The death toll caused by the series of gas explosions in Greater Kaohsiung last Thursday night has reached 30, with 310 people injured. The disaster has forced Taiwan to reconsider the city’s position as an industrial center; built on a spiderweb of petrochemical pipelines, many of its residential areas sit on top of a ticking time bomb.
In 1997, a propene leak at the city’s Jhensing Bridge resulted in an explosion that killed 14 people and injured dozens, but the central and local governments did not learn from this incident.
The area might have been uninhabited when the pipelines were laid, but the subsequent decision to allow residential development in the area was a mistake, which was further aggravated by allowing underground water culverts to intersect petrochemical pipelines, increasing the rate of corrosion and wear on the pipelines.
These pipelines had not been managed for a long time prior to the explosions, because the central and local governments were arguing over who was responsible for their maintenance.
LCY Chemical Corp chairman Bowei Lee (李謀偉) says that the pipelines have been maintained on a regular basis by state-run CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC), which CPC denies. If LCY Chemical’s pipelines have not been inspected, maintained and repaired on a regular basis, that raises questions about other petrochemical plants.
Following previous major disasters, such as the 921 Earthquake or Typhoon Morakot, the government had issued special regulations and special budgets to handle post-disaster reconstruction, and established dedicated agencies to handle post-disaster relief, housing and reconstruction efforts.
Now, however, the government has said that there will be “no special budget, no special regulations and no special agency” in Greater Kaohsiung.
This divergent treatment has drawn strong protests from Greater Kaohsiung legislators of both the ruling and opposition parties.
The Cabinet’s “three noes” policy is a political decision taken with the Nov. 29 nine-in-one elections in mind.
The time that elapsed between the propene leak being reported and it being dealt with, and communications with the concerned companies must be investigated. Despite this, Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu (陳菊) of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) has acted efficiently and tirelessly, leaving little cause for ill-feeling among the disaster victims.
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) does not want to provide the city with funds and manpower in the run-up to the elections, as it would only improve Chen’s current lead. Thus, the party wants to withhold aid and use dissatisfaction among the disaster victims to influence the elections and bring Chen down.
Deputy Minister of Economic Affairs Woody Duh (杜紫軍) said that responsibility for the disaster should be assigned to “whoever approved, receives money and manages” the pipelines.
Vice President Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) approved the laying of the pipelines; the petrochemical industry pays NT$110 billion (US$3.6 billion) in taxes every year, but most of that goes to the central government, which only redistributes part of it to Greater Kaohsiung; and the central and local governments are still arguing over who should be in charge of managing the pipelines.
The central government should pay more for the disaster than Greater Kaohsiung, which has long suffered from the air and water pollution and the industrial risks caused by the petrochemical industry, negatively impacting the city’s development. The advantages of industrial development have been hijacked by Taipei and the central government.
Therefore, the post-disaster work should address the issue of bringing justice, in terms of economic development, to Greater Kaohsiung.
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