About 8,600 people downstream from a barrier lake in the Mataian River (馬太鞍溪) would be evacuated on Sunday or Monday as a stress test of disaster response capabilities in preparation for a projected typhoon, Central Emergency Operation Center chief coordinator Chi Lien-cheng (季連成) said yesterday.
The center would enact a three-phased compulsory evacuation of residents 24 hours before the storm is expected to cross the alert perimeter, Chi told a news conference.
The evacuation order would apply to residents of Guangfu (光復), Fonglin (鳳林) and Wanrong (萬榮) townships in Hualien County, who could seek refuge in 10 designated shelters, Chi said.
Photo: Hung Chen-hung, Taipei Times
The center has additionally instructed all government agencies to report the condition and planned evacuation routes of the heavy equipment currently deployed to deal with the flooding in Hualien, he said.
Village wardens in these townships have until tomorrow to repair all damaged public announcement systems, Chi said, adding that he would inspect their work by the deadline.
The Hualien County Government is to conduct the planned evacuations under the center’s supervision as a full-scale exercise to prepare for emergency response operations, he said.
A natural disaster response coordination and strategy meeting is scheduled for today for all officials involved down to the village level, he added.
Meanwhile, the Legislative Yuan yesterday unanimously passed to a second reading of amendments to a special act for rebuilding in the aftermath of flooding in Hualien.
The Cabinet on Thursday last week approved amendments to its existing budget bill for Typhoon Danas recovery in southern Taiwan, seeking an additional budget of NT$25 billion (US$812.7 million) to address the flooding in Hualien, increasing the total relief package to NT$85 billion.
However, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus said that the nature of recovery for the two disasters and their scale are entirely different, requiring a separate bill.
The KMT version would allocate NT$20 billion until March 31, 2028.
Meanwhile, the central and local governments have been debating who should take responsibility for evacuation efforts, with the Hualien County Government requesting that the Executive Yuan draft and implement a disaster evacuation and shelter plan.
However, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) yesterday said that, according to the law, the responsibility lies with local governments.
Legislators and the Hualien County Government cannot pass on the responsibility to the central government or township offices, he said.
Additional reporting by Kayleigh Madjar
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