Only a few days after the anniversary of Typhoon Herb, the Central Weather Bureau issued the first typhoon land warning for this year. In view of the devastation caused by Typhoon Herb last year, as well as the approach of the high tide coinciding with the full moon, the public did not dare to take medium-sized Typhoon Winnie lightly. Nevertheless, during her one short day on Taiwan, Winnie still managed to leave a trail of death and destruction. A wave of discussion and debate ensued, mirroring the scene which occured in the wake of Typhoon Herb last year. When will the people of Taiwan be free from the devistation caused by typhoons?

According to the Ministry of the Interior's disaster relief team, when medium-sized Typhoon Winnie swept through northern Taiwan on August 18th, it killed 44 people and injured 84, making it a close rival to July 1996's super Typhoon Herb.

The worst disaster reports came from Hsichih Township in Taipei County. At a hillside apartment complex, the Lincoln Big County Community, a mudslide caused a row of five-story apartment buildings to partially collapse, damaging over 100 apartments, and burying dozens of first- and second-floor apartments. As many people had remained indoors due to the typhoon, and the mudslide occured early in the morning, this catastrophe left 28 dead and 40 injured. Many of the people involved could not believe that something like a scene out of a disaster movie had actually happened to them, and that their lifetime savings had been destroyed in an instant.

Another tragedy occured in Taipei's Tienmu District, where a 100-year-old mountainside residential building was also buried in a mudslide. A total of six people from two families were buried alive. According to initial investigations by Taipei fire and police authorities, water released on the morning of the 18th by the rupture of a swimming pool at a villa on the road above it, as well as the heavy rains brought by the typhoon, loosened the soil on the hillside and caused the tragedy.

After the typoon had passed, news also came from Taipei's Neihu District that three people had drowned in the basement of their home on Tahu Shanchuang Street. There had not been flooding for over a decade in the Neihu District, and the floodwater reached a depth of 1.6 meters on the day Winnie struck Taiwan. The Tahu neighborhood chief believes that the flooding occured because two floodgates for the lake at Tahu Park were not opened in time. When the floodgates were later opened, the floodwater receded within half-an-hour, leaving behind a thick layer of mud and incalculable damage. Afterwards, as Taipei Mayor Chen Shui-bian was on vacation overseas, Deputy Mayor Lin Chia-cheng made a statement which asserted that human error had been involved in the Tahu flood. Bureau of Public Works Director Hsu Jui-feng has agreed to take the blame for this incident, and Office of City Parks & Street Lights Director Chang Ching, as well as five of his subordinates, have received demerits.

Although the most serious damage from Typhoon Winnie occured in northern Taiwan, on the island as a whole, over 100,000 homes suffered power outages and nearly 30,000 homes temporarily lost their telephone service. Air and rail transportation was also suspended, and agricultural losses exceeded NT$400 million.

The typhoon highlighted once again the problem of mountain-slope development. For the disaster that befell the Lincoln Big County Community, numerous parties joined in an unending search for blame. On its own initiative, the Shihlin district attorney's office launched an investigation, taking into custody various individuals suspected of curroption or malfeasance regarding the construction of the community, and the Council of Agriculture, the Ministry of Interior and Taipei County Executive Office have all begun studies on the dangers of mountainside development. Now the focus is on the condition of the 186 structures in Taipei County that like Lincoln are classed as "old zoning grade C."

Bureau of Business Management Director Lin Ferng-ching says that the city government will step up inspections of hillside homes and roads in the future. Owners will be required to make modifications where necessary, and road maintenance will be stepped up. Bureau of Urban Development Director Chang Jing-sen states that in the future, after the Taipei regulations on hillside development are modified, construction will be prohibited on land where the average slope exceeds 30%.

Although similar debate and a search for the responsible parties occured during the aftermath of Typhoon Herb last year, the damage caused by Typhoon Winnie a year later has been equally severe. What is alarming is that over-development of hillside land has become the norm in Taiwan, both in the cities and the countryside. Construction firms take advantage of loopholes in the law, and the governing bodies are unable to stop them. In spite of the vigorous efforts of the authorities to find who is to blame, they can only "mend the fence after the sheep have escaped" by punishing the guilty parties and compensating the victims.

Given the fact that Taiwan's high population density makes continued land development inevitable, renewed attention must be placed on the formulation of comprehensive policy, the implementation and enforcement of regulations, and the clear relegation of authority among governing bodies.

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The Lincoln Big County Community in the hills of Hsichih was an ideal home to many. Who could have known that a typhoon would turn it into a death trap. Should Mother Nature be blamed? No, this is purely a manmade disaster. (photo by Lu En-ssi)