This is, the "report card" of the government's disaster prevention program, and the grade the government earned is a solid, F! Off of the Front Page Sections, translated…
This time, Typhoon Gaemi was a, true test of the efficacy of the plans of flood preparation, the combined water release and flow systems. From the news media reports, there were, the rivers under the jurisdictions of the Central government that's, flooded over, the situation are close to fatal, but, not life-threatening to say the least. Now, look at how the city regions, there were, numerous reports of flooding in the metros, with the damages, and the second half of the plans for the government's updating the disaster preparation needed more work on.
From the means of how the major rivers not flooding over, the embankments not collapsing, the funds into the program surely, showed efficacy, it's just, that the cost-efficiency of the investments to the programs still needed to, be reviewed over. Certainly, there would be those who stand on the side of the pricelessness of lives, to support the unlimited funds into the programs. But, we must also, consider the uncertainty of hydraulic engineering, and its, limitations. The propaganda for the budgets of hydraulic engineering, mislead the public into believing, that so long as the funding keeps on getting put in, then, we can rid the country of flood. But most of the engineering in hydraulics only, reduces the chances of lives being threatened by the floods. If, when budgeting in the amount, there was a more practical description of the process and the cost-benefit, then, maybe, it will, reduce the volumes of questioning of the funding of the hydraulic engineering in preventing the floods.
the streets of Tainan, becoming, VENICE!!! Photo from online
Looking at the cities with the streets flooded, there was, the principles, the cities' designed the flood release systems based off of the decade term principles, and this time, the precipitations was way over the standards of designs, which made the flooding of the roads, of the ditches, and the alleys unavoidable. And, can the principle terms be raised up to twenty-five years or even, half a century? Of course, but the cost of the program, may cause the funds into social welfare benefits, costs of the national health insurances, and education to a mere, minimum. Letting the public know of these facts, would the public be more accepting to the minimum limits of how the streets will get flooded? Would they be willing to pay more to get treated for illnesses? Or would they be, willing to, spend more money to have education provided for to their, next generations?
Secondly, the drainage of the cities needed to be bigger, then, the cities need to dig more toward the centers of the roads, the problem being, the center of the roads are already, occupied by the electric, gas, telecommunications, water, and other public utilities lines. To rest these lines, there may be the weeks, months, or even, years of work needed, then, that would be the traffic on the streets into the dark ages. Would the people, accept this? The four-year term political sphere, would it allow for the cross sections of the city's basic structures to be, built? There are, the needs of non-engineering thinking means on tackling the problems of the flood during the typhoons, to reduce the public's expectations, and complaints.
The outcomes of the typhoon, can be attributed to the unpredictability of natural disasters, sure, but, does this mean that the central, the local governments are, without any, responsibilities? Of course not! Other than the engineering structuring of the related agencies working as prevention, as the meteorology office issued the warnings of rains, we should examine what we can do. If there's the potentials of flooding, then, the government needs to forecast this. It's quite difficult to evacuate a city, but, the government can make the people know of what might happen, to assist the people in preparedness, to reduce the impacts of the flooding to minimal.
what this land looked like, during this current, typhoon...on the streets...photo from online
On July 26th the, Kamii Typhoon drifted farther away from Taiwan, but the trees were uprooted, fallen, all over the streets, the trash overflowed, the cities are in need of, makeovers, the floods, waiting to, recede, I want to know, the measures taken to treat the aftermath of the typhoons in Tainan by the Central Government. I'd clicked open the webpage of the Disaster Prevention section, the information summary had only, THREE titles on the typhoon, the newest was on the head of state, Cho going to the disaster control center to make the rounds on the 24th; the "latest", also on the orders given by Cho at the disaster control center too; the "how to handle" section, still stagnant in the evaluative means of mid-June; the "weekly disaster review", at July 17th. The location of the office of Central Disaster Emergency Response is in Taipei, so, they wouldn't feel a thing when the floods are happening in southern Taiwan? This sort of a not-in-my-backyard attitude, it would make the people who were hit the hardest during the natural disasters, very, upset.
The geographic location of Taiwan, is right in the typhoons' paths, and we can't escape from the threats from the precipitations from the typhoons, no matter how much funding is put in, there will be the continual floods, typhoons that keep on, hitting this, island.
From the 2006, Flood Relief Plans that had been proposed to ate, the government had spent, close to over a trillion dollars in flood prevention and flood aid, and yet, it still, can't withstand the test of, one, solitary, typhoon. A lot of us really want to know, WHERE, did the budgeted spending on the flood prevention go?
And so, this is, because of the heads of the government, the DDP, did NOT utilize the funding for the natural disasters wisely, and, nobody knows where this huge chunk of the funded budget for flood prevention went, and nobody ever will, because everything is black box operations under the dictatorship of the DDP, and, all we the people can do, is to swallow the bitterness, as the disasters hit, and there will be more and more typhoons that come our ways, due to the effects from global warming, and, we can expect more flood, as the rain will, drown out the streets, because the sewage systems can handle the fast-hitting, rain!
No comments:
Post a Comment