In facing the threat of Super Typhoon Ragasa last month, the Kaohsiung City Government activated pre-emptive evacuation warnings 48 hours before the storm, while the Hualien County Government maintained an observational stance — even after a red alert was issued.
As a result, residents in one area were safely evacuated, while on the other side, 19 people who had not been properly evacuated were swept away by muddy floodwater when a barrier lake in the Mataian River (馬太鞍) burst. The difference was not weather, but governance.
I am an elementary-school teacher who has lived in southern Hualien for more than 24 years. I witnessed Hualien’s Guangfu Township (光復) being engulfed in a sea of black mud that swallowed homes. The destructiveness of natural disasters is heartbreaking, but what pains me the most is repeated human error.
Who is still pretending? Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus whip Fu Kun-chi (傅?萁) said that the central government did not assist in evacuating Guangfu’s 8,000 residents, yet he failed to mention that implementing evacuations is the responsibility of local governments. To what extent exactly should the central government have stepped in on Hualien County’s behalf? And why was Kaohsiung successful?
The alert was originally issued at 7am on Sept. 22, 31 hours before the barrier lake burst — one day and seven hours was more than enough time. The county government did not take action. Hualien County Commissioner Hsu Chen-wei (徐榛蔚) was on a trip in South Korea at the time. Her first move upon returning was not to hold a disaster prevention meeting, but to issue a statement for the record that evacuation was complete.
When questioned by disaster victims, the county government could only offer “rice cookers and washing machines” as compensation. That is not aid for residents, it is an insult. While the central government, civilian volunteers and the military were shoveling mud in the streets, the Hualien County Government was posing for photos.
Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said in a legislative hearing on Tuesday that Fu is not concerned with the lives of disaster victims, but with rescuing his own political career. Cho’s words were vivid, written in blood and tears.
The residents of Hualien must wake up. With mud now cleared, the truth can no longer remain buried. This crisis was more than a natural disaster — it was a failure in local governance.
If we let county government leaders get away with this, then the next disaster’s list of victims would include even more familiar names. Can we really bear to let such a thing happen again?
Hsieh Chia-hao is an elementary-school teacher in Hualien County.
Translated by Kyra Gustavsen
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