AS TAIWAN began the painful process of recovery after last weekend’s devastating typhoon, which left scores dead and hundreds missing, the pressure is mounting on President Ma Ying-jeou whose handling of the crisis has caused a public storm.
Survivors blame the government for the slow rescue response, and Mr Ma has been forced to apologise for its reaction to the flooding and landslide disaster of August 8th. He has called an emergency cabinet meeting about the crisis. Mr Ma also performed an embarrassing U-turn on whether Taiwan needed foreign aid, agreeing to accept aid after insisting Taiwan did not need it.
“I’m sorry,” said the beleaguered president repeatedly as he visited a Taoist temple and orchards at Matou near Tainan.
Matou was farmed by indigenous Matau tribes while Taiwan was colonised by the Dutch in the 17th century.
When the president arrived this week by helicopter at the relief centre in Cishan, he was jeered by angry locals, who shouted: “We’re busy here. Go and help the people, don’t come here.”
The president said that floods and mudslides unleashed by Typhoon Morakot have killed about 500 people on the island.
The typhoon tore through Taiwan over two days, leaving in its wake more than 100 dead and nearly two-thirds of central and southern Taiwan under waters more than 5m (16½ ft) deep in many places.
Under heavy public pressure, including a high-profile online campaign requesting donations internationally because the organisers said the government was doing nothing, the president has finally accepted US offers of aid to rescue and evacuate victims of the flood disaster.
President Ma was forced to deny press reports that Taipei had refused US assistance. Taipei has accepted a relief donation of $250,000 (€176,000) from the American Institute in Taiwan.
Morakot destroyed the homes of 7,000 people and caused agricultural and property damage in excess of €1.06 billion, according to President Ma. “While the rescue operation is still going on, we have started rehabilitation and reconstruction work which is just as pressing as relief efforts but might be even more difficult and cumbersome,” said Mr Ma.
So far, 15,400 villagers have been ferried to safety, and rescuers are working to save another 1,900 people still stranded.
Mr Ma said the death toll includes 120 confirmed deaths, and about 380 people are feared buried in the debris in Hsiao Lin, the hardest-hit village.
The military finally opened a road to Hsiao Lin yesterday, but authorities have given up hope of finding anyone alive under the tons of mud that now cover the village. Kaohsiung county chief Yang Chiu-hsing said that instead of digging into some 170 mud-buried homes, a memorial park will be built on the site.