Sat, Aug 01, 2026 page4

• Calls for inclusive disaster rebuilding

  UNREASONABLE: Local landowners affected by the flood could not access information about rebuilding due to language and technology barriers, an indigenous resident said

  • By Esme Yeh / Staff reporter
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  Local residents and civic groups yesterday formed an action alliance calling on the government to ensure the rights and welfare of indigenous communities in its post-disaster reconstruction work for the Mataian River (馬太鞍溪) basin in Hualien County.

  The government has initiated reconstruction work after a barrier lake overflowed last year.

  Local indigenous people and academics yesterday at a news conference in Taipei called for a more comprehensive reconstruction plan and proper communication with residents.

  

  A tower for a replacement bridge being constructed over the Mataian River in Hualien County by the Highway Bureau is pictured in an undated photograph.

  Photo courtesy of the Executive Yuan

  Fata’an (the indigenous name of Mataian) resident Kamih Mayaw, a landowner affected by the flood, said the government has yet to provide sufficient communication with local landowners and indigenous communities after the disaster.

  Many landowners were asked to sign documents without being provided with understandable information, he said.

  Most landowners or farmers are older people who are not familiar with the Internet, but were told to search for information online by themselves, Kamih Mayaw said.

  “How is it reasonable to ask us to sign agreements without sufficient communication?” he said.

  Mataian Inter-Indigenous Community Youth Union representative O’ping said post-disaster governance seemed to be reduced to land expropriation and negotiated purchase, leaving local residents almost no choice.

  Post-disaster reconstruction should not be reduced to engineering projects, land expropriation or administrative power expansion, O’ping said, adding that the government should prioritize indigenous people’s needs and participation in its reconstruction plan.

  Union representative Tipus said the government has set up an information station near Guangfu Railway Station.

  However, there is inequality in access to information, as most landowners are Amis, but the information station does not provide indigenous-language services, he said.

  Tipus also urged the government to put forward a resettlement and relocation plan for the Kalotongan Village (Jialidong, 加里洞) downstream.

  Atomo Village Self-Help Association founder Tsai Yi-chen (蔡宜蓁) said they are not against disaster prevention construction, but local indigenous people’s livelihoods should be protected as well.

  Large-scale construction work caused large amounts of fugitive dust, severely affecting local people’s lives, she said, adding that affected farmland remained uncultivatable.

  Tsai urged the government to establish a platform for two-way communication between the government and the action alliance to ensure residents’ rights and welfare.

  Huang Shu-mei (黃舒楣), associate professor of the National Taiwan University’s Graduate Institute of Building and Planning, said the government should roll out an overall reconstruction scheme.

  Residents of the disaster-affected areas had to attend reconstruction project briefings one after another without seeing the bigger picture of medium and long-term residential and industrial planning, she said.

  The action alliance aims to make the government face the issue, Huang said, adding that post-disaster planning should not be reduced to construction project management.
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