Taiwan's national medical relief team yesterday arrived in Aceh, Indonesia, one of the areas hardest-hit by last Sunday's earthquake and ensuing tidal waves.
The seven member rescue team sent by the Department of Health will set up a makeshift medical base near the Aceh airport. Another five Taiwanese doctors remained in Medan, a city just outside Aceh province to coordinate relief efforts.
The Department of Health will also dispatch a third medical relief team to the tsunami-ravaged Thai resort area of Phuket on Jan. 4 at the earliest. The third national medical relief team will bring a supply of anti-malaria medication and disinfectants to help prevent a possible outbreak of contagious diseases in Phuket.
Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who was in Banda Aceh to inspect the aftermath of the disaster, expressed his gratitude for the assistance and supplies provided by Taiwan.
In related news, a 42-member medical mission organized by the non-governmental organization Taiwan Roots Medical Peace Corps left yesterday for Sri Lanka to help victims of the tsunami disaster there.
The group will deliver 2,500kg of medicine and other medical supplies.
Corps head Liu Chi-hsiang (
While this is the the corp's 126th overseas medical aid mission, the organization made two other medical missions to Sri Lanka last year, Liu said.
The group is set to return to Taiwan on Jan. 9.
The state-run Chunghwa Telecom, in collaboration with the Council of Labor Affairs, has begun offering subscribers five-minute toll-free phone calls to countries ravaged by the tsunamis, the company's chairman Ho Chen Tan (
Under the terms of the offer, Ho Chen said at a news conference, any subscriber's first call each day with the 019 prefix to Thailand, Indonesia, India, Sri Lanka and the Maldives will be free of charge for the first five minutes. The offer will run through Jan. 7.
Given that Taiwan has 28,000 Indonesian workers and about 100,000 Thai workers, Ho Chen urged their employers to tell them of the program, adding that Chunghwa will also set up service stations in Taipei, Taoyuan, Yunlin and Kaohsiung counties, all of which have large populations of foreign workers.
He estimated that the program will cost his company about NT$10 million (US$314,911).
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake struck off the coast of Hualien County in eastern Taiwan at 7pm yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The epicenter of the temblor was at sea, about 69.9km south of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 30.9km, it said. There were no immediate reports of damage resulting from the quake. The earthquake’s intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was highest in Taitung County’s Changbin Township (長濱), where it measured 5 on Taiwan’s seven-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 4 in Hualien, Nantou, Chiayi, Yunlin, Changhua and Miaoli counties, as well as
Credit departments of farmers’ and fishers’ associations blocked a total of more than NT$180 million (US$6.01 million) from being lost to scams last year, National Police Agency (NPA) data showed. The Agricultural Finance Agency (AFA) said last week that staff of farmers’ and fishers’ associations’ credit departments are required to implement fraud prevention measures when they serve clients at the counter. They would ask clients about personal financial management activities whenever they suspect there might be a fraud situation, and would immediately report the incident to local authorities, which would send police officers to the site to help, it said. NPA data showed
ENERGY RESILIENCE: Although Alaska is open for investments, Taiwan is sourcing its gas from the Middle East, and the sea routes carry risks, Ho Cheng-hui said US government officials’ high-profile reception of a Taiwanese representative at the Alaska Sustainable Energy Conference indicated the emergence of an Indo-Pacific energy resilience alliance, an academic said. Presidential Office Secretary-General Pan Men-an (潘孟安) attended the conference in Alaska on Thursday last week at the invitation of the US government. Pan visited oil and gas facilities with senior US officials, including US Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum, US Secretary of Energy Chris Wright, Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy and US Senator Daniel Sullivan. Pan attending the conference on behalf of President William Lai (賴清德) shows a significant elevation in diplomatic representation,
The Taipei MRT is to begin accepting mobile payment services in the fall, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp said on Saturday. When the company finishes the installation of new payment units at ticketing gates in October, MRT passengers can use credit cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay and Samsung Pay, the operator said. In addition, the MRT would also provide QR payment codes — which would be compatible with Line Pay, Jkopay, iPass Money, PXPay Plus, EasyWallet, iCash Pay, Taiwan Pay and Taishin Pay — to access the railway system. Currently, passengers can access the Taipei MRT by buying a single-journey token or using EasyCard,
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