The money donated to people hurt in the Color Play Asia disaster at the Formosa Fun Coast (八仙海岸) water park in New Taipei City’s Bali District (八里) is to be distributed based on the severity of their injuries as assessed by doctors, the donation management committee said on Tuesday.
The families of the people who died as a result of the June 27 fire will each receive NT$8.25 million (US$250,973), the committee said.
An amount between NT$65,000 and NT$6.5 million will be given to each of the injured victims according to the severity of their injuries, New Taipei City Public Health Department Commissioner Lin Chi-hung (林奇宏) said, adding that the injuries will be ranked on a scale from 1 to 10, with 10 being the most severe.
Lin said the donations will be distributed in four phases.
Taiwan Society for Burn Injuries and Wound Healing president Dai Niann-tzy (戴念梓) said that while doctors will determine the severity of patients’ injuries, the patients’ families will have the right to request a reassessment.
Donations had reached more than NT$1.61 billion as of the end of last month, New Taipei City Social Welfare Department Commissioner Chang Chin-li (張錦麗) said.
She said the money would be used to help with the recovery and rehabilitation of patients.
A total of 508 people were injured and 12 died as a result of the fire, which broke out when a colored cornstarch powder ignited during a party.
As of Thursday last week, 1,107 people remained hospitalized, with 19 in intensive care units and 12 listed in a critical condition, Ministry of Health and Welfare statistics showed.
The military has spotted two Chinese warships operating in waters near Penghu County in the Taiwan Strait and sent its own naval and air forces to monitor the vessels, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said. Beijing sends warships and warplanes into the waters and skies around Taiwan on an almost daily basis, drawing condemnation from Taipei. While the ministry offers daily updates on the locations of Chinese military aircraft, it only rarely gives details of where Chinese warships are operating, generally only when it detects aircraft carriers, as happened last week. A Chinese destroyer and a frigate entered waters to the southwest
A magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck off the coast of Yilan County at 8:39pm tonight, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, with no immediate reports of damage or injuries. The epicenter was 38.7km east-northeast of Yilan County Hall at a focal depth of 98.3km, the CWA’s Seismological Center said. The quake’s maximum intensity, which gauges the actual physical effect of a seismic event, was a level 4 on Taiwan’s 7-tier intensity scale, the center said. That intensity level was recorded in Yilan County’s Nanao Township (南澳), Hsinchu County’s Guansi Township (關西), Nantou County’s Hehuanshan (合歡山) and Hualien County’s Yanliao (鹽寮). An intensity of 3 was
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s comment last year on Tokyo’s potential reaction to a Taiwan-China conflict has forced Beijing to rewrite its invasion plans, a retired Japanese general said. Takaichi told the Diet on Nov. 7 last year that a Chinese naval blockade or military attack on Taiwan could constitute a “survival-threatening situation” for Japan, potentially allowing Tokyo to exercise its right to collective self-defense. Former Japan Ground Self-Defense Force general Kiyofumi Ogawa said in a recent speech that the remark has been interpreted as meaning Japan could intervene in the early stages of a Taiwan Strait conflict, undermining China’s previous assumptions
Taiwan Railways Corp (TRC) today announced that Shin Kong Mitsukoshi has been selected as the preferred bidder to operate the Taipei Railway Station shopping mall, replacing the current operator, Breeze Development Co Ltd. Among eight qualified firms that delivered presentations and were evaluated by a review committee, Shin Kong Mitsukoshi was ranked first, while Breeze was named the runner-up, the rail company said in a statement. Contract negotiations are to proceed in accordance with regulations, it said, adding that if negotiations with the top bidder fail, it could invite the second-ranked applicant to enter talks. Breeze in a statement today expressed doubts over