Two Roads to Recovery:Namasia, One Year after Morakot

It's been one year now since, on Au-gust 8 of 2009, Typhoon Morakot literally rained down destruction on southern Taiwan, leaving 677 persons dead and another 22 missing. It was the second-worst typhoon-related disaster in Taiwan's history, behind only the floods of August 7, 1959.

Not long after the tragedy, journalists from Taiwan Panorama overflew the disaster area in a helicopter, from Qishan upstream along the Nanzixian River. We saw how once-green peaks had been stripped away to become barren wasteland, while fragmented rocks and boulders littered the steep hillsides. The scale of the landslide at Xiaolin Village-in fact the collapse of a mountain-was terrifying in its scope. Later, when our helicopter landed, we saw roads buried under rockslides, as well as schools and bridges washed away into riverbeds, while the residents of settlements that were flooded by barrier lakes had fled for their lives, leaving the scattered buildings as desolate as a ghost town.

The mountain areas cut off by the destruction of roads were like isolated islands, while in the lowlands we saw sheets of floodwater everywhere. In Tainan County alone, 31 townships were inundated, while in Linbian and Jiadong in Pingtung County, water reached as high as the second floor of buildings. Even months later, the mud and the stink had not been completely cleaned away. In Taitung County, shops and homes were washed into the Pacific Ocean, while the Jinshuai Hotel-in memorable images seen around the world-collapsed into the churning Zhiben River.

Over the past year, the government has moved steadily from the frenetic action of emergency disaster relief to resettlement of victims, provision of financial aid, road and bridge repair, home construction.... Victims who lost their homes have, after a period of internal struggle over whether to move to the lowlands or stay in their old mountain communities, settled down one way or another. Moreover, nearly 800 households have been moved into new homes, and their feelings of insecurity have gradually eased.

According to statistics from the Morakot Post-Disaster Reconstruction Council of the Executive Yuan, the areas designated after the typhoon as "restricted" or "high-risk" had been home to some 19,000 people and 6,316 households. Of the people whose homes and even whole villages were destroyed and who had to relocate, three-fourths are Aborigines. Therefore, beyond a shadow of a doubt, the number-one indicator for evaluating whether Morakot reconstruction has been a success or failure is to see whether it has proceeded smoothly in disaster areas where indigenous peoples reside, and whether resettled Aborigines have stable new lives.

Over the past year, governments at all levels, non-governmental organizations, and disaster victims themselves have made exhaustive efforts. To get a look at how reconstruction is going and what problems remain to be solved, Taiwan Panorama selected two communities for field reports: Namasia Township in Kaohsiung County, where most residents are Bunun Aborigines, and Wutai Township in Pingtung County, where most are Paiwan. Our reports will appear in this month's and next month's issues of our magazine. Where the responsible agencies have performed well, everyone should give unstinting applause. Where improvements need to be made, society should offer constructive suggestions.

Let us hope that the dark clouds of Morakot can soon be lifted, and that reconstruction will herald bluer skies and new hope for the future!