The Taipei City Government has spent more than NT$326 million on repairing buildings damaged during the 921 earthquake, including roughly NT$178 million to rebuild the Tunghsing Building (
Chen Jeaw-mei (
Chen said that the city has spent roughly NT$178 million reconstructing the Tunghsing Building. Of that amount, NT$115 million came from city coffers and NT$63 million came from public donations.
The repair of eight buildings condemned by the city has cost roughly NT$148 million. The 921 earthquake left the city with 26 condemned buildings in total.
Chang Po-ching (
For example, residents of the Tunghsing Building are entitled to live in government homes, rent-free, for one year. During the second year, the monthly rental payment is just half the normal amount, he said.
The city has also provided psychological counseling services to survivors. A hotline and a Web site have been set up to help quake survivors cope with the trauma, Chang said.
The Tunghsing Building will be rebuilt from the ground up. Each family will be compensated NT$20,000 per ping (or 3.3 square meters), with award amounts ranging between NT$300,000 and NT$800,000.
Chang said the Haomen Building (
To strengthen the city's disaster-response capabilities, Taipei's 12 districts have set up individual emergency response systems and a disaster prevention park. The park would serve as a shelter center during states of emergency.
In addition, on May 9, the city and the nation's first international rescue team, the 64-member Taipei City Urban Search and Rescue Squad (台北市搜救隊), was formed and is currently in the US for a six-week training program.
The team is expected to return on Sept. 10 to present a mock drill on Sept. 21 in memory of the 921 earthquake.
In addition, the city has adopted three villages in the disaster areas, including the Shihkang village in Taichung County, Kuohsing village in Nantou County and Chungliao village in Nantou County.
Relief programs provided to the areas include continuing education provided to 161 students, the adoption of 16 schools and two months of free food and accommodation for the students.
US PUBLICATION: The results indicated a change in attitude after a 2023 survey showed 55 percent supported full-scale war to achieve unification, the report said More than half of Chinese were against the use of force to unify with Taiwan under any circumstances, a survey conducted by the Atlanta, Georgia-based Carter Center and Emory University found. The survey results, which were released on Wednesday in a report titled “Sovereignty, Security, & US-China Relations: Chinese Public Opinion,” showed that 55.1 percent of respondents agreed or somewhat agreed that “the Taiwan problem should not be resolved using force under any circumstances,” while 24.5 percent “strongly” or “somewhat” disagreed with the statement. The results indicated a change in attitude after a survey published in “Assessing Public Support for (Non)Peaceful Unification
The CIA has a message for Chinese government officials worried about their place in Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) government: Come work with us. The agency released two Mandarin-language videos on social media on Thursday inviting disgruntled officials to contact the CIA. The recruitment videos posted on YouTube and X racked up more than 5 million views combined in their first day. The outreach comes as CIA Director John Ratcliffe has vowed to boost the agency’s use of intelligence from human sources and its focus on China, which has recently targeted US officials with its own espionage operations. The videos are “aimed at
STEADFAST FRIEND: The bills encourage increased Taiwan-US engagement and address China’s distortion of UN Resolution 2758 to isolate Taiwan internationally The Presidential Office yesterday thanked the US House of Representatives for unanimously passing two Taiwan-related bills highlighting its solid support for Taiwan’s democracy and global participation, and for deepening bilateral relations. One of the bills, the Taiwan Assurance Implementation Act, requires the US Department of State to periodically review its guidelines for engagement with Taiwan, and report to the US Congress on the guidelines and plans to lift self-imposed limitations on US-Taiwan engagement. The other bill is the Taiwan International Solidarity Act, which clarifies that UN Resolution 2758 does not address the issue of the representation of Taiwan or its people in
SHIFT: Taiwan’s better-than-expected first-quarter GDP and signs of weakness in the US have driven global capital back to emerging markets, the central bank head said The central bank yesterday blamed market speculation for the steep rise in the local currency, and urged exporters and financial institutions to stay calm and stop panic sell-offs to avoid hurting their own profitability. The nation’s top monetary policymaker said that it would step in, if necessary, to maintain order and stability in the foreign exchange market. The remarks came as the NT dollar yesterday closed up NT$0.919 to NT$30.145 against the US dollar in Taipei trading, after rising as high as NT$29.59 in intraday trading. The local currency has surged 5.85 percent against the greenback over the past two sessions, central
RSS