Taiwan has come a long way in improving its disaster prevention and rescue knowledge, organization and efficiency over the five years of reconstruction following Typhoon Morakot, Premier Jiang Yi-huah stated this morning.
The premier made this remark at a press conference for the Taiwan debut of a documentary depicting the ROC's recovery from the typhoon, which struck multiple nations in August 2009.
The reconstruction efforts of the public and private sectors have been recorded in texts, images and documentaries, all of which will be stored and exhibited at the National Science and Technology Museum in Kaohsiung City so that they can continue to offer valuable lessons to generations to come and serve as references for policymakers, he said.
After the typhoon hit Taiwan on August 8, 2009, the government immediately set up a command center to start reconstruction work in affected areas in central and southern Taiwan, Jiang noted. Seven days after the storm made landfall, the Executive Yuan established the Morakot Post-Disaster Reconstruction Council.
The Executive Yuan also coordinated with legislators to fast-track a special statute for post-Morakot reconstruction. Within the next three months, a budget of over NT$110 billion (US$3.66 billion) was approved to help affected residents rebuild their homes, roads, industries, culture and peace of mind.
The premier also pointed out that when he was Minister of the Interior (2009-2012), reforming the country's disaster prevention system was one of the ministry's foremost duties. These reforms included amending the Disaster Prevention and Protection Act as well as transferring disaster prevention responsibilities—which had chiefly been the purview the Ministry of the Interior's National Fire Agency—to the Central Emergency Operation Center (CEOC), which also carries out related rescue operations. Whenever a typhoon or heavy rainfall leads to a serious disaster, the CEOC is promptly activated to coordinate ministries and agencies' relief and rescue efforts.
The government has demonstrated the new approach in its response to the gas explosions in Kaohsiung last week, Jiang indicated. After the explosions occurred the night of July 31, the CEOC was activated before dawn on August 1, and each relevant ministry posted officials there who provided needed assistance to the Kaohsiung City Government. The military was also immediately deployed to the scene; so far about 2,000 troops have assisted with cleaning up the disaster site.
Agencies have also put forward numerous strategies to assist households and stores adversely affected by the disaster. The CEOC is going to summarize the relevant information and use various communication channels to inform those at the disaster areas of these plans.
These courses of action are all products of the experiences gained from Typhoon Morakot, the premier stated. President Ma Ying-jeou has said that disaster prevention is more important than rescue, and evacuation an even higher priority than prevention, and this has become the core concept of central and local government disaster prevention efforts, Jiang remarked.
The underground pipe explosions last week were hugely damaging and shocking to Kaohsiung City, the premier said, and under his orders and Vice Premier Mao Chi-kuo's efforts, the CEOC has assembled around a dozen scholars and experts in various fields to undertake a national examination of safety problems associated with underground pipes. They will review whether the pipes' planning, design, daily management and crisis response mechanism are sufficient. This work, like the post-Morakot reconstruction, must proceed gradually, Jiang insisted.
"Taiwan is the place we are spending our lifetimes, and I hope its residents can live peacefully and happily on this land," he said. "This requires the central and local governments and the private sector to work together and contribute their efforts and wisdom in order to form valuable experiences to pass on to future generations."