Due to extreme climate change and El Nino, more drastic shifts in weather are occurring than during any period in history. For example, Japan’s Hokkaido suffered bitter temperatures of below minus-30°C earlier this month. The situation could turn into a global disaster if not handled with care.
According to reports from the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and other organizations, Taiwan is one of the three countries most likely to be affected by natural disasters, as 73 percent of its population lives in areas susceptible to three types of natural disasters, while more than 90 percent of its population lives in areas that could be hit by two types of natural disasters.
Taiwan on the boundary of the Pacific Plate and the Eurasian Plate, where ocean currents, the northeast monsoons and southwest airflows meet. Its average annual rainfall of 2,500mm is more than 2.5 times higher than the global average.
The area with the highest rainfall is Huoshaoliao Creek (火燒寮溪) in New Taipei City’s Pingsi District (平溪). According to data from 1949, average annual rainfall in the area is 6,572mm, and in 1912 it set an East Asian record with annual rainfall of 8,507mm.
Taiwan has the world’s highest density of weather radars, with eight nationwide. In June last year, the Central Weather Bureau and the Water Resources Agency celebrated the launch in Taichung of the country’s newest C-band dual-polarimetric Doppler weather radar, boasting that it has the most advanced early warning functions for rainfall and flooding.
However, when torrential rains began on Aug. 23 last year, it continued for a week as the tropical depression and southwest monsoon met, causing serious floods in cities and counties south of Changhua County.
No matter how precise an early warning system is, it is simply precise. The key instead lies in proper use of national land, flood prevention and water drainage. Taiwan can only stand the test of nature by managing water systems, building reservoirs and drainage facilities, and carrying out regular maintenance.
As cities and counties in central and southern Taiwan were affected by flooding caused by the torrential rains, the Nov. 24 local elections that took place about 100 days later were also affected.
The manipulation of the election situation using a large amount of false news and empty talk was like a rerun of the Pachang Creek (八掌溪) incident in 2000, during which four workers were killed by a flash flood two months after then-president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) took office. The repeated broadcasts about the drownings due to the government’s inability to rescue them damaged Chen’s administration greatly.
Of the storage capacity at Taiwan’s 16 major reservoirs, Keelung’s Xinshan Reservoir (新山水庫) has the highest, with 90.02 percent, and Hsinchu County’s Second Baoshan Reservoir (寶山第二水庫) has the lowest at only 33.09 percent, while the average capacity of the major reservoirs is approximately 50 percent.
However, the storage capacity of local reservoirs near Kaohsiung, Tainan and Taichung, three of the country’s special municipalities, and the Southern Taiwan Science Park, Central Taiwan Science Park and Hsinchu Science Park is merely 40 percent.
As the water level of these reservoirs is below the warning line in the dry season, cross-regional supply of water is urgently needed.
Lai Ming-huang is an engineer with a doctorate in engineering from National Cheng Kung University.
Translated by Eddy Chang
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