Taipei City officials claim that nothing could have prevented the catastrophic flooding that besieged the city this week, but a number of city councilors and academics place the blame on municipal mismanagement.
The typhoon, which inundated the nation from late Sunday night through Tuesday evening, left at least 74 dead and caused widespread damage to property and crops. Taipei City, one of the hardest-hit areas, saw 21 deaths, followed by Taipei County with 20 deaths and Keelung with 10 deaths.
Facing complaints and criticism from the public, the Taipei City Government has said that the flooding was solely caused by unprecedented amount of rainfall.
Academics and city councilors, however, accused the city government of having failed to construct a sound municipal infrastructure. They also say that urban sprawl on hillsides and in low-lying areas has been allowed to grow out of control.
Blaming nature
The city would have encountered the same amount of damage even if the embankments constructed along the Keelung River were completed, city government spokesperson Wu Yu-sheng (吳育昇) told the Taipei Times yesterday.
Wu said that the city hopes to complete the construction along the northern side of the Keelung River off Nanhu Bridge in two years, while construction on the other side of the river has been delayed for eight months.
"The way to solve the flooding problem of the Keelung River is to conduct a comprehensive dredging project. However, the issue is more complicated than it seems because it's not the sole responsibility of the city," he said.
William Chen (
He said the underground water canal system could not handle the tremendous amount of rainfall.
"While the processing capacity of the system is set at 78.8mm per hour, the amount of rainfall was recorded at over 80mm per hour," he said.
Additionally, the city's 69 pumping stations built along the Keelung River, as well as others, could not handle all the rain.
"Take the Yucheng pumping station for example. While its processing capacity is set at 42.4mm per hour, over 82mm of rain fell in that area between 8am and 9am on Monday," Chen said.
Counting the costs
The heavy flooding not only claimed many lives, but also delivered a heavy blow to the city's infrastructure, especially the MRT.
Ticket losses are estimated at over NT$20 million per day, according to the Taipei Rapid Transit Corporation.
The company is still calculating the cost of fixing the flooded areas of the system. Most of the Panchiao-Nankang line is under water.
The city government is offering garbage collection and water pumping free of charge to the public, and plans to spend over NT$60 million on the clean-up effort.
As of yesterday, over 2,000 basements remained flooded and heaps of soaked furniture and garbage were piled up along the city's streets.
The cost of the two-week intensive clean-up effort is estimated at over NT$30 million.
To help the public pump the water out of flooded basements, the city has spent NT$30 million, leasing over 300 water pumps and plans to purchase more.
The city has paid NT$10 million to purchase 150 water pumps and plans to buy as many as possible, according to Tsay Huei-sheng (
Although the city is claiming that nature is solely to blame, city councilors and academics are expressing a different view.
New Party city councilman Lee Hsin (
"Take the Chingmei Creek for example. The width of the river has narrowed by half but the city failed to conduct a dredging program while building the embankments along the river," he said.
"What's worse, when something unfortunate like this happens, city officials receive only light reprimands or are transferred to new positions," Lee said.
Disaster prevention
DPP city councilor Lo Tsung-sheng (
"The city is lucky it has been spared from another earthquake like the one that rattled the nation on Sept. 21, 1999," he said. "It hasn't taken advantage of the opportunity to learn from it and get better prepared."
Lo also criticized the city for over-developing hillsides and low-lying areas.
"There are 24 hillside areas in the city that have been listed as at risk, but I don't think the city cares that much because so few mudslides have occurred," he said.
Hsia Chu-joe (
"Most of the infrastructure is poorly designed and constructed and no one has worked to improve Taipei's urban development," he said.
One possible solution is to strictly control urban development, especially along river basins and low-lying areas, he said.
"Some low-lying areas, such as Taipei County's Hsichih area, should simply not be inhabited, but what can you do if the government keeps issuing construction licenses, allowing more houses to be built and more people to take land away from the river?" he said.
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