Taipei and New Taipei City officials and residents yesterday criticized the two city mayors and government officials for reacting too slowly when informing the public about noxious fumes caused by a warehouse fire in New Taipei City’s Shenkeng District (深坑) on Tuesday afternoon.
While fire burned, Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) provided no information for city residents, Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Rosalia Wu (吳思瑤) told a news conference yesterday.
“Chiang only issued warnings this morning [yesterday], posting Facebook messages, advising city residents to shut their doors and windows tight, and to wear a mask when going outside,” Wu said.
Photo: Lu Yun-feng, Taipei Times
The fire started on Tuesday afternoon at a warehouse belonging to consumer electronics distributor Chung Hua Da Hsiung Corp, reportedly releasing pollutants into the air from burned lithium batteries and other products.
“We do not understand how the reaction could have been so slow, when the Taipei City Government has so many resources and is teeming with civil servants and appointed officials,” Wu said. “It seems all the screws are loose at the city government.”
Local news reports said that many people called the 119 emergency hotline on Tuesday afternoon to report the noxious fumes, some of whom were having breathing problems.
They also filled Chiang’s and Hou’s Facebook pages with complaints, asking the city’s agencies to do something about the issue.
“The fire with its foul air has persisted all day long... Mayor Hou should issue a public notice and health warning. Are you at work at all?” one person wrote.
“The whole of Wenshan District (文山) is experiencing very serious air pollution, we are choking and cannot breath due to the acrid smoke. Why is nothing being done, and why has no notice, or public warning been issued for residents?” another person wrote.
“Many people in Taipei’s southern districts have called 119, but now, more than three hours later, there has still been no response from the city government,” one person said.
Taipei City Councilor Miao Po-ya (苗博雅) of the Social Democratic Party yesterday said she kept on asking the city government to check the air quality on Tuesday evening, and waited until past midnight, but had received no response from city officials.
“The situation was very worrying to many Taipei residents, who were unable to breathe, suffering headaches and could not sleep last night, but it seems the city government’s top officials are sleeping very well in their homes,” Miao wrote on social media.
“The air pollution was very bad, and city government officials had sufficient time to react, but they issued no warning, no public notice... There was lack of ... coordination among agencies, which were negligent in serving the public,” the New Taipei City Council’s DPP caucus said in a statement.
DPP New Taipei City Councilor Evalyn Chen (陳乃瑜) referred to provisions under the Air Pollution Control Act (空氣污染防制法), saying: “When there is a major air pollution event, local governments can send out text messages, and broadcast notices on television and radio networks, to warn and instruct the public on the dangers and what measures to take, but the city government seemed apathetic and took no action, although many residents were anxious.”
“Even this morning, many Taipei residents still reported an acrid smell in the air. Officials should have known that the atmospheric conditions in the Taipei Basin meant the fumes would not easily disperse when the fire burned yesterday ... but the Taipei City Government did not issue a warning until this morning, which is too late,” DPP Legislator Hung Sun-han (洪申翰) said.
“Hou must face up and let the public know what happened, as the people of New Taipei City deserve a better mayor,” Hung said.
Left-Handed Girl (左撇子女孩), a film by Taiwanese director Tsou Shih-ching (鄒時擎) and cowritten by Oscar-winning director Sean Baker, won the Gan Foundation Award for Distribution at the Cannes Critics’ Week on Wednesday. The award, which includes a 20,000 euro (US$22,656) prize, is intended to support the French release of a first or second feature film by a new director. According to Critics’ Week, the prize would go to the film’s French distributor, Le Pacte. "A melodrama full of twists and turns, Left-Handed Girl retraces the daily life of a single mother and her two daughters in Taipei, combining the irresistible charm of
A Philippine official has denied allegations of mistreatment of crew members during Philippine authorities’ boarding of a Taiwanese fishing vessel on Monday. Philippine Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) spokesman Nazario Briguera on Friday said that BFAR law enforcement officers “observed the proper boarding protocols” when they boarded the Taiwanese vessel Sheng Yu Feng (昇漁豐號) and towed it to Basco Port in the Philippines. Briguera’s comments came a day after the Taiwanese captain of the Sheng Yu Feng, Chen Tsung-tun (陳宗頓), held a news conference in Pingtung County and accused the Philippine authorities of mistreatment during the boarding of
88.2 PERCENT INCREASE: The variants driving the current outbreak are not causing more severe symptoms, but are ‘more contagious’ than previous variants, an expert said Number of COVID-19 cases in the nation is surging, with the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) describing the ongoing wave of infections as “rapid and intense,” and projecting that the outbreak would continue through the end of July. A total of 19,097 outpatient and emergency visits related to COVID-19 were reported from May 11 to Saturday last week, an 88.2 percent increase from the previous week’s 10,149 visits, CDC data showed. The nearly 90 percent surge in case numbers also marks the sixth consecutive weekly increase, although the total remains below the 23,778 recorded during the same period last year,
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is pushing for residents of Kinmen and Lienchiang counties to acquire Chinese ID cards in a bid to “blur national identities,” a source said. The efforts are part of China’s promotion of a “Kinmen-Xiamen twin-city living sphere, including a cross-strait integration pilot zone in China’s Fujian Province,” the source said. “The CCP is already treating residents of these outlying islands as Chinese citizens. It has also intensified its ‘united front’ efforts and infiltration of those islands,” the source said. “There is increasing evidence of espionage in Kinmen, particularly of Taiwanese military personnel being recruited by the
RSS