The death toll from Typhoon Toraji rose to 61 yesterday as rescue teams scoured the hardest-hit areas for remaining survivors. There was little hope that another 152 missing individuals would be found as rescue efforts pressed beyond the critical first 72 hours.
The destruction which the storm wrought was the worst in nearly four decades, since Typhoon Gloria left 312 dead in its wake in 1963.
Raging waters and mudslides, which swept away or buried homes, cars, bridges and mountain roads, were responsible for most of the fatalities, officials said.
PHOTO: TUNG CHEN-KUO, TAIPEI TIMES
President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), accompanied by Premier Chang Chun-hsiung (張俊雄) and other cabinet officials, yesterday made an inspection tour of typhoon-hit areas, including Hualien and Nantou counties.
Arriving in Hualien's Dahsin community yesterday morning, Chen was immediately besieged by sobbing families of victims, many on their knees, who urged the government to help them with local reconstruction work.
"The flood rose this high," one of community residents cried, raising his arms high above his head and recalling the typhoon's destructive power. "We nearly drowned."
PHOTO: HSIEH CHIEH-YU, TAIPEI TIMES
"Both of my parents are missing. I must have lost them," another tearful resident said.
Saying he empathized with them, Chen told residents that "the government's priority is to find those who are missing and find housing for those made homeless."
He also instructed the premier to establish a special ministerial task force to address issues such as a possible mass relocation of residents of the flooded areas, river dredging and reconstruction efforts.
PHOTO: LU CHANG-PING, TAIPEI TIMES
Responding to Chen's remarks, Chang said that the task force would be officially formed today to be headed by Minister without Portfolio Huang Jung-tsun (
"The government feels the pain suffered by the people," Chang said, vowing to pull out all the stops to provide victims with relief.
Chen, along with his entourage, later expressed their condolences to the families of deceased police officers, Lin The-fu (林德夫) and Tsai Cheng-tsai (蔡振財), who died when their patrol car was buried beneath a mudslide.
While in Nantou County later in the afternoon, Chen instructed the Cabinet to coordinate with the legislative caucus leaders of the various political parties to allocate a sufficient relief budget for the devastated county, which also suffered considerably during the 921 earthquake.
He also urged government agencies to restore power supplies, telecommunications links and transportation services as soon as possible in the county.
Expressing her sorrow, Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) yesterday also arrived in hard-hit Nantou County to receive County Commissioner Peng Pai-hsien's (彭百顯) report on the typhoon's damage.
"My heart feels heavy when I see what has happened to Nantou County," Lu said, adding that she would ask the central government to help local governments with relief efforts.
The typhoon killed 24 in Hualien and 17 in Nantou, even after it weakened into a tropical storm after making landfall. In addition, there are 37 missing and 14 injured in Hualien, while the typhoon left 18 injured and 92 missing in Nantou.
According to the National Fire Administration's Disaster Rescue Command Center, there were still 11 Nantou residents trapped by disrupted transportation due to mudslides. The landslides also stranded 700 Taichung residents in Sungho village.
The center said there were 43 mudslides, most of them located in Nantou County, where the seismic activity has made the county prone to mudflows.
According to Taiwan Power Company, the typhoon was responsible for power outages at 349,013 households. The company estimated that by midnight tonight some 9,628 households would still have no power supply.
"The resumption of power to these households may be delayed because of traffic disruption," the company said.
Most of the electricity shortages occurred in Nantou, Hualien and on Alishan (阿里山) in Chiayi County, the company said.
The disaster rescue center said there were 109 road problems -- most of which in the Nantou and Taichung areas.
Railway services along the western coast have been suspended due to damage from flash floods, but are expected to resume today.
The Hualien-Taitung line, however, is expected to remain closed for over two weeks for structural repairs to the bridges along the line.
Typhoon Toraji also caused a loss of phone communication services to over 70,887 households.
Meanwhile, because water has been contaminated by soil and mud washed down from mountain areas, some 449,325 households in Hualien, Nantou, Miaoli, Chiayi and the Taichung area remain without water.
Agricultural and livestock losses caused by the typhoon have been estimated at over NT$1.28 billion.
Around 26,078 hectares of farmland were damaged by the storm, while 6,032 pigs, 242,000 chickens, 4,000 geese, 49,000 ducks, 30 goats and 50 cattlewere reportedly killed.
After hitting Taiwan, Toraji slammed into southeast China's Fujian province, officials in China said yesterday.
Fujian television reported that nearly 3,000 people were evacuated from low-lying areas before the storm hit, and that there were no immediate reports of casualties.
GAINING STEAM: The scheme initially failed to gather much attention, with only 188 cards issued in its first year, but gained popularity amid the COVID-19 pandemic Applications for the Employment Gold Card have increased in the past few years, with the card having been issued to a total of 13,191 people from 101 countries since its introduction in 2018, the National Development Council (NDC) said yesterday. Those who have received the card have included celebrities, such as former NBA star Dwight Howard and Australian-South Korean cheerleader Dahye Lee, the NDC said. The four-in-one Employment Gold Card combines a work permit, resident visa, Alien Resident Certificate (ARC) and re-entry permit. It was first introduced in February 2018 through the Act Governing Recruitment and Employment of Foreign Professionals (外國專業人才延攬及雇用法),
RESILIENCE: Deepening bilateral cooperation would extend the peace sustained over the 45 years since the Taiwan Relations Act, Greene said Taiwan-US relations are built on deep economic ties and shared values, American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) Director Raymond Greene said yesterday, adding that strengthening supply chain security in critical industries, enhancing societal resilience through cooperation and deepening partnerships are key to ensuring peace and stability for Taiwan in the years ahead. Greene made the remarks at the National Security Youth Forum, organized by National Taiwan University’s National Security and Strategy Studies Institution in Taipei. In his address in Mandarin Chinese, Greene said the Taiwan-US relationship is built on deep economic ties and shared interests, and grows stronger through the enduring friendship between
CAUTION URGED: Xiaohongshu and Douyin — the Chinese version of TikTok — are tools the Chinese government uses for its ‘united front’ propaganda, the MAC said Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) yesterday urged people who use Chinese social media platforms to be cautious of being influenced by Beijing’s “united front” propaganda and undermining Taiwan’s sovereignty. Chiu made the remarks in response to queries about Chinese academic Zhang Weiwei (張維為) saying that as young Taiwanese are fond of interacting on Chinese app Xiaohongshu (小紅書, known as RedNote in English), “after unification with China, it would be easier to govern Taiwan than Hong Kong.” Zhang is professor of international relations at Shanghai’s Fudan University and director of its China Institute. When giving a speech at China’s Wuhan
ENHANCE DETERRENCE: Taiwan has to display ‘fierce resolve’ to defend itself for China to understand that the costs of war outweigh potential gains, Koo said Taiwan’s armed forces must reach a high level of combat readiness by 2027 to effectively deter a potential Chinese invasion, Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo (顧立雄) said in an interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (sister newspaper of the Taipei Times) published yesterday. His comments came three days after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told the US Senate that deterring a Chinese attack on Taiwan requires making a conflict “cost more than what it’s worth.” Rubio made the remarks in response to a question about US policy on Taiwan’s defense from Republican Senator John Cornyn, who said that Chinese