Sun, Feb 06, 2000 page2

• 'Where did all the money go?'

  EARTHQUAKE RELIEF During this holiday time of family reunions, many affected by the 921 quake are still waiting for the government to make good on its promise to quickly and efficiently distribute donated money

  • By Lin Chieh-yu / STAFF REPORTER
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  As the nation observes the first Chinese Lunar New Year holiday after the powerful earthquake on Sept. 21 last year, volunteer organizations are urging the government to speed up promised relief to victims while accusing officials of misusing billions of NT dollars in donations that were to be used for rebuilding and rehabilitation.

  In Tungshih township (東勢) and Shihkang (石岡) in Taichung County, two groups of young social welfare workers have started to distribute a community newsletter which they hope will help local residents better understand their rights and how they can apply for assistance from the government.

  Still, there is a lingering doubt among many as to whether the efforts by a number of organizations will ever amount tco anything more than a trivial act of publicity.

  

  An elderly man made homeless by the earthquake last year returns to his prefabricated house on the first day of the Chinese New Year

  GEORGE TSORNG, TAIPEI TIMES

  Wu Tzu-yu (吳子鈺) has been involved with relief work since the day after the quake and is in charge of putting out the newsletter. During the past four months he says that he has seen many organizations and politicians come to the township and offer assistance and leave without making any lasting contribution.

  "The only thing they cared about was how much money they could pocket through their projects," Wu said.

  He also pointed out that in the early stages of reconstruction work in the township, local representatives or faction leaders personally raked in millions of NT dollars in donations by acting as the front men in the reconstruction of public property.

  "This also happened in other townships in Taichung County," Wu said.

  Reconstruction funds from the central government for Taichung County totaled NT$1.2 billion, according to county government records.

  Deputy Taichung County commissioner Chen Yu-hsin (陳雨鑫) said that the political factor definitely played a role in the distribution and use of funds.

  "Most of the local chiefs are members of the KMT and they simply didn't want to cooperate with the DPP county commissioner," he said.

  "All these politicians have considered is how they could personally benefit during the presidential campaign," Wu said.

  Citing one example, he said a temporary shelter built in Tungshih with funds from the Kaohsiung City government under DPP Mayor Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) was not properly designed, and that its drainage system had polluted the environment.

  Tungshih township chief Chang Ching-hu (張錦湖), meanwhile, said his administration was not to blame.

  "We were not consulted about the details of the construction, said Chang. "So why should we have to clear up the mess for them?"

  Wu pointed to disagreements of this kind as a common sticking point between various levels of government and relief organizations.

  In nearby Shihkang (石岡), local resident Stanley Lee (李杰穎) organized a similar newsletter to help disseminate important information, but he says that the government has done nothing to help until just this month.

  "Money from the central government and from public donations went into the pockets of a few local leaders," Lee said.

  They also claimed that at least four large contracts for reconstruction work totaling NT$10 million have been tainted with allegations of corruption.

  When relief efforts started to deal with the human tragedy of the earthquake, most volunteer organizations naturally eyed public donations from social and religious foundations as well as from large business groups. The sum of money donated by these groups has been estimated to be in the neighborhood of NT$10 billion.

  Wu said that the expectation was that the funds would be available under a program that allowed for some flexiblilty in their use, and more importantly, that the distribution of the money would be strictly supervised.

  However, Wu and his two partners said they have been disappointed by the results.

  They said a system should have been in place to supervise all volunteer groups and evaluate how much money their respective projects would justify.

  The largest non-government group, the National Alliance for Post-quake Reconstruction (全國民間災後重建監督聯盟) - led by Academia Sinica President Lee Yuan-che (李遠哲) - refused to take on this kind of responsibility, playing only a liaison role between the volunteer groups and donor organizations.

  Wu said that most people were on their own when trying to get the government to allocate money to them. He says that the National Alliance "totally lost its function in coordinating the relief effort."

  Leaders of other groups, however, said all those who would criticize the government and the way that it has handled the situation would do well to first try a bit of introspection.

  "Some people call themselves `cultural workers,' but they just came to the disaster areas to experiment with what they had learned in their professional lives," said Peng Lin-sung (彭琳淞), a journalist who joined one volunteer group in Puli township in Taichung County.

  Peng said that many of the so-called "task forces," which were organized by scholars or cultural organizations did not properly interact with the people on the ground to find out what it was that they really needed. What they were doing instead was trying out academic theories on the people who needed real help.

  "Some scholars took local factions or politicians to task for undertaking public reconstruction, but eventually they themselves could also be criticized for their own so-called `cultural reconstruction' work," Peng said.

  Peng and his team spent time - over four months since last September - helping elderly residents and children return to something of a normal life. They gave free medical examinations, helped with household chores and even offered to give haircuts.

  "Victims of the quake and residents of the area do not need big rallies and festivals. They hate `experts' coming and playing their games - then leaving without having accomplished anything at all, Peng stressed.

  When asked how it could be possible to better manage the billions of dollars in donations, however, Peng expressed the same pessimism as Wu and Lee.

  "We just want to keep clear-headed about the work and hope that everyone stays focused on the real issues at hand," Peng said.
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