In a move to promote environmental awareness, the Ministry of the Interior yesterday launched an electronic epitaph platform on its nationwide funeral information portal, enabling people to mourn the passing of their loved ones through the “green” practice.
The platform enables applicants to select a government official — from the president, ministers and legislators to the heads of agencies under the five yuans — as the epitaph’s presenter after applicants gain the officials’ approval.
Department of Civil Affairs Deputy Director-General Huang Cheng-hsiung (黃正雄) said that generally, the platform is to be used by government agencies to express condolences to family members of the deceased.
People who wish to request certain politicians issue an epitaph, for example a legislator, should notify them of the date and location of the funeral, he said.
Once a request is approved, a one-time user account and password is generated and sent to the legislator’s staff, who can then log on to the platform to issue the epitaphs, Huang said, adding that the authentication mechanism helps to ascertain the identities of both the recipient and sender.
Upon receiving confirmation of the issue, family members can select the gender of the deceased, and the system will automatically generate a selection of suitable epitaphs for them to choose to be projected on screens set up at the funeral.
Statistics published by the ministry show more than 73,000 bodies were cremated last year, with every funeral using an estimated 20 epitaphs, each costing about NT$150.
The electronic epigraphs could therefore save the public up to NT$220 million (US$6.98 million) annually and cut about 120 tonnes of carbon emissions annually, the ministry said.
The service is currently available at 65 public mortuaries in Keelung, Taipei, New Taipei City, Greater Taichung, Greater Kaohsiung and Chiayi City, as well as Taoyuan and Yilan counties.
The ministry said that it would promote the use of the service and hopes to set up projectors and screens at all public mortuaries in the nation by the end of next year for displaying the epitaphs.
As of October, a trial run of electronic epitaphs by the Taipei City Government in Chinghsing and Chingyang halls at the city’s two funeral parlors have received nearly 8,000 applications since its launch in September 2012, cutting more than 11,000kg in waste annually.
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