Taiwan Today

The government and nongovernmental organizations have worked hard to help survivors rebuild their lives following the devastating typhoon, but much more remains to be done.

After passing through the playground of Shanlin Junior High School in Kaohsiung County, southern Taiwan, rows and rows of neatly aligned houses come into sight. The walls are a uniform grey color and there is a small garden plot in front of each home. Some of the empty lots adjacent to the houses contain statues of volunteers from the Buddhist Compassion Relief Tzu Chi Foundation, which helped to build the residences. At the entrance of the community, two large stones are inscribed with the phrases “I saw someone buried by the earth and swept away by landslides,” and “I appreciate Tzu Chi for building a new home for me and for giving me a warm place to stay.”

These are scenes from Yuemei Farm in Shanlin Township, a housing area that is now the home of more than 1,800 survivors of Typhoon Morakot, which pummeled Taiwan in early August 2009, killing hundreds of people and causing billions of dollars in property damage. By February 11 this year, 756 permanent homes at Yuemei’s 59-hectare site had been completed, allowing members of some 540 households that had been allocated such housing to move in. Most of those households were originally located in Namaxia, Jiaxian, Maolin, Taoyuan and Liugui townships in Kaohsiung County. February 11 marked the end of the first phase of the effort to provide permanent housing at Yuemei for Morakot survivors. The number of homes to be built in the second phase at Yuemei is dependent on the results of the ongoing application process.

As of June 25 this year, 4,082 households from all areas of Taiwan affected by the typhoon had applied for permanent housing. During their wait, many members of these households have moved into rented homes in safer areas, stayed with relatives or taken up residence in temporary quarters.

The time frame and phasing of construction of permanent housing for displaced Morakot survivors varies from site to site, as well as upon each site’s application process. By June 25, initial construction had been completed in three areas, including the 756 residences at Yuemei Farm, 30 in Taimali Township, Taitung County, eastern Taiwan and six in Gaoshu Township, Pingtung County, southern Taiwan. Meanwhile, according to the Morakot Post-Disaster Reconstruction Council (MDRC) under the Executive Yuan, first-phase construction of another 856 permanent homes in Nantou, Chiayi, Tainan, Kaohsiung, Pingtung and Taitung counties was expected to be completed in early August this year.

Combined Efforts

Much of Xiaolin Village in Jiaxian Township was buried by two landslides during Morakot. Of Xiaolin’s surviving 300 households, 58 had moved into temporary homes constructed near Yuemei Farm by October last year, while many of the remaining households moved into rented houses in Shanlin Township. Through the combined efforts of the government and relief organizations, as of the end of July this year 90 homes were expected to be completed for Xiaolin survivors in nearby Wulipu Village, Jiaxian Township, while 59 Xiaolin households were among the 540 approved for permanent housing at Yuemei, according to the Bureau of Public Works under the Kaohsiung County Government. 

“Some of Xiaolin’s residents will move into houses in Wulipu, and some have chosen to live in Yuemei Farm,” says Chern Jenn-chuan, deputy executive director of the MDRC. “But most of them prefer building in another place near Yuemei Farm,” he says, referring to the site where Xiaolin evacuees took up residence in temporary homes shortly after the disaster. The estimated 145 households that favor the site have submitted a proposal to the local government, but no official decision had been reached as of July this year.

“Since the disaster, we have accompanied the villagers as they’ve worked to recover their lives. We fully understand and respect their thoughts and admire their persistence in conserving their Pingpu Siraya culture,” says Steven Chen, secretary-general of the Taiwan-based Red Cross Society of the Republic of China. The Red Cross provided financial backing for the construction of the houses at Wulipu and has indicated its willingness to build permanent homes for the households that favor the temporary housing site near Yuemei.

“We want to reproduce our streets and the familiar scenes of our village there,” Xiaolin villager Song Yan-cheng says of the site. “Other victims still can return to their hometown, but we don’t have a place to go back to.” “We want our houses to be built in the style of our culture, rather than looking the same as every house at Yuemei Farm,” Xiaolin Self-Help Association spokesman Tsai Song-yu says of the proposed site. “We hope the local government, aid agencies and our villagers can reach a consensus on this after further negotiations.”

According to the Special Statute Governing Morakot Post-Disaster Reconstruction promulgated in August 2009, residents of “special districts” evaluated as unsafe for human habitation are subject to compulsory relocation to less dangerous areas. In practice, however, the government has allowed residents to return to their homes in the special districts, but has informed them that only limited repair work will be done on roads and water and electrical systems in those areas. The villagers affected by the disaster thus face the difficult choice of returning to damaged hometowns in the mountains that have uncertain futures or settling in permanent housing in plains areas. According to the MDRC, 72 percent of all Morakot survivors are indigenous people, many of whom are accustomed to living in the mountainous areas of southern Taiwan, rather than in plains or urban areas.

Field surveys of areas affected by Morakot and negotiations between local officials and survivors continued for several months after the typhoon. Once the surveys were completed in November 2009, the definition of the term “unsafe” as it pertained to the special districts was—and still is, in some cases—particularly contentious. “There’ve been times that I’ve told victims that their house was safe, but they’d say I hadn’t seen a crack in some wall and tell me they were afraid of living there,” the MDRC’s Chern says. “Other times, when I told some residents that their houses weren’t safe to live in, they’d claim that their home was OK.”

Such disputes have delayed the resettlement effort, Chern says. “We’re still working to confirm where the affected areas are so that we can allocate permanent housing to those who need it,” he says. “We need to finish that before we can let the NGOs [nongovernmental organizations] know how many houses to build.”

Many of those who have chosen to move into permanent housing in plains areas have done so to take advantage of greater job opportunities, easier access to hospitals and more stable learning environments for their children, Chern says, adding that many children were forced to transfer to other schools in the aftermath of the disaster. “They worried that if they’d stayed in the mountains, their children would’ve faced the same situation when another disaster occurred,” he says.

On the other hand, those who have insisted on returning to their hometown also have good reasons. Hostel operators Gu Xiu-hui and her husband Tharngalu Sumuku, for example, comprise one of the 10 households in Adiri Village, Wutai Township in Pingtung County that decided to go back to their homes in the mountains after the disaster. Gu says she and her husband returned to Adiri, despite its designation as one of the unsafe special districts, because they only feel comfortable living in the mountains. “We enjoy a simple life here,” she says. The couple believes returning to their hometown is a crucial first step toward the village’s eventual reconstruction.

Despite their affection for Adiri, the 10 households in the village are aware of its potential dangers, which is why they are planning to use their own resources to build a disaster shelter outside the special district for use during the typhoon season, which runs from June to September every year. Although not located in the designated special districts, there are also plans for disaster shelters in the villages of Labuane and Kudrengere in Wutai Township, as well as in Tjalja-avus Village in Laiyi Township, Pingtung County.

Chern Jenn-chuan says that while residents of special districts are free to return to their villages, once a land warning for a typhoon is issued, they need to evacuate to safer locations. According to the Disaster Prevention and Protection Act, township offices have the right to mobilize police and members of the military to assist with and enforce evacuation. “We know that many areas Morakot affected are too fragile to withstand much further damage now, which is why we’ve asked the National Disaster Prevention and Protection Commission and the villagers to remain especially alert during typhoon season,” Chern says.

Along with homes, many roads in southern Taiwan’s mountain areas were badly damaged by Morakot. As some villages can only be accessed by a single road, a closure can cause townspeople to lose their sole transportation link to the outside world save for emergency helicopter service. According to the MDRC, the typhoon damaged eight sections of provincial highways in Chiayi, Kaohsiung, Nantou, Pingtung and Taitung counties. Repair work is ongoing on these sections, with the MDRC pledging to finish the effort by the end of 2011.

One achievement in the road reconstruction was the reopening of Jiaxian Bridge on June 26 this year. The bridge spans the Nanzixian River and is the main artery connecting Jiaxian to Provincial Highways No. 20 and 21 in Kaohsiung County. The old concrete bridge collapsed during flooding caused by Typhoon Sinlaku in 2008, while the succeeding temporary bridge was washed away by Morakot. The new bridge is a sturdy three-arched steel structure that measures 21 meters in width and is painted light purple to reflect the color of taro, a Jiaxian delicacy.

While Jiaxian Bridge is one of the reconstruction effort’s success stories, some roads devastated by Morakot will never be restored to the same degree of functionality as before the typhoon. According to Hung Shi-yi, a technical specialist for the Infrastructure Construction Department of the MDRC, there are seven roads in the area affected by Morakot that will receive only “minimum maintenance” because they are located in geologically sensitive areas and serve villages in the unsafe special districts. In the event of heavy rainfall or earthquakes in the future, the department believes the roads are likely to suffer further damage, and it also would be very expensive and difficult, if not impossible, for the government to rebuild them strongly enough to withstand such disasters.

The section of Provincial Highway No. 21 linking Xiaolin with Namaxia, for example, was built along the Nanzixian River. Morakot’s torrential rains caused the river to surge, washing out long stretches of the highway, while other parts were buried by mudslides. The MDRC has decided to restore the damaged areas of the highway to just a basic level, leaving most of them unpaved and only one lane wide. Area residents, however, have expressed concerns about the limited rebuilding plan. Istanda Huson, chief of Namaxia Township, for example, says that he worries that tourist buses will be unable to travel the narrow road, as well as about the effect on transporting locally grown produce to population centers. Part of Namaxia is located in a special district.

The reconstruction of other roads that serve more populated parts of the area affected by the typhoon will be more complete, but will also take more time. The section of Provincial Highway No. 20 linking Qinhe Village and Meilan Village in Taoyuan Township, for example, passes along the Laonong River and was heavily damaged by flooding. A temporary alternate road will replace the damaged section while the MDRC builds a permanent replacement, which will be paved and at least two lanes wide.

Long-Term Jobs

In addition to housing and road access, many Morakot survivors who were forced to leave their hometown—and thus their former employment—also need jobs. In one effort to help those who have chosen to relocate, Taiwan-based Foxconn Electronics Inc., one of the world’s largest manufacturers of computer components, has established an organic farm to provide long-term jobs for survivors living in Yuemei Farm and nearby Shanlin Township. The 60-hectare farm is located just 800 meters from the newly constructed permanent housing at Yuemei.

As of late June this year, 93 workers had been hired by the farm. The operation is expected to employ a total of 300 workers by the end of this year, says Chou Chun-chi, owner of Tenha Organic Farm in Tainan County, southern Taiwan. Tenha was contracted by Foxconn through 2016 to help the Yuemei operation develop sales channels and provide education in organic farming techniques. Foxconn has agreed to purchase all of the Yuemei farm’s produce during the first two years of its operation, Chou says.

The MDRC’s Chern says that 17 other enterprises have joined Foxconn in providing jobs for Morakot victims. Temporary jobs lasting for six months or for one year have also been provided by the Kaohsiung County Government, although all of those positions will end in December this year. Chang Ji-cheng, an employee at the Yuemei organic farm, points out that the short-term nature of the government jobs has led many Morakot survivors to spurn them in favor of looking for permanent employment.

Workers in and around Alishan Township in Chiayi County, one of Taiwan’s most popular tourism destinations, also suffered in the wake of Morakot. From the time the typhoon struck until June 25 this year, for example, large tourist buses could not access Alishan due to the damage the typhoon caused to Provincial Highway No. 18. The highway was open to cars and trucks during that period, but was in very rough condition and narrowed to one lane in some spots. On top of this, the Alishan Forest Railway was also damaged by the typhoon and halted operations until June this year. Two of the railway’s three spur lines are now open. 

In the absence of busloads and trainloads of tourists, the tourism sector in the area was dealt a severe blow. According to the Chiayi County Government, the number of tourists visiting the Alishan area plunged to 180,000 between January and March this year, compared with nearly 600,000 over the same span in 2009.

Morakot also devastated the Danayiku Ecological Park established by the Tsou indigenous people at Saviki Village, Alishan Township. Located in a scenic valley alongside the Danayiku River, Morakot’s floods buried the park under a thick layer of rocks and gravel. The park was established in 1995 after locals had put in a five-year effort to protect the area’s wildlife and reduce pollution. Their efforts paid off as the valley’s environment became cleaner and a species of fish known to the Tsou as the yosku aulu, which lives only in unpolluted water, reappeared in the river. The ecological park and the beauty of the river boosted the tourism industry of Saviki Village, which generated an average annual revenue of nearly NT$10 million (US$312,500) from tourism from 1995 through 2008.

Poor road conditions are also throttling Saviki’s tourism business. County Road 129, which links Saviki to the villages of Niahosa and Cayamavana in Alishan Township, and Shanmei Bridge were washed away by Morakot. While the road is now open again, most of it remains in poor condition, with huge accumulations of gravel slowing reconstruction work.

To help locals living near Saviki earn a living, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC), the world’s largest independent semiconductor maker, is helping to promote the area’s agricultural products. The company is also planning to build local facilities for processing bamboo shoots and tea—two of Saviki’s premier crops. To boost the tourism sector, TSMC is assisting area hostel owners as they go through the process of applying for business licenses, as some had operated without such permits prior to Morakot, the MDRC’s Chern Jenn-chuan says.

With the Cabinet’s Special Statute Governing Morakot Post-Disaster Reconstruction due to expire at the end of 2011, Chern says that his agency is now “racing against time” to meet the needs of survivors. For the government and the MDRC, there is still much work to be done in rebuilding homes, roads and local economies. The government’s most important task, however, is to continue communicating with Morakot victims about village relocation and reconstruction. Such communication is vital because it is difficult for individuals who have spent their life in the mountains to adapt to very different conditions on the plains. “I respect the other villagers’ decision to live in the plains areas,” Gu Xiu-hui of Adiri Village says. “They may have accepted housing there, but someday they want to come back to Adiri. The common goal of our tribespeople is to strive for Adiri’s future development.”

Write to Vicky Huang at powery18@mail.gio.gov.tw