The Executive Yuan decided yesterday to subsidize rent and living expenses of Typhoon Morakot victims.
“The government will help cover their rent and basic living expenses because they may not be able to make a living on their own [for some time],” Minister without Portfolio Tsai Hsun-hsiung (蔡勳雄) told a press conference after a meeting of the Executive Yuan’s Post-Typhoon Morakot Reconstruction Committee.
The meeting was held in response to President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) order at a national security meeting on Friday that such committees be set up at both the central and local government levels.
PHOTO: CHEN HSIN-JEN, TAIPEI TIMES
Details of the stipends will be finalized within one week, Tsai said.
Minister of the Interior Liao Liou-yi (廖了以) said during a visit to Tainan County that the subsidies would range from NT$5,000 to NT$20,000.
Premier Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄) told the Ministry of the Interior to invite officials from different branches to finalize a plan within one week aimed at helping the victims resettle, Tsai said.
“We have an urgent need to shelter and accommodate the victims,” Tsai said. “We will provide them with multiple options, including encouraging them to rent houses.”
“We will fully respect the victims’ preferences,” he said.
Tsai said relocating villages seriously damaged by natural disasters has long been a complicated issue.
“Many of the communities seriously damaged by the mudslides this time were Aboriginal ones. Community residents could have a hard time adjusting their lifestyle if they were forcibly relocated to big cities,” Tsai said.
Cabinet Spokesman Su Jun-pin (蘇俊賓) said Liu ordered that different military units be responsible for providing disaster relief in different parts of the nation.
This would help the various units acquire the necessary disaster relief skills in preparation for future disasters, Su said.
“The government is psychologically prepared to face the drastic climate change that has affected Taiwan more than ever,” Su said
A similar reconstruction advancement committee was formed on Sept. 27, 1999, in the wake of the 921 Earthquake.
The Disaster Prevention and Protection Act (災害防救), which took effect on July 19, 2000, states that emergency committees responsible for recovery and reconstruction should be disbanded upon the completion of their missions.
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