardest-hit regions, has reported that he is safe.
The man, surnamed Tseng (曾), who has been teaching at the school as alternative military service, was quoted by a school administrator as saying that he had telephoned his family to let them know that he was safe.
Taiwan Root Medical Peace Corps (TRMPC) president Liu Chi-chun (劉啟群) yesterday said that his group would provide free medical services from Thursday through Nov. 21 in the hardest-hit areas of the Philippines.
Liu said volunteers from his group would travel to the storm-battered regions in the central Philippines with assistance from the local Rotary Club and Taiwanese businesspeople operating there.
TRMPC, one of the nation’s best-known medical NGOs, has been offering medical services or emergency humanitarian aid to disadvantaged Filipino citizens annually since 2000, with the exception of 2003, when Taiwan was hit by an outbreak of SARS, Liu said.
He said that the upcoming emergency relief work in the Philippines would not affect the group’s scheduled medical service trip to Haiti from Sunday through Nov. 29.
Volunteers from the corps’ branch in the US will also join the Hati mission, he added.
Kenting National Park service technician Yang Jien-fon (楊政峰) won a silver award in World Grand Prix Photography Awards Spring Season for his photograph of two male rat snakes intertwined in combat. Yang’s colleagues at Kenting National Park said he is a master of nature photography who has been held back by his job in civil service. The awards accept entries in all four seasons across six categories: architectural and urban photography, black-and-white and fine art photography, commercial and fashion photography, documentary and people photography, nature and experimental photography, and mobile photography. Awards are ranked according to scores and divided into platinum, gold and
SPACE VETERAN: Kjell N. Lindgren, who helps lead NASA’s human spaceflight missions, has been on two expeditions on the ISS and has spent 311 days in space Taiwan-born US astronaut Kjell N. Lindgren is to visit Taiwan to promote technological partnerships through one of the programs organized by the US for its 250th national anniversary. Lindgren would be in Taiwan from Tuesday to Saturday next week as part of the US Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs’ US Speaker Program, organized to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) said in a statement yesterday. Lindgren plans to engage with key leaders across the nation “to advance cutting-edge technological partnerships and inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers,”
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus yesterday said it opposes the introduction of migrant workers from India until a mechanism is in place to prevent workers from absconding. Minister of Labor Hung Sun-han (洪申翰) on Thursday told the Legislative Yuan that the first group of migrant workers from India could be introduced as early as this year, as part of a government program. The caucus’ opposition to the policy is based on the assessment that “the risk is too high,” KMT caucus secretary-general Lin Pei-hsiang (林沛祥) said. Taiwan has a serious and long-standing problem of migrant workers absconding from their contracts, indicating that
TRADE-OFF: Beijing seeks to trade a bowl of tempura for a Chinese delicacy, an official said, while another said its promises were attempts to interfere in the polls The government must carefully consider the national security implications of building a bridge connecting Kinmen County and Xiamen, China, the Public Construction Commission (PCC) said yesterday. PCC Commissioner Derek Chen (陳金德), who is also a minister without portfolio, made the remarks in a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee, after Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Hsu Fu-kuei (徐富癸) asked about China’s proposal of new infrastructure projects to further connect Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties with Xiamen. China unveiled the bridge plan, along with nine other policies for Taiwan, on Sunday, the last day of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun’s (鄭麗文) visit
RSS