Thu, Dec 23, 1999 page1

• Tent-dwellers face a bleak Christmas

  DISASTER ACCOMMODATIONS With a week left until the tents are cleared, many people who lost their homes in the quake are worried they will have nowhere to go

  • By Yu Sen-lun / STAFF REPORTER IN NANTOU COUNTY
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  With temperatures hovering at dangerously low levels across Taiwan, Chiang Lai Hui-mei (|蕞鉥f美), a resident of Puli Township, is worried.

  Chiang is one of thousands of people whose homes were destroyed by the 921 earthquake and has been forced to live in a tent ever since. But now, even the small comforts she has managed to eke out from her surroundings are likely to be taken away as the month-end deadline looms for resettlement -- and she doesn't know what she will do next.

  Chiang's "house" is part of a community of 200 tents that has sprung up on the grounds of Hung Ren Junior High School (宏?秣??). She has been "lucky" enough to have a tent next to the soccer field's goalposts, and its frame is supported by pipes and wooden sticks, covered with canvas.

  

  Some of those who lost their homes in the 921 earthquake have been living in tents since the disaster struck. This woman, who only gave her surname, Weng, has had problems getting a prefabricated house because her damaged home is not yet listed by the government as dangerous.

  PHOTO: CHIANG YING-YING, TAIPEI TIMES

  Nevertheless, it has been anything but a comfortable existence for Chiang, 60, and her 31-year-old son, who is mentally disabled. And with the weather turning nasty in the past week, life has grown increasingly harsh.

  To battle against the damp weather, Chiang at first collected wooden boards to place on the ground as beds. "But the other day, the water pipes for the showers leaked and my beds got all wet and muddy," she said.

  Coming on top of all this has been the realization that little more than a week remains until the deadline is reached for local and central governments to evacuate all victims of the quake who have been living in tents.

  

  Chiang Lai Hu-mei sits with her 31-year-old son, who is mentally disabled, in their tent in Nantou County yesterday.

  PHOTO: CHIANG YING-YING, TAIPEI TIMES

  Chiang said she was not aware of the impending deadline and did not know where she would move.

  "I need to deal with the repair of my old house, cook and feed my son, and until today nobody told me we would have to leave," she said.

  Where exactly they will go is not an easy answer for government officials to provide. The Nantou County Government, which is responsible for the bulk of those residents still living in the tents, admits that it faces a daunting task securing their resettlement in the coming week.

  "We are trying our best to accomplish the goal," said one official from the county's social affairs bureau.

  According to statistics from the Cabinet-level Post-Disaster Reconstruction Commission, dated a week ago, there are still 7,300 quake-affected residents living in tents -- 6,400 in Nantou County and 900 in Taichung County.

  In preparation for the Dec. 31 "tent-sweeping" deadline, the Nantou County government has only made specific plans to accommodate tent residents at two sites: the Ai-lan military camp (愛蘭營區) for Puli township residents and the Ming-te military camp for Nantou City residents.

  Each camp can accommodate only 200 people, and they are allowed to stay for only three months.

  "If this is not enough, we will arrange for residents to stay in temporary shelters in container trucks," he said.

  For long-term accommodation, Wu said that another two construction projects of prefab houses had been undertaken, but they would need at least another month to be completed.

  Officials say the exact number of "tent people" (帳蓬族) may be dwindling fast -- in part due to the cold weather.

  According to Puli township Mayor Chang Hung-ming (張鴻銘), as it gets colder, more people have been finding shelter with relatives.

  Puli township was one of the areas hit worst by the quake. Chang said that according to an on-the-spot inspection conducted by township officials, 440 residents remain huddled in tents, forced to endure the increasingly chilly weather of the past few days.

  Officials at the county level are dubious about the claim, however, pointing out that the figure should be closer to 1,000.

  Whatever their numbers, what cannot be disputed is that their living conditions have been sharply deteriorating in the cold weather.

  On the playground of the junior high school where Chiang lives with her son, residents have begun burning blankets on the lawn to keep warm.

  "It's freezing!" one resident said.

  "Especially in the early morning, the lawn is very damp. We had to put seven blankets underneath ourselves and use another six as covers," another said. "If we are not going to be frozen to death, we will probably be suffocated by the thick blankets."

  Some residents have been growing increasingly desperate, making use of any material they can find to fortify their dwellings against the cold.

  Several Aborigines staying in the camp claimed that they had been discriminated against by township officials.

  On the other side of the encampment, where mostly Aborigines are living, a clearly drunk woman shouted: "Why can't I stay in a prefab house!" She apparently had her application rejected because her borough chief could not verify that she had indeed been a victim of the quake.

  The cold has compounded the deep depression felt by most tent dwellers, said Wu Chi-shiung (吳志雄), a supply coordinator for the Aborigine Tung-chou Association (|P|鄖騝|).

  "When it comes to housing allocation, Aborigines are always the last group to be taken care of," said one resident, who asked to remain anonymous.
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