Mon, Oct 18, 1999 page2

• First `prefab' community set up

  TEMPORARY HOMES The military has won praise for its work in setting up prefabricated homes for the many people made homeless by the 921 quake

  • By Brian Hsu / STAFF REPORTER
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  At the site of a former military hospital in Taichung County's Tungshih township (東勢), a new community -- comprised solely of local families who lost their homes in the Sept. 21 earthquake -- is slowly but steadily taking shape with military assistance.

  The community, named Hsinyuan No. 1 Village, will accommodate up to 235 homeless families from Tungshih. Forty-three households moved in on Saturday after nearly one month of living in tents.

  The temporary village is located away from the road and spread across an area of 3.75 hectares.

  

  Army engineers lay the foundations for a community of prefabricated homes in the Taichung county township of Tungshih.

  PHOTO: GEORGE TSORNG, TAIPEI TIMES

  Living quarters in the community are made up of prefabricated houses donated by the Japanese government -- part of a total donation of 1,000 such temporary housing units originally built for those made homeless after the 1995 Kobe earthquake.

  Less than one week after they took delivery, the military authorities have finished putting together 43 of the prefabricated houses. Another 60 units arrived via ship recently, and are to be sent to the community for assembly.

  The Hsinyuan No. 1 Village has all the facilities of a modern community, with security guards, a 24-hour convenience store, a recreational center and even a "mothers' room."

  

  The army has been commended for it assistance in building shelters and prefabricated homes for people left homeless after the earthquake.

  PHOTO: GEORGE TSORNG, TAIPEI TIMES

  Each of the eight-ping (26.4 square meters) prefabricated houses has a bathroom, a kitchen and two Japanese-style bed-rooms. It contains electrical appliances, including a television set, a small refrigerator and a fan, donated by the Red Cross Society of the ROC.

  "Moreover, the community is situated in a beautiful environ-ment, with a lot of trees and grass," Tungshih township chief Chang Chin-fu (張錦符) said.

  The community, though not fully developed yet, stands out from collapsed houses and tent cities of the devastated town.

  "It means a lot to Tungshih, which was severely damaged in the earthquake. A total of 385 people were killed, over 4,000 houses collapsed and around 3,000 other structures partially collapsed in the quake," Chang said.

  "Although only a few prefabricated houses have been made available so far, even this would never have been achieved were it not for the concern of the public, efforts by the government and the full cooperation from the military, as well as concern from the international community," vice premier Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄) said.

  Liu made the remarks on Saturday during a ceremony marking the completion of the first units in the first temporary housing complex.

  "The new homes may not be as spacious and or comfortable as our old ones, but it symbolizes the love and concern that the government and the public feels for us," said Liu Hsiu-li (劉秀麗), a member of one of the families moving into the new community.

  "My family chose to live here mainly because it was the best among the several aid packages offered by the government," Liu said.

  "We had considered another option, that of taking a government subsidy of NT$3,000 per month for each member of the family to rent a house. But there are not many good houses for rent in Tungshih after the earthquake," she said.

  "We like the design of Hsinyuan No. 1 Village. Living here will make us feel that we are living in a closely interconnected neighborhood," she said. "Most importantly, families can stay together. We don't want to be separated from one another by renting houses in different locations."

  Both Tungshih township chief Chang and Liu expressed gratitude to the military for making the rehabilitation project come true.

  The Army mobilized around 200 soldiers to work around the clock to assemble the units, military officials said.

  "Our soldiers have slept an average of only two hours a day since the arrival of the prefabricated houses on Oct. 9," said Lieutenant Colonel Huang teh-Hsiao (黃德孝), an officer with the Engineering Bureau of the Army General Headquarters.

  "We have been working under extreme pressure. But we overcame the mental stress and got the job done," said Huang, a commanding officer at the site.

  "When the first prefabricated units arrived, we didn't know how to assemble them," Huang said.

  "We first sought help from a local man who had imported a similar kind of prefabricated house from Japan, but he couldn't help. We later solved the problem by asking the Japanese company that produces them to send a technician to Taiwan," he said.

  "The assembly of each unit took around three and a half hours at the beginning. This was later reduced to around two hours after our troops became more experienced," said Army General Headquarters engineering bureau director Major General Chu Yu-ling (朱玉嶺).

  "We spent much more time on laying underground cables and pipelines for them," Chu said.

  "They do have one major defect," Chu added.

  "Their indoor temperature will be high in the summer and low in the winter, but the trees around growing around them will help somewhat."
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