Taipei New Party City Councilor Huang Shan-shan (黃珊珊) yesterday lashed out at the city government for "shamelessly shirking responsibility" over an incident three years ago which claimed the lives of three members of a family in Tahu village (大湖山莊), Neihu District.
In the incident, city government employees were accused of failing to maintain drainage systems that could have prevented the flooding that led to the drowning of the three and caused extensive damage to the village.
As the family yesterday filed for the third time for state compensation, she also called upon the city government to grant their claim.
PHOTO: CHIANG YING-YING, TAIPEI TIMES
The city has previously told the family to wait for the High Court's ruling on the prosecution's appeals against four cleaning squad members of the city's Bureau of Environmental Protection (BEP, 環保局) acquitted at Shihlin District Court for negligently causing the deaths of the three.
Chen Ching-show (
Huang likened the tragedy to that of the Pachang Creek incident.
"It's the Taipei version of the Pachang Creek tragedy, in which the public watched the bungled rescue procedure that culminated in the deaths of four construction workers trapped in rising floodwaters on TV.
Although the Tahu tragedy was not broadcast live on TV, it's not much different in nature, because the city's fire department didn't arrive at the scene for four hours," Huang said.
Cho Mei-fang (
"I don't know what more evidence is needed to enable us to get state compensation. Are three deaths not enough?" she said.
Cho lost her mother, an older brother and a younger sister during typhoon Winnie on Aug. 18, 1997.
Heavy rainfall caused the level of the Tahu mountain lake to rise rapidly and overflow, but floodgates were not opened which would have allowed the excess water to exit via the locality's drainage system.
Instead, the water inundated the Tahu area, in some places waist-deep. Apartments below ground level, like that of the Chos, were completely submerged.
It was later concluded that the flooding was caused by the failure of city government workers to open the lake's floodgates. In addition, garbage and other small objects blocked drainage pipes that should have helped the water to escape.
In the wake of the tragedy, then-mayor Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) made a public apology, the director of the city's Office of City Parks and Street Lights, Chang Ching (張清), stepped down to shoulder political responsibility, and several other government employees were disciplined.
Although the Chos have received a total of over NT$4 million in compensation, Huang said it was obviously not enough.
"What the family really wants is to know how on earth the tragedy happened, exactly who was responsible, and when the city is to make a final decision on state compensation," she said.
Prosecutors at the Shihlin District Court later found that the city's parks office was not responsible for the three deaths, and instead pointed the finger at both the environmental protection bureau for failing to unblock the clogged drains and the proprietor of an unauthorized restaurant located upstream.
The court later acquitted the accused four environmental protection bureau members and sentenced Lee Kuo-lung (
The case is currently under appeal at the Taiwan High Court.
The city's State Compensation Committee (國賠委員會) in February 1997 and March this year told the Cho family that no state compensation would be granted until the High Court had delivered its verdict.
Huang said that the committee's decision simply did not make sense.
"It should tell the family clearly whether the claim will be granted, instead of passing the buck to someone else," she said.
COMBINING FORCES: The 66th Marine Brigade would support the 202nd Military Police Command in its defense of Taipei against ‘decapitation strikes,’ a source said The Marine Corps has deployed more than 100 soldiers and officers of the 66th Marine Brigade to Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport) as part of an effort to bolster defenses around the capital, a source with knowledge of the matter said yesterday. Two weeks ago, a military source said that the Ministry of National Defense ordered the Marine Corps to increase soldier deployments in the Taipei area. The 66th Marine Brigade has been tasked with protecting key areas in Taipei, with the 202nd Military Police Command also continuing to defend the capital. That came after a 2017 decision by the ministry to station
ALL-IN-ONE: A company in Tainan and another in New Taipei City offer tours to China during which Taiwanese can apply for a Chinese ID card, the source said The National Immigration Agency and national security authorities have identified at least five companies that help Taiwanese apply for Chinese identification cards while traveling in China, a source said yesterday. The issue has garnered attention in the past few months after YouTuber “Pa Chiung” (八炯) said that there are companies in Taiwan that help Taiwanese apply for Chinese documents. Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) last week said that three to five public relations firms in southern and northern Taiwan have allegedly assisted Taiwanese in applying for Chinese ID cards and were under investigation for potential contraventions of the Act Governing
‘INVESTMENT’: Rubio and Arevalo said they discussed the value of democracy, and Rubio thanked the president for Guatemala’s strong diplomatic relationship with Taiwan Guatemalan President Bernardo Arevalo met with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Guatemala City on Wednesday where they signed a deal for Guatemala to accept migrants deported from the US, while Rubio commended Guatemala for its support for Taiwan and said the US would do all it can to facilitate greater Taiwanese investment in Guatemala. Under the migrant agreement announced by Arevalo, the deportees would be returned to their home countries at US expense. It is the second deportation deal that Rubio has reached during a Central America trip that has been focused mainly on immigration. Arevalo said his
‘SOVEREIGN AI’: As of Nov. 19 last year, Taiwan was globally ranked No. 11 for having computing power of 103 petaflops. The governments wants to achieve 1,200 by 2029 The government would intensify efforts to bolster its “Sovereign Artificial Intelligence [AI]” program by setting a goal of elevating the nation’s collective computing power in the public and private sectors to 1,200 peta floating points per second (petaflops) by 2029, the Executive Yuan said yesterday. The goal was set to fulfill President William Lai’s (賴清德) vision of turning Taiwan into an “AI island.” Sovereign AI refers to a nation’s capabilities to produce AI using its own infrastructure, data, workforce and business networks. One petaflop allows 1 trillion calculations per second. As of Nov. 19 last year, Taiwan was globally ranked No. 11 for