The gas pipeline explosions that shook Greater Kaohsiung a couple of weeks ago could be called a system hazard, or downside risk, of chemical disasters at the national level. Since 2000, at least 14 major chemical disasters have occurred in relation to 11 listed companies, causing NT$600 million (US$20 million) in property damage alone. As for the Greater Kaohsiung blasts, the resulting property damage is likely to exceed NT$2 billion.
This latest disaster is a creeping “python crisis,” as opposed to a sudden-strike “cobra crisis” like the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks in the US. The truth of the matter is coming to light bit by bit. It shows how little risk awareness Taiwanese have and how, over a long period, Taiwanese have put up with a crowd of haughty rulers who hold all the power, and run the country in connivance with corrupt businesses and corporations.
This is the clique that has the real power to control and allocate Taiwan’s resources, always making itself the greatest beneficiary. Like a python, it grips the nation firmly in its coils, frequently hoodwinking the public, but always shirking its responsibility when things go wrong. This serpent winds its way through all departments of government and saps the nation’s motivational force.
When responding to a crisis, central and local governments’ foremost priority should be helping those directly affected to rebuild. The authorities should take a broad approach, acting quickly to allocate resources and money as needed.
With regard to possible disasters, all government authorities in Taiwan set aside annual disaster reserve funds. It is rather like “self-insurance,” which is one way of combining risk preparedness with wealth management.
Very occasionally, local governments’ disaster reserve funds may be used up entirely and the central government may then make up the difference to cover actual expenditure. Basically, it is a pro rata distribution approach.
Since this is a disaster on a national scale, the central government should take a generous view of it. If necessary, laws and regulations may be amended to handle the crisis. Having established who bears administrative responsibility for the disaster, the central government can then invoke its right of subrogation.
This is a national-level disaster that arose from systemic problems at the local level and it is just the tip of the iceberg. Government departments, such as state-run enterprises, should move fast to reorganize their emergency response to disasters that could happen anywhere in the country, in ways that respect the choices of local people.
More attention should be paid to routine management and control before disasters happen. For example, more money should be invested in disaster-prevention monitoring systems, both static and mobile, to detect faults and leaks, instead of investing in monitoring devices that serve political purposes.
Firefighting and emergency response personnel should be redistributed and integrated. The burden of insurance protection for firefighters and emergency response personnel, whose jobs entail a high degree of risk, should follow the user-pays principle, with companies responsible for accidents paying the contributions, or else government authorities could establish an environmental disaster liability fund for related companies to pay into for the same purpose.
The ruling authorities and industrial companies had better pay more attention to regular risk management, otherwise, no matter how much money or power they have squeezed out of the public, they will end up being bankrupted and driven out.
Lai Li-hua is a professor in the Department of Risk Management and Insurance at National Kaohsiung First University of Science and Technology.
Translated by Julian Clegg
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