President Tsai Ing-wen went on an inspection tour of Taitung County on Sunday, two days after it was slammed by Super Typhoon Nepartak.
The central government has received complaints about its “slow” rescue and reconstruction efforts after the first typhoon of Tsai’s term.
Water supply, power and transportation networks still had not resumed in some Taiwan areas as of press time.
Presidential Office Spokesman Alex Huang announced Sunday morning that Tsai would head to typhoon-hit areas, including Orchid Island, Green Island and Taitung County, before she would be briefed at the Taitung County Government Hall.
“Outlying islands generally have the fewest resources, and it is difficult for information (from remote areas) to get out, so the president plans to visit Orchid Island and Green Island before going to Taitung,” Huang said.
AFP PHOTO / CNA PHOTO / Taiwan Military, AFP, Reuters, AFP PHOTO / CNA PHOTO / Water Resources Agency
In a post to the social-networking site Facebook, Tsai said that the residents of Taitung had suffered from the typhoon.
“Whenever the people of Taiwan face adversity, they will feel the existence of the government,” Tsai wrote in the post.
Tsai vowed to monitor government ministries closely as they work in the coming days, to ensure that resources were efficiently disbursed to storm-stricken areas.
“The (outlying islands) stand alone, but not its people,” Tsai said. “Now is the time for us to unite as one, to mobilize all personnel and resources in support of Taitung.”
Premier Lin Chuan visited typhoon-hit Taitung and Pingtung on Saturday and offered up to NT$20,000 to every household affected by the typhoon.
He said the central government would allocate NT$500 million to Taitung County for recovery, as well as another NT$300 million to subsidize agricultural damages.
Lin ordered Wu Hong-mo, head of the Public Construction Commission, to be on standby in Taitung County to assist with rescue and recovery.
In the Council of Agriculture’s latest estimate, national agricultural losses stood at NT$917 million, with Taitung County the worst-hit.
Crop damage in Taitung was estimated at over NT$727 million, accounting for nearly 80 per cent of the national total.
Taitung Residents Bemoan Lack of Resources
Due to security concerns, Tsai’s visit to Orchid Island resulted in the suspension of Lanyu Airport, the island’s primary gateway.
“Why is she coming down here? It does no good,” an Orchid Island resident surnamed Chang told United Daily News.
The paper also reported that a Taitung resident surnamed Wu was outraged at the slow progress of recovery. “The repairs are taking too long,” said Wu.
Wu said his neighbours across the street saw their power resume on the first day after Typhoon Nepartak, but that his family had been waiting for nearly two days.
He complained that family had been staying at a hotel for the past two days and that the fish in his fish tank had died while the food in his refrigerator had spoiled.
According to statistics released by the Taitung County Emergency Operations Center Sunday, there are still 1,000 households without electricity and 440 homes with no running water in Taitung.
