VOLUNTEERS NEEDED: Taitung County, where more than 20,000 households were still without power yesterday, suffered losses amounting to NT$2 billion
/ Staff writer, with CNA
Premier Lin Chuan （林全） yesterday visited Taitung County to inspect damage caused by Typhoon Nepartak and instructed the government to allocate NT$300 million （US$9.3 million） to assist with relief and reconstruction work in the southeastern county.
After arriving in Taitung, the worst-affected county, Lin met with soldiers who were assisting with relief and cleanup work, before visiting senior citizens who were relocated from a nursing home during the typhoon.
He then visited farms ravaged by Nepartak and spoke with farmers.
Meanwhile, President Tsai Ing-wen （蔡英文） shared photographs of soldiers cleaning up Taitung streets on Facebook, with a post saying: "Making a big effort to help people in Taitung rebuild their homes."
As of noon yesterday, more than 20,000 Taitung households were still without power and about 8,000 were without water. Overall losses in Taitung amounted to about NT$2 billion, with agricultural losses surpassing NT$600 million.
The Democratic Progressive Party legislative caucus said it would donate NT$500,000 to the Taitung County Government to assist with disaster relief.
The Chinese Nationalist Party （KMT） yesterday said it would donate NT$1 million to ensure the best care for people affected by Typhoon Nepartak, pledging to help residents with reconstruction work.
"Other than that, all of the cadres at the KMT's headquarters and local branches will also donate one day's wages in the hope that more people to follow suit … and help provide the best care for people affected by the typhoon," KMT Chairwoman Hung Hsiu-chu （洪秀柱） said.
KMT Culture and Communications Committee director Chow Chi-wai （周志偉） said the party has also cooperated with private-sector organizations in shipping resources to Taitung residents, including furniture, mattresses, rice and cleaning products.
As the typhoon also caused extensive damage to agricultural products in the region, Chow said the KMT has asked the party's county councilors to help farmers take photographs of their ruined crops and apply for compensation.
The Taitung County government is recruiting volunteers to assist with post-typhoon relief work, especially people who specialize in ironwork and carpentry. Volunteers can call the 1999 hotline in Taitung or leave their contact details on the Web site www.docs.google.com/forms/d/1JFdtm7stMC-1GLn9H85AK9a5SIb-RmyuxPSm6xxKqZE/viewform if they live outside of Taitung and would like to volunteer.
The county government said it is also in need of large machinery such as cranes and grab trucks. The machines are needed to pick up large objects, such as metal sign boards, that were knocked down during the typhoon.
At 2:30pm yesterday the Central Weather Bureau lifted a sea and land warning for Typhoon Nepartak, which swept through Taiwan on Friday, after it weakened and was downgraded to a tropical low pressure system as it exited the nation and moved toward China's Fujian Province.
The warnings were issued on Wednesday as Nepartak approached Taiwan. The typhoon was the first to hit this year.
However, the bureau said that due to the low pressure and southwesterly winds, torrential rains are expected in Hualien and Pingtung counties even after the storm has moved away from Taiwan proper.
Some areas in Chiayi, Tainan, Kaohsiung and the outlying island of Kinmen could see heavy or torrential rains, while Yunlin County, mountain areas in eastern Taiwan and the outlying Penghu archipelago could also see rain.
Premier Lin Chuan points at a plot of dragon fruit cactus plants in Taitung County yesterday as he inspects severe damage caused by Typhoon Nepartak on Friday. Photo: CNA
People in Taitung County clear debris on Saturday in the wake of Typhoon Nepartak. Photo: EPA
A National Taitung College classroom is pictured yesterday in Taitung after being damaged by Typhoon Nepartak on Friday. Photo courtesy of the Ministry of Education
Chinese Nationalist Party （KMT） Chairwoman Hung Hsiu-chu （洪秀柱） yesterday dismissed calls for the KMT to reduce the party's assets to zero as a "pseudo-issue," saying that the party would at least need chairs and tables.
"My stance on the matter is basically the same as the KMT caucus, but I suppose the phrase 'reducing party assets to zero' does not include desks and chairs," Hung said on the sidelines of a handover ceremony for leaders of the KMT's local youth associations in Taipei yesterday.
Hung said as other political parties, such as the Democratic Progressive Party （DPP） and the People First Party （PFP）, also own such things, she does not believe it is the intention of the KMT caucus to "reduce even the party's office chairs and desks to zero."
As such, the phrase "reducing party assets to zero" is nothing but a pseudo-issue, Hung said, adding that the usage of the term is inappropriate.
However, Hung said that she hopes to dispose of the party assets deemed controversial by the public as soon as possible, either by way of donation, bequeathing or by returning them to their rightful owners.
"I believe the KMT caucus and I share similar opinions in this regard," Hung said.
Hung's remarks came on the heels of the election of KMT Legislator Sufin Siluko （廖國棟） as the party's caucus whip on Thursday, when the lawmaker said the KMT caucus would be guided by public opinion and that the majority of caucus members support the idea of reducing the KMT's assets to zero.
Other KMT members have also called on party headquarters to dispose of controversial assets after the party's disastrous defeat in the Jan. 16 presidential and legislative elections, saying assets have become a liability for the party.
Meanwhile, at yesterday's handover ceremony, Hung also shrugged off criticism that the KMT does not appreciate young talent.
"Without young people, the KMT does not have hope. Some critics' comments that the party does not value young people are unfair in certain respects. The KMT is willing to learn from other parties that do a better job uncovering and cultivating talent," Hung said.
Chinese Nationalist Party （KMT） Chairwoman Hung Hsiu-chu, center, raises her fist while attending a handover ceremony for leaders of the KMT's local youth associations in Taipei yesterday. Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times
BLAST INJURIES: Plastic surgeon Tseng Yuan-sheng said that along with lacerations, a boy sustained burns to 33 percent of his body and man had inhalation burns
By Sean Lin / Staff reporter
Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je （柯文哲） yesterday said that he would consult with the central government over how to achieve an equilibrium between the costs and benefits of adopting measures to improve safety on public transportation systems.
Ko made the remarks on the sidelines of a visit to Tri-Service General Hospital in Neihu District （內湖） to meet people injured in an explosion on a train near Songshan Railway Station on Thursday evening.
"When the incident occurred, we deployed additional police to help reassure people, but I know very well that the public panic triggered by these kinds of incidents is usually far greater than the actual damage done," Ko said in response to media queries on whether the city government plans to consult the Taiwan Railways Administration and Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp over how to improve passenger safety.
Ko said that safety measures adopted for public transport systems should not inconvenience the public, adding that he would discuss with the central government how to identify ways to improve safety that would not affect people too much.
Ko said that although no one was killed in Thursday's blast, some people needed to be intubated, while the injuries ranged from burns to lacerations, apparently due to shrapnel from the homemade pipe bomb, which went off in a carriage.
Tseng Yuan-sheng （曾元生）, a plastic surgeon at the hospital, said that a boy who is in intensive care is to undergo skin grafts after sustaining burns to 33 percent of his body, adding that venules in his left calf need to be mended after they were ruptured by a deep laceration.
A man surnamed Yu （余） sustained burns to 22 percent of his body in addition to inhalation burns, Tseng said.
A college student who sustained less severe burns had left the intensive care unit after their condition stabilized, he said.
沒有留言:
張貼留言
注意：只有此網誌的成員可以留言。