Without an updated evacuation plan, the government is unable to lift the red alert for Hualien County’s Guangfu Township (光復) amid danger from the barrier lake in the Mataian River (馬太鞍溪), the Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency said.
The barrier lake overflowed on Sept. 23 due to excessive rainfall from Typhoon Ragasa, killing 19 people and injuring hundreds more. Homes were also damaged by tonnes of mud carried by floodwaters, with the cumulative dredged materials reaching 90,000 tonnes.
The amount of water in the barrier lake has dropped to 1.7 percent of the original capacity, greatly reducing the risks, the agency said.
Photo courtesy of the Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency’s Hualien branch
Guangfu Township levees have been stabilized to withstand water from the barrier lake, but an evacuation plan must be in place and approved by Hualien County Commissioner Hsu Cheng-wei (徐榛蔚) before the red alert can be lifted, it said.
Hualien County Government Research and Administrative Department Director Chen Chien-tsuen (陳建村) said that they are compiling an evacuation plan for 8,000 people in three townships, adding that they are not considering asking people to seek shelter on higher floors of buildings, also known as vertical evacuation.
Guangfu Township has about 10 shelters, which could accommodate about 1,334 people, Chen said.
However, the county has neither the capacity nor enough personnel to execute the evacuation plan, he added.
Chen cited Article 35-2 of the Disaster Prevention and Protection Act (災害防救法), which stipulates that if a municipal, or county (city) government fails to cope with a disaster, the central government must send people to provide support, or assign coordinators to provide support and assistance, as requested by the special municipal, or county (city) government.
In response, Minister Without Portfolio Chi Lien-cheng (季連成), the chief coordinator of disaster relief efforts in Hualien County, said that the county government must compile a list of all resources available in Hualien, including tour buses and personnel, to evacuate the 8,000 people in the three townships.
“Hualien still has 10 other townships that can offer assistance. Resources would always be lacking if you only plan at the township level. If more resources are needed after the inventory check, the central government can help by finding resources in other localities,” Chi said.
A total of 8,524 people in Guangfu, Wanrong (萬榮) and Fonglin (鳳林) townships need to be evacuated in case of flooding caused by an overflow of the barrier lake, the county said.
These include 147 people on the priority list — elderly people, children and those who are physically challenged, it said.
Separately, Minister of the Interior Liu Shih-fang (劉世芳) said that the central emergency response center still maintains a Level-1 response status, adding that there would a simulation of the evacuation plan.
“The disaster zone has severe road damage, and many people still stay in the shelters. We are asking Hualien County and the three townships to list all the flood survivors and their locations, so we can effectively execute the evacuation plan,” Liu said.
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