After Typhoon Sinlaku in Taiwan

Taiwan was hit by several typhoons in recent months. Typhoon Sinlaku, especially, has seriously damaged the indigenous communities in central and northern Taiwan. Some mountain areas in Nantou County where the indigenous people live were devastated. Heping Township in Taichung County also suffered a lot of damages. There were massive mudslides and some parts of the mountains collapsed in downpours. Local residents are urge to rebuild their homes in the aftermath.

Typhoon Sinlaku crawled through Taiwan, bringing with it torrential rains which had caused destruction in Xinyi and Renai Townships in Nantou. There have been accusations that human factors should also be blamed for the disasters. Since the 921 killer earthquake in 1999, Heping Township has experienced a series of natural calamities. This time, it suffered from the massive amounts of rain brought by Typhoon Sinlaku. But as soon as Typhoon Sinlaku left, Typhoon Hagupit swept through Taiwan bringing more damages to indigenous communities.

According to the weather bureau, Typhoon Sinlaku dumped more than 1,500 millimeters of rain to Heping Township, much more than the 250 millimeters set for landslide warnings. October is the harvest season for persimmons, but most of the fruit farms were buried under mudslides. In Heping Township alone, the loss was estimated at more than 62,000 US dollars. Community members waddle through the farms to inspect their fruit in hopes of finding a way to ease their loss.

“Now it's persimmons' harvest season. The blocked roads are hurting farmers’ delivery plans. They should at least clear the roads and make it a priority. There was more rain this time, causing the mountain to collapse,” said Zhang Guang-shun, the Atayal people from Tgbil Community, also one of the desperate fruit farmers. “They should handle that first before asking where the problem originated from. There are at least a dozen fruit farms in the mountain, which was always affected by typhoon. Nothing has been done to prevent typhoon damages.”

Were the damages in Heping Community caused by insufficient conservation of water and soil, or they are proof that Mother Nature's powers are really unpredictable? These are the issues in an ongoing battle between those urging for the protection of farmers’ livelihood and those advocating the preservation of natural environment. But it is a fact that heavy rains always cause disasters in the mountain areas in central and southern Taiwan. Similarly, Taoshan Community has also been wrecked by typhoon. The community used to enjoy its nice surroundings near the midstream of Ta-an River. But after the river was dredged, the riverbed has become higher. The river always swells and almost drowns the bridge every time it rains, threatening the safety of local residents.

“After this typhoon, the mud piling up in the downstream of the river is almost as high as the bridge. It's a good thing that the county government has sent people to clean it up. Otherwise when typhoon hits again, the lives of Taoshan community residents will be threatened again,” said Chen Zheng-zhi, an Atayal who is also the representative of Heping Township. “We have an embankment above here that was built by the Forest Bureau. If the mud here piles up, the river water will overflow the embankment and the whole community will be submerged.

The Ta-an River, divided into upstream, midstream and downstream, is under the supervision of 3 different authorities, Forest Bureau, County government, and Water Resources Agency under the Ministry of Economic Affairs. The river is still filled with mud and stones a week after the typhoon. The county government has sent excavators to dredge up the midstream part and have dug out a narrow waterway. But no cleanup efforts can be seen upstream or downstream. The riverbed is rising due to the more mud and the river water is eroding the embankment. Some parts of the roadbed along Ta-an River are hollowed by water. Although the township office has filled the hollowed areas with sands and stones to avoid further damage, same problems remain unsolved. This part of the stream is under jurisdiction of the central government and the local government has no authority over it.

“For example, there are two holes along the road from Wushihkeng to Wubaogong. If the River Management Office agreed to have it fixed, the work could be done in two days. But since the office is reluctant to do so, the holes are still there. Two bridges to Daguang village have collapsed but we can't work on them because the office did not allow it. We hope the central government can coordinate on this so the Water Resources Agency can authorize the county government to start working.” Chen Zheng-zhi added.

In fact, more than one place is facing the situation. The southern end of Ta-chia River, which is also in Heping Township, also overflowed. This is because the river wasn't dredged up in time, nor was the embankment finished. When Typhoon Sinlaku came, the river swelled to flood more than 20 hectares of indigenous reserve land and over 20 hectares of fruit farms.

“It was ruined by the July 2 floods. In fact, the Third River Management Office reconstructed the place in 2005, but then it was all gone in floods this time. The main reason is because the river wasn't cleaned up. We have made three requests, but the office wouldn't dredge the river,” said Huang Dao the Fruit Farmer. “Levees also need to be built. But if levees are built while the river isn't cleaned up, the levees will burst when the river rises. We have about 30 hectares of land here and some 20 hectares were damaged. If the levee is not built in time, the indigenous reserve land may vanish in floods.”

According to the fruit farmer, earlier in July 2006, the community already asked the Water Resource Agency to inspect the area in regards to extending the levee and cleaning up the river. But the construction work has been delayed. A massive amount of indigenous reserve land is submerged as a result. A week after the typhoon, there is still no sign of construction. The fruit farmers feel helpless as the river continues to claw away their land. Reconstruction work after disasters cannot wait. People question that if the local and central governments are ready for an overall community reconstruction. Or will they continue to only fix holes when they see one? Most importantly, has anyone heeded nature's warnings?