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Premier promises more aid to typhoon areas

Premier Lin Chuan (second from left).

Premier promises more aid to typhoon areas

Premier Lin Chuan (second from left).

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – During visits to the counties of Chiayi and Yunlin Saturday, Premier Lin Chuan promised more aid from the central government for typhoon-stricken areas.
The Chiayi County Government announced Saturday that the region’s agriculture had suffered NT$450 million (US$14.3 million) worth of damage during the passage of three recent typhoons, Meranti, Malakas and Megi. It was the highest figure for any region in Taiwan, the county said.
When Lin toured the region later in the day, he said standards for assessing the eligibility for government aid should be relaxed, while subsidies for reconstruction and low-interest loans should be increased.
He inspected a field of loofahs or towel gourds grown by a widow with her hearing-impaired son in the Chiayi County township of Chungpu. She told him she had lost everything, and asked for higher subsidies for equipment to protect the vegetables.
Responding to the damage he saw on the fields, Lin said the government should subsidize half of the cost for solid farming infrastructure, with the other half should come from low-interest loans, free of interest for the first year.
The premier also visited garlic fields in Huwei, Yunlin County, which had been devastated by the typhoons of the past weeks. Farmers requested subsidies but also complained about the high prices of garlic sprouts, which would make applications for subsidies at the present rates unrealistic.