To ease the financial burden of people affected by Tropical Storm Mindulle, the Cabinet yesterday approved several relief programs covering health insurance, taxation and land rent.
Health insurance beneficiaries living in the disaster zone will be exempt from health-insurance payments and selected medical expenses for three months. Those who lost health insurance ID cards will also be issued a new card without charge after documentation from village or borough wardens is supplied.
Affected people will also be eligible for certain tax deductions or exemptions, while those leasing public land located in the disaster zone will enjoy reductions or exemptions on rental fees.
Cabinet Spokesman Chen Chi-mai (
"As the oldest son in a single parent family, the premier was forced to quit school and become a full-time farmer from the age of 14 until he was 20," Chen said. "No one knows better than him about the plight and distress of farmers when they see their farmlands destroyed in a natural disaster."
Agricultural losses are estimated at NT$1.8 billion, poultry losses at NT$145 million, fishery losses at NT$240 million and forestry losses at NT$90 million.
The Department of Health's plan to exempt victims from medical expenses will apply to inpatient, outpatient, medical registration and rehabilitation expenses.
At the same time, people are entitled to tax deductions or exemptions on income, commodity, land and business taxes, said Lee Ruey-tsang (李瑞倉), the director-general of the finance ministry's National Property Bureau.
Those leasing public land or public housing located in disaster areas are entitled to exemptions from rental fees from this month until the month when the rebuilding of the house or restoration of the land is complete.
Those leasing public land for agricultural, fishery or forestry purposes are also entitled to deductions to rental fees.
While the percentage of the deduction will be decided on by local governments, those who reap less than 30 percent of their standard harvest are exempt from any payment.
Also yesterday, the Cabinet approved a relief program proposed by the Council of Labor Affairs. The council is offering a total of NT$1.5 billion in loans to families requiring house repairs. Each family will be able to borrow up to NT$500,000, and it is anticipated that 3,000 families will benefit from the scheme.
The council will also spend NT$100 million covering the salaries of some 1,000 workers employed in the cleanup program.
In addition, employers who hire people who live in the disaster zone for longer than three months will be eligible for a NT$5,000 monthly subsidy per person for up to 12 months.
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) today issued a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-wong effective from 5:30pm, while local governments canceled school and work for tomorrow. A land warning is expected to be issued tomorrow morning before it is expected to make landfall on Wednesday, the agency said. Taoyuan, and well as Yilan, Hualien and Penghu counties canceled work and school for tomorrow, as well as mountainous district of Taipei and New Taipei City. For updated information on closures, please visit the Directorate-General of Personnel Administration Web site. As of 5pm today, Fung-wong was about 490km south-southwest of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan's southernmost point.
A magnitude 5.3 earthquake struck Kaohsiung at 1pm today, the Central Weather Administration said. The epicenter was in Jiasian District (甲仙), 72.1km north-northeast of Kaohsiung City Hall, at a depth of 7.8km, agency data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage. The earthquake's intensity, which gauges the actual effects of a temblor, was highest in Kaohsiung and Tainan, where it measured a 4 on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale. It also measured a 3 in parts of Chiayi City, as well as Pingtung, Yunlin and Hualien counties, data showed.
Nearly 5 million people have signed up to receive the government’s NT$10,000 (US$322) universal cash handout since registration opened on Wednesday last week, with deposits expected to begin tomorrow, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. After a staggered sign-up last week — based on the final digit of the applicant’s national ID or Alien Resident Certificate number — online registration is open to all eligible Taiwanese nationals, foreign permanent residents and spouses of Taiwanese nationals. Banks are expected to start issuing deposits from 6pm today, the ministry said. Those who completed registration by yesterday are expected to receive their NT$10,000 tomorrow, National Treasury
Taiwan next year plans to launch its first nationwide census on elderly people living independently to identify the estimated 700,000 seniors to strengthen community-based healthcare and long-term care services, the Ministry of Health and Welfare (MOHW) said yesterday. Minister of Health and Welfare Shih Chung-liang (石崇良) said on the sidelines of a healthcare seminar that the nation’s rapidly aging population and declining birthrate have made the issue of elderly people living alone increasingly pressing. The survey, to be jointly conducted by the MOHW and the Ministry of the Interior, aims to establish baseline data and better allocate care resources, he
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