President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) has instructed Minister of National Defense Lee Jye (李傑) to study whether to grant military personnel early discharges to help with reconstruction efforts in the wake of Tropical Storm Mindulle, an official from the Presidential Office said yesterday.
The official said Chen has asked Lee to find out immediately if any military personnel have family members who died or had their homes destroyed in the storm and to establish whether it is possible to grant them early discharges or longer leave periods so that they can return to their homes to help with reconstruction efforts.
DISASTER
Mindulle brought mudslides torrential rain and causing many mudslides. Central and southern Taiwan were especially hard-hit.
The Central Disaster Prevention Center, using figures compiled from local fire departments, as well as national and local rescue centers, reported that the death toll had fallen to 25, with 12 still missing and 16 people injured.
It said that between June 30 and yesterday afternoon, 2,337 people had been rescued, while 5,513 people had been evacuated.
Meanwhile, a spokesman for the Ministry of National Defense said it has put all-out efforts into disaster relief work, working around the clock.
INSPECTIONS
The ministry deployed an additional 100,000 military personnel and various types of vehicles and planes yesterday to support the disaster relief efforts in central Taiwan, beginning with inspection and repair of damaged roads and bridges.
The spokesman also said that the ministry deployed 12,000 military personnel, flew 70 sorties, made 277 vehicle journeys and 137 heavy machinery deployments on Tuesday for reconstruction work in Taichung, Hualien, Chiayi, Nantou, Miaoli, Changhwa, Kaohsiung, Tainan, Pingtung and Yunlin counties.
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.
Almost a quarter of volunteer soldiers who signed up from 2021 to last year have sought early discharge, the Legislative Yuan’s Budget Center said in a report. The report said that 12,884 of 52,674 people who volunteered in the period had sought an early exit from the military, returning NT$895.96 million (US$28.86 million) to the government. In 2021, there was a 105.34 percent rise in the volunteer recruitment rate, but the number has steadily declined since then, missing recruitment targets, the Chinese-language United Daily News said, citing the report. In 2021, only 521 volunteers dropped out of the military, the report said, citing
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
RSS