While Puli residents complain that relief supplies are being unjustly distributed, county officials say they are out of their depth and have asked the central government to take over the task.
Their request, however, has yet to be answered.
"When we went to the borough chief's place, he told us he wasn't ready yet, and asked us to return the next morning," said a woman surnamed Ko whose house was destroyed in the earthquake.
"So we returned the next morning only to be told that there was nothing left," she said.
"He was hoarding the supplies and gave them to his own friends and relatives," said another woman.
Such incidents are not unknown to county officials.
"We know some borough chiefs have not distributed the goods evenly, but it is the only official channel ... we have," said Stella Chen (
The county government has requested that the military or the central government take over the distribution of supplies, but the military has refused, saying that relief distribution is not its responsibility, Chen said, showing an official letter in reply to the county's request.
Deputy interior minister Chien Tai-lang (
"There should not be difficulties for the county [government] to do the job," he said. "It is understandable that some unfairness may occur in such a process."
"The best way to distribute the goods evenly is to issue rations, but rationing should take place only when there is a shortage. Taiwan has such abundance that there is simply no need to ration," he said.
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