By PETER ENAV (AP) – 21 hours ago

CISHAN, Taiwan — Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou sharply raised the expected death toll from Typhoon Morakot on Friday to more than 500, amid mounting criticism of his handling of the worst storm to strike the island in over 50 years.

Ma gave the new estimate to a national security conference, the first called since he took office 15 months ago.

It dramatically raised the previous toll by concluding that 380 of about 600 people living in the mountainous village of Shiao Lin in southern Taiwan perished when flash flooding unleashed calamitous mudslides that buried the community early Sunday.

"The estimated death toll so far has been 120 people," the president told the conference. "In addition about 380 people died in Shiao Lin, so the total death toll will exceed 500."

National security conferences are only held when Taiwan faces extremely serious disasters or grave situations in defense or diplomatic affairs.

Criticism of Ma's handling of the Morakot disaster is rising quickly — even within Ma's own party and in media outlets normally friendly to the president.

即使是親馬媒體(藍媒)也批評馬的災後處理

Much of the criticism focused on comments he made Thursday to Britain's Independent Television News in which he appeared to blame Morakot victims for their own fate.

許多批評的重點在於馬對英媒體記者的回應時把責任推給民眾

"They were not fully prepared. If they were, they should have been evacuated much earlier," Ma told an ITN reporter. "They didn't realize how serious the disaster was."

Taiwan's normally pro-Ma China Times newspaper lambasted the president for the remarks, saying they were badly out of place.

"It is not presidential to tell international media that the blame falls on people who would not evacuate in order to safeguard their own homes," the newspaper said.

Ma also has come under fire for his handling of government efforts to save storm victims and help the island's hard-hit south recover.

"If we expect the people to do everything themselves, what do we need a government for?" chided lawmaker Lo Shu-lei of Ma's ruling Nationalist Party. Ma "seems to be out of the loop and doesn't understand the way the relief system works," she said.

"如果什麼都要民眾自己來,那政府要做什麼?"執政黨(國民黨)立委羅淑蕾說.

The criticism of Ma is reminiscent of the hostile reaction to former President George W. Bush's handling of Hurricane Katrina in 2005 — criticism that played a major role in turning public opinion against the U.S. leader.

對馬的批評與小布希在2005年卡崔納颶風之後飽受批評雷同, 是民眾轉向對領導人不信任的一個重要原因.

It is significant because Ma has embarked on an aggressive campaign to improve relations with rival China, from which Taiwan split amid civil war in 1949. While most people still back the reconciliation efforts, support is slipping amid opposition claims that they are making Taiwan economically dependent on the mainland and undermining its de facto independence.

Should the impression be created that Ma failed badly in responding to the Morakot challenge, support for his China initiative could falter further as more people question his overall leadership ability.

For its part, China is preparing to send additional storm assistance to Taiwan, the official Xinhua News Agency said, without giving details. In addition, the Chinese Red Cross Society, an official Buddhist association, and five leading Chinese companies have offered another 25 million yuan ($3.5 million) in cash for Taiwan relief work.

Taiwan's own rescue efforts continued with emotional scenes at Cishan Junior High School, a focal point of relief operations.

As a helicopter bearing storm survivors landed Friday at the school's improvised landing zone, anxious friends and relatives pressed forward, hoping their loved ones had finally been brought to safety.

There was joy for some, sadness for others.

"We have been waiting here for a week," said Hsieh Hsien-hui of Mei Lan village, after seeing her parents disembark from an arriving helicopter. "When we saw them coming, we were overjoyed."

Morakot dumped more than 80 inches (two meters) of rain on the island last weekend and stranded thousands in villages in the mountainous south. A total of 15,400 villagers have been ferried to safety, and rescuers are working to save another 1,900 people. The storm destroyed the homes of 7,000 people and caused agricultural and property damage in excess of 50 billion New Taiwan dollars ($1.5 billion), Ma told the security conference.

Rescuers have relied on helicopters to reach the worst-hit areas, and on Thursday authorities requested larger choppers from foreign governments capable of carrying earth-moving equipment and shelters.

Many villagers have conducted their own rescue operations. More than 20,000 troops have joined civilian workers in rescue, cleanup and rehabilitation work, officials said.

Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

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extended reading:

Taiwan president accused of slow action after deadly typhoon

Anger Grows in Taiwan Over Typhoon Rescue (WSJ, Aug20)

"The United States is "very concerned" about the situation but has not received a request for aid from the Taiwanese government, Assistant Secretary of State P.J. Crowley told reporters Tuesday." (CNN)

"Chen Tai-sheng, who trudged out from his mud-soaked village two days ago, said the president should spend less time touring the country and more time orchestrating rescue efforts. “This is a war, not a political campaign,” Mr. Chen yelled. (NY Times)

 

 

台南停水終於要告一段落了,但是還有很多受創更深的地方.

但是,有些人不在災區,就沒有辦法感同身受. 在國外看到這種報導,真是很無奈.  尚未向外求援是因為不需要?是不了解災情多慘重?還是根本不當回事?  看到這則新聞,讓我無法不做是後者的推測:

中時旺報創刊現場冠蓋雲集〔記者邱燕玲／台北報導〕

中時「旺報」今天下午舉行創刊酒會，總統府秘書長詹春柏、國民黨主席吳伯雄等黨政高層出席，現場冠蓋雲集，但適逢八八水災，執政黨高層不去救災反參加酒會，網友紛紛上網留言罵翻。包括國民黨榮譽主席連戰、國民黨主席吳伯雄、總統府秘書長詹春柏、監察院長王建煊、陸委會主委賴幸緩、海基會董事長江丙坤等昨都出席這場慶祝酒會，中時電子報報導指出，「現場氣氛熱烈」。】

相對於美國CNN的報導如下,到底誰心中有台灣人民呢? 讓我們趁機看清每個人的真面目!

(CNN) -- Military rescue teams in Taiwan found hundreds of villagers stranded by Typhoon Morakot along the island's mountainous regions, media reported.

Some 700 people in the isolated mountain of Kaohsiung County received food and water from the rescuers, Taiwan's semi-official Central News Agency reported, citing a military spokesman.

Among them were the roughly 200 residents who went missing for two days from the village of Siaolin, CNA reported.

Morakot dumped 83 inches of rain on parts of the island, unleashing the worst flooding there in half a century, according to the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Buildings collapsed in the floodwater, and mudslides buried everything in their paths.

After hitting Taiwan on Saturday, the storm roared on to mainland China, killing at least six people and displacing 1.4 million, authorities said.

Yet the death toll was much higher in Taiwan, where Morakot was blamed for at least 62 deaths. Figures from the Central Emergency Operation Center said the storm had injured 35. Watch as raging waters topple a hotel »

The United States is "very concerned" about the situation but has not received a request for aid from the Taiwanese government, Assistant Secretary of State P.J. Crowley told reporters Tuesday.

Authorities had found shelter for 8,900 of 10,576 people whom the storm left homeless, Wang said, but disaster struck even as efforts continued to help victims.

A rescue helicopter crashed Tuesday in the mountains in southern Taiwan's Pingtung County, tumbled into a river and was washed away. Crews recovered the bodies of all three people who were aboard, Wang said.

The typhoon destroyed bridges and turned roads into muddy swamps, making them inaccessible to search-and-rescue teams.

Helicopters were dropping food, medicine and water to help keep people alive as they awaited rescue. Wang said reservoirs were overflowing, and people were piling sandbags wherever they could. iReport.com: Volunteers mobilize to help typhoon victims

Prices of meat and vegetables increased about 20 percent in response to the limited supply, and officials said the government was releasing stockpiled food to force prices down.

A report from the center described dozens of deaths and missing-persons reports. Among the missing were three groups of people who had been fishing along the Tsengwen River.

A sudden rush of water "flushed away" a factory in Taitung County, and a worker was missing, authorities said.

"The most pressing needs now are providing shelter, food and clean water for those who have had to evacuate their homes," said Hank Du, executive director for the humanitarian group World Vision Taiwan. "We also want to make sure the children are secure and have a safe place where they are cared for."

The group had started to distribute food, cleaning supplies, raincoats, flashlights and other items to those displaced in Taiwan communities.

The Taiwan Power Co. reported that power had been restored by Tuesday night to most of the 2 million households without electricity, according to Taiwan's Central News Agency.

The storm caused $89 million in damage to the country's aquaculture industry, its worst loss in 18 years as a result of a typhoon, the news agency said, citing a report from the Taiwan Council of Agriculture.

The storm made landfall Sunday in China on the coast of Fujian province about 4:20 p.m. Sunday, according to the state-run Xinhua news agency. Morakot's winds were clocked there at 73 mph (118 kph) in its eye, according to the province's meteorological bureau.

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延伸閱讀:

Outcry Grows in Taiwan as Death Toll Rises
Slow Rescue Efforts, Lack of Information Draw Harsh Criticism

Taiwan President Is Target of Anger After Typhoon

...."Chen Tai-sheng, who trudged out from his mud-soaked village two days ago, said the president should spend less time touring the country and more time orchestrating rescue efforts. “This is a war, not a political campaign,” Mr. Chen yelled. "

 

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Police: 400 unaccounted for in Taiwan mudslide

 

 

 

雖說求助的時候應該講清楚需要是什麼,但天災這種情況變化很快的事情,要怎樣判斷100%正確? 怪地方判斷差的話,中央厲害早就可以預測的話直接派來援救啊! 幹麻還要等地方求助還講這種五四三?  

 

 

 

記者:林秉儀　林佳璇     攝影:黃健綸　楊子毅    台北     報導

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

這是經濟學人(Economist)的報導,提到中國與馬政府利用貿易(ECFA)促統. 台灣民眾醒醒吧! 更何況ECFA的負面效果不清,從政府文宣看來,電子業本來會損失3500億變成零,宣稱的會貢獻GDP1.65~1.72%的數據可信嗎?

中文相關報導:
經濟學人：ECFA恐是中國促統詭計
民進黨：經濟學人警示 凸顯馬欺瞞
國民黨：簽ＥＣＦＡ 一天也不能等


以下原文:
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Taiwan and China
Reunification by trade? Aug 6th 2009 | TAIPEI
From The Economist print edition

A plethora of free-trade deals is driving Taiwan closer to China

FREE-TRADE agreements (FTAs) are often contentious but rarely would one have as much strategic significance as that proposed between China and Taiwan. On July 29th Taiwan’s president, Ma Ying-jeou, elected last year on a platform of liberalising business restrictions and easing military tensions with the mainland, said a China-Taiwan trade pact should be signed as soon as possible. The two sides have quietly concluded months of unofficial negotiations and Taiwan’s economy minister, Yiin Chii-ming, says he wants formal negotiations to start in October. The island is in a hurry.

Mr Ma is willing to take the political risk of tying a self-ruled democratic island economically to its giant authoritarian neighbour because of the rest of the world’s craze for free-trade deals. Taiwan has diplomatic relations with 23 countries. Most nations recognise China and fear to sign FTAs with Taiwan lest they incur China’s wrath. Already, says Huang Chih-peng, the director general of Taiwan’s Bureau of Foreign Trade, the world’s 230-odd bilateral or multilateral trade pacts are harming the export-dependent island’s economy.

Mr Ma is even more worried about what will happen next year when trade agreements between China and the Association of South-East Asian Nations—so-called ASEAN+1—take effect. Taiwan’s exports to China face tariffs ranging from 5% to 15% and its government fears that, unless they are lowered, the island will be left at a competitive disadvantage in the giant Chinese market. This disadvantage would greatly worsen if a planned ASEAN+3 were one day signed, embracing South Korea and Japan.

Economic benefits, political costs
A think-tank commissioned by the government said the proposed pact could increase Taiwanese GDP by 1.65-1.72%—more if services and investment were included. In addition, it argued, the pact could increase foreign direct investment by $8.9 billion in seven years and create around 260,000 jobs (though other economists said this was too high). The president wants an outline agreement in place before ASEAN+1 comes into force, with the details worked out and implemented bit by bit after that. An incremental approach, officials say, is needed because an immediate FTA would be too disruptive to Taiwan’s economy.

Disruptive is right, but not perhaps mainly to the economy. China still asserts that Taiwan is an integral part of the People’s Republic. Many Taiwanese, including the pro-independence opposition party, fear that the proposed accord is really a ploy by China to bring about unification by stealth. They also argue that once the pact is signed, there is no guarantee that China will not lean on members of other FTAs to keep Taiwan out anyway. In contrast, Mr Ma insists that the proposed pact would make it easier for Taiwan to sign free-trade accords with third parties.

“It is a suicidal policy that makes Taiwan locked into China,” says Huang Kun-huei, the chairman of the pro-independence Taiwan Solidarity Union. In a sign of the popular unease raised by the pact, the opposition Democratic Progressive Party, which has virtually no parliamentary clout, still managed to collect over 120,000 signatories to a petition asking the government for a referendum on it (though Taiwan’s high threshold for referendum participation means that such a thing may not get off the ground).

In fact, dramatic political shifts seem unlikely in the short term. Mr Ma has promised that when the deal is negotiated, the wording will not compromise the island’s political stance. And China-watchers think the increasingly sophisticated government in Beijing is not likely to make heavy-handed political demands in case this rebounds on Mr Ma and he is voted out of office in 2012 (the Chinese much prefer him to the independence-minded opposition). Nevertheless, in the long run China hopes that economic interdependency and goodwill will eventually encourage the island to return to the fold. The trade pact will be a test of whether that hope can be fulfilled.