Who shoulders flood burden?
Typhoon Nesat brought torrential rain to Taipei, leading to more than 50 cars being swamped after floodgates near the Bailing Bridge (百齡橋) were closed.
In response, Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) said defiantly that every person should take responsibility for their own behavior instead of casting the blame on the government.
At first hearing, Ko’s words seemed to make sense.
However, on second thought, if city residents are asked to take responsibility for everything by themselves, what is the purpose of having a mayor?
We might as well abolish the city government entirely.
There is nothing wrong with asking people to take responsibility, but it has to be built on the prerequisite that the city government has executed its duty of notifying residents in advance, followed by giving them ample time to move their cars. The incident showed that the Taipei City Government failed to do so.
Some residents said that by the time they had received the flood notifications and went to move their vehicles, the gates had already been closed. It is hardly the residents’ fault that they wanted to move their cars, but had no way to do so.
Taipei’s standard disaster response procedures say that the city government should first send alerts to city residents, and if there are people who were unable to move their vehicles in time, the government has the right to tow their cars away and later issue tickets. If the government had followed the standard procedures, the flood-damaged car controversies would not have occurred. It is only reasonable that Ko’s administration shoulders the blame.
Commenting on the issue, former Taipei deputy mayor Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) said that if the city government notifications were delayed, then it should compensate residents for any damage incurred. Huang’s response was a more acceptable, equitable solution for the public.
Disaster prevention should be a responsibility shared by city residents and the city government. Ko cannot lay all the blame on residents, and should instead demonstrate his leadership by determining the responsibility and accountability of his officials.
Since Ko was not in Taipei to command the city’s disaster response on the day of the flooding, and the city government failed to follow the existing procedures, Ko and his government had absolutely no right to ask people to take responsibility themselves.
Hu Yen-chih
Taipei
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