The sites for the upcoming Taipei International Flora Exposition were undamaged, the Taipei City government reported yesterday afternoon, seven hours after Typhoon Fanapi made its initial landfall in eastern Taiwan.
Expo spokeswoman Ma Chien-hui (馬千惠) said the none of the four sites — Yuanshan Park, Fine Arts Park, Dajia Riverside Park or Xinsheng Park — reported any injuries, structural damage or flooding.
“We made ample preparations before the typhoon by removing items that could potentially have been damaged by the storm. Although some of the flowers planted were destroyed, there wasn’t much damage because we haven’t planted large areas of flowers yet,” she said.
PHOTO: LIN CHENG-KUNG, TAIPEI TIMES
Many structures displayed at the sites were either removed or covered up by heavy tarpaulins or plastic wraps, she said.
Ma explained that under the contracts signed between the city government and the vendors, any flowers and plants damaged in the typhoon would be replaced free of charge by the vendors, who are required to provide fresh, healthy plants for a period of six months.
The only costs paid by the city government related to the typhoon, she added, were NT$1.3 million (US$41.075) in fees to relocate some structures and signs the day before the typhoon.
Earlier yesterday morning, Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) surveyed the sites and said he had decided to sleep at the city’s disaster response center last night .
The decision came on the heels of criticism that he “took French leave” on Saturday night when he slept over at the operational headquarters of the flora expo, the night before Typhoon Fanapi swept through the nation.
Hau yesterday said that on Saturday he visited the disaster center first to hear the typhoon briefings before heading to the expo headquarters, knowing that the typhoon was not expected to make landfall until yesterday morning.
While he left the disaster center, Hau said he asked Taipei Deputy Mayor Lin Chien-yuan (林建元) to sit at the center on his behalf, adding that as Fanapi was the first typhoon to hit the nation this season, it was necessary for him to visit the operational headquarters to learn first-hand the situation of the flora expo.
The multi-billion-NT-dollar event, due to open three weeks before the Nov. 27 special municipality elections, was to be the keystone in Hau’s re-election bid.
Once a near-lock, Hau’s return to the mayoral seat is now threatened by a string of scandals surrounding the expo over excessively high prices the city government allegedly paid for the expo’s greenery, vegetation, exhibition and building materials.
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