Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu (陳菊) said yesterday that the city was fully prepared to host the World Games.
During a briefing to the Kaohsiung City Council, Chen said the city had taken measures to make the city greener, repair roads and improve air quality in preparation for the event.
Measurements showed the city’s air quality had steadily improved in the past few years, Chen said, adding that this was the result of the city government’s push for environmental sustainability.
Meanwhile, she said city government officials had repeatedly traveled to Japan and the US to promote the Games, she said.
The Games will be held between July 16 and July 26.
The city government has spent about NT$1 billion (US$29.5 million) preparing for the Games.
In related news, Chen said the city government would promote yacht manufacturing in the city’s South Star area (南星計劃區) near Kaohsiung Harbor.
The plan is expected to attract NT$5 billion in investment and create 3,000 jobs, she said.
On the city government’s efforts to lower unemployment, Chen said city initiatives had created 2,734 jobs as of the end of last year. The city had also organized 108 job fairs and helped 3,441 people find jobs.
The city government has also launched a number of projects to loan money to medium and small enterprises in Kaohsiung, she said.
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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