Typhoon Morakot Struck One Year Ago Today, Wiping out Several Villages, Killing More Than 700 and Displacing Thousands

sunday features SUNDAY, AUGUST 8, 2010 Tu Yao-shun, 53, who lost his home and guesthouse business to Typhoon Morakot and now lives in housing provided by the Tzu Chi Foundation, harvests organic jelly figs to make a living. PHOTO: DAVID CHEN, TAIPEI TIMES Shelter from the storm Typhoon Morakot struck one year ago today, wiping out several villages, killing more than 700 and displacing thousands. While storm survivors are relieved to be moving into new homes provided by the government and aid groups, some critics say the reconstruction effort has failed to address basic needs BY DAVID CHEN STAFF REPORTER Yao-shun (杜耀順), 53, is full of who lost their homes, as well as residents Chinese point of view,” and ignores the mixed emotions. He doesn’t living in mountain areas that the government diverse needs of Taiwan’s Aboriginal want to appear ungrateful considers to be at risk of landslides or other tribes. The Siaolin villagers, who are to the Buddhist Compassion natural disasters. Pingpu Aboriginals, a group not officially TuRelief Tzu Chi Foundation (慈濟基金會), Two of the biggest projects are now recognized by the government as a tribe, the charity that has provided him and his underway. World Vision Taiwan is building are a case in point, Lin said. family with a new home after they lost around 500 homes at Majia Farms (瑪家農場) “When you build a house, you have to theirs to Typhoon Morakot. in Pingtung County, which will house about talk with [the people that are going to live The storm struck one year ago today, 2,500 people and are slated for completion there], and ask them, ‘What kind of place causing catastrophic floods and landslides this November. do you need?’” Lin said. “Why didn’t they across southern Taiwan that killed more The Shanlin Great Love Village, where discuss with the Aboriginals what kind of than 700 people. the Tus live, is the largest housing area for place they wanted? They have to be able Tu and everyone in his family escaped the storm victims. Most of its 750 residences to participate. They have to be able to unhurt. But their loss remains bitter. have already been filled and it will house communicate their expectations.” “It’s not such a happy feeling,” says Tu, around 3,200 people in total, with room for sitting in the living room of his new 32 ping expansion in the future. NGOS AND GOVERNMENT (105m2) house in Kaohsiung County, which In response to Lin and the Siaolin villagers’ he now shares with an extended family of GREAT LOVE VILLAGE criticisms, Chung Yi-jui, the Tzu Chi 15 persons — his wife, a son, six daughters, To the thousands of storm survivors representative, says that all prospective three sons-in-law and four grandchildren, moving in from mountain areas, Shanlin residents were invited to preliminary with another on the way. Great Love Village is a significant change meetings with the government and NGOs The Tus, who are Bunun Aboriginals of environment. to discuss their needs prior to construction (布農族), are accustomed to having more The community, which spans 59 last year. space. Before Morakot, they ran a hectares, is located on flatland and looks Top left: The government and aid groups are provid- But Lin says the problems boil down to 200 ping (661m2) guesthouse and tourist like a modern suburban development. ing permanent and temporary housing for victims of a flawed model whereby the government farm located on a scenic 10-hectare The houses all sport the same ash-gray Typhoon Morakot, like this project in Taitung County “dominates the reconstruction process” sponsored by World Vision Taiwan and built by archi- riverside property in Fuxing Village (復 exterior, which seems to suit Tzu Chi’s by mandating that the work be carried out tect Hsieh Ying-chun. 興村), Taoyuan Township (桃源鄉), in the Buddhist aesthetic, and are arranged in by NGOs. mountains of Kaohsiung County. long, orderly rows. The streets are spacious Above: Taitung County, nearly one year after Typhoon In turn, he says, NGOs like World Tu’s 27-year-old daughter, Tu Hsiao- and free of traffic — it looks safe for kids. Morakot struck. Vision and Tzu Chi, which are accountable Right: Temporary housing for Morakot victims in Jinfong huan (杜曉嬛), pulled out a stack of Within the grounds, there are two churches to their donors, are under pressure “to photographs showing what they had lost: and an auditorium. Township, Taitung County. PHOTOS: DAVID CHEN, TAIPEI TIMES show results.” land that had been in the family for four Even though most of the houses are “So, in building houses — the government generations on which sat a charming occupied, the neighborhood felt empty, and the big NGOs — they used their own guesthouse with intricate rock patterns almost like a ghost town, when I visited on ideas to make decisions. They didn’t surrounding the doors and windows, and a a hot afternoon last month. inappropriate self-promotion by hosting that it did not offer incoming residents a necessarily consider what locals were really garden shaded by tall, leafy trees. The Tus Trees had been freshly planted, and visitors’ tours at the Shanlin Great Love say in the design of their new housing thinking,” Lin said. had spent 15 years planning their business, children’s bicycles were scattered about. Village, according to reports in Chinese- and community. The government defends its practice of which along with a cold drinks stand saw Several families had already done up language media earlier this week. Tzu “There was no room for discussion. working with NGOs and aid groups, saying them earning more than NT$100,000 a their gardens. Chi responded by saying the residents None at all. They completely did not that it wanted to move quickly on building month after they opened in 2004, and had Chiu Shih-yi (邱師義), a 53-year-old Bunun welcomed visitors. consider the [Morakot] victims’ own ideas permanent housing. built the house themselves. musician, decided to move there in February The most nagging criticism comes from and their local culture,” Hsu said. This is one reason why the design of Now it’s all gone. All of their after government inspectors declared his a group representing Kaohsiung County’s Siaolin residents moving to Wulipu, on the housing was mainly left up to NGOs, possessions, save for the clothes on their mountain home in Taoyuan Township (桃源 Siaolin Village (小林村), which suffered the the other hand, were satisfied with their according to Chang Cheng-wen (章正文), backs, were washed away by Morakot’s 鄉) a high-risk area prone to landslides. worst damage from Typhoon Morakot — consultations with the Red Cross, he said. an official at the Morakot Post-Disaster rains, which flooded their house and He said it took a month to adjust 500 residents died after massive mudslides Hsu says that Siaolin villagers’ biggest Reconstruction Council (行政院莫拉克颱風 much of their farmland, turning all of it to Shanlin Great Love Village, with its triggered by the storm’s heavy rains buried wish is to recreate a community that 災後重建推動委員會), the officially appointed into a rocky riverbed. The photographs lack of tall trees and a different view of most of the village. resembles their old home. For example, body tasked with overseeing the recovery were given to the Tus by friends and the mountains. But he says the living Tzu Chi is accused of ignoring the the villagers want to use concrete instead effort. He acknowledged that the process past guests. conditions are worth it. villagers’ wishes. of the “high-tech” building materials used might have been “too fast.” Tu Yao-shun says it wasn’t an easy “To tell the truth, our homes on the The 300 or so surviving villagers have by Tzu Chi. “[Using concrete] gives us “At the time, we were unsure of who the decision to move to Tzu Chi’s housing mountain were not this nice,” he said. relocated to two places. Some moved to more of a sense of safety and more of a future [residents of the permanent housing] project in Shanlin Township (杉林鄉), dubbed Tzu Chi spent between NT$2 million Wulipu Village (五里埔村), near their old feeling of home,” he said. were, whether they were Aboriginal or Han the “Kaohsiung Shanlin Tzu Chi Great Love and NT$3 million on each of the houses, home, where permanent housing is being Kaohsiung County government has Chinese,” he told the Taipei Times. Village” (高雄杉林慈濟大愛園區), where his which are made of lightweight steel built by the Red Cross Society of the “promised” to resolve the matter by helping Chang says the government also family is allowed to stay permanently. Until structures and designed to withstand high Republic of China. Siaolin Villagers in Shanlin find another wanted to avoid problems similar to the they moved there in June, they had been winds and earthquakes. Others are moving to Shanlin Township, location to rebuild, but no definite timetable reconstruction process after the 921 living in Kaohsiung City, working at a night “We adopted the same approach that where they were offered homes in Tzu has been set, says Hsu. Earthquake, when several Aboriginal market, but found it difficult to keep up with they use for skyscrapers to build these Chi’s Shanlin Great Love Village. Around 30 But a larger problem that needs to be tribes had trouble obtaining loans to the rent. houses,” said Tzu Chi representative families accepted the offer, and about 100 addressed is the “mentality” of the central rebuild their homes. “We want to rely on ourselves,” he said.

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