Wed, Oct 20, 1999 page2

• MSF visits Taiwan's disaster areas

  INTERNATIONAL AID MSF delegates said that in the rush to help quake victims, it is important not to forget that reconstruction is based on long-term commitment

  • By Erin Prelypchan / STAFF REPORTER
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  Just four days after Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) won the prestigious Nobel Peace Prize for its rapid response and political neutrality, delegates from the group paid a visit to Taiwan's disaster-struck regions yesterday -- accompanied by a frenzy of media coverage, as well as local government representatives.

  The three-member delegation, which arrived in Taiwan at the invitation of a local university, came to share some of the experience they gained after the 1995 Kobe earthquake with volunteers and professionals in Taiwan.

  At a press conference yesterday the delegation, from the organization's regional headquarters in Tokyo, was met with a room packed full of TV, radio and print reporters at Taipei's Eslite Bookstore on Tunhua South Road.

  

  Dominique Leguiller, head of both Medecins Sans Frontieres' operations for East Asia and the delegation to Taiwan, joins Taichung County Commissioner Liao Yung-lai (right) on an inspection of a temporary refugee camp in Tungshih.

  PHOTO: GEORGE TSORNG, TAIPEI TIMES

  "When we were organizing the trip with our friends in Taiwan, I said: `Let's make it simple and not say anything to the press," said Dominique Leguiller, who heads both MSF's operations for East Asia and the delegation to Taiwan.

  The hype that has resulted from the team's visit, he said yesterday, was likely to obscure the goal of their trip, which was to provide moral rather than medical relief.

  "This is a rich country. People have lots of knowledge and there are plenty of doctors here. But people still need support," said Leguiller.

  While working on quake relief efforts following the Kobe earthquake, Leguiller said MSF volun-teers often provided psychological and social rather than medical care, especially to the elderly and those living in temporary houses.

  "Often, you don't see a doctor because you're sick, but because you want to see a doctor," Leguiller said.

  The three-member delegation was invited by a group of art professors from Huafan University (華梵?j學), and received funding from the Kaohsiung City Government, the Buddhist Compassion Relief Tzu Chi Foundation (慈濟功德會), Reebok and the Grand Hotel for the trip.

  Leguiller was accompanied by two other staff members from MSF's Tokyo office: Daisuke Imajo, a press officer, and Hajime Sekiguchi, MSF Japan's vice president.

  The delegation plans to stay in Taiwan until Friday, visiting areas in Taichung and Nantou counties.

  During yesterday's visit to Tungshih township, accompanied by Taichung County Commissioner Liao Yung-lai (1虪癡?/CHINESE>), Kaohsiung Mayor Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) and representatives from the university, the delegation met with volunteers from the Humanistic Eduction Foundation (?H本?ETH>育??が簹鷛|), the Red Cross and other local groups.

  MSF, which maintained a presence in Kobe until just two months ago, believes strongly in a long-term approach to emergency response.

  "Of all the volunteers here -- half will have gone in three months and the rest within six months," Leguiller said.

  "[MSF] is about people helping people. Let's try to be faithful to this goal. Let's not have 50 people there for a few weeks, let's have two or three people there for years."

  Imajo, had already spent a week in late September in Taiwan's disaster-struck areas with a logistician, a nurse and an administrator assessing the need for MSF involvement in quake relief.

  "This was not an emergency situation," he said. "There were already people in place."

  Local involvement is more important, he said.

  "Small NGOs are the most powerful. I think we're even too big to move quickly," said Imajo.

  Fifty-year-old Sung Chang-chan, a resident of one of Tungshih township's tent villages, said he was glad the organization had come to visit.
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