At the Cabinet's weekly meeting Thursday, Premier Lai Ching-te received a briefing on the government's flood response efforts after a slow-moving tropical depression pummeled southern Taiwan last week. He apologized on behalf of the government to victims of the devastation and said the top priority now is cleaning and disinfecting affected areas to prevent the spread of disease. The premier directed the Environmental Protection Administration and the Ministry of Health and Welfare to work in concert with local governments in the cleanup effort.
Over the long term, the government will continue pushing water environment projects under the Forward-looking Infrastructure Development Program, the premier said. He also instructed the Ministry of Economic Affairs to organize a national water control review conference bringing central and local government officials together to discuss and assess insufficiencies in past water management programs. Participants can come up with more pragmatic and comprehensive programs with each component clearly laid out, whether for disaster prevention, preparedness, mitigation or post-disaster reconstruction. The objective is to bolster Taiwan's overall flood control capacity by building a regulatory framework with comprehensive controls, conducting training and drills, providing necessary equipment and facilities, and using new and smart water resource management technologies to prevent water disasters.
The government will also team up with the private sector to carry out the aims of the recently amended Water Act, which include improving the capacity for soil to absorb floodwater and share the burden with existing waterways. Every development zone must be able to absorb runoff water and control its outflow rather than allowing storm water to flow off to neighboring areas. These efforts will add to the resilience of Taiwan's cities and townships and improve the safety of the homeland, he said.