TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – DPP Legislator Chen Ting-fei (陳亭妃) on Sunday criticized the government's slow recovery efforts in Tainan following Typhoon Danas, focusing on the delayed restoration of telecommunications in remote areas.
Chen said the breakdown of telecommunications, water infrastructure and electricity isolated residents from the outside world, per UP Media. She urged the government to require telecom providers to develop strategies to prevent similar failures for future typhoons.
Fellow DPP Legislator and Tainan mayoral primary candidate Lin Chun-hsien (林俊憲) also weighed in, recommending that major telecommunications companies move above-ground cables underground and expand their fleets of mobile communication vehicles, per UDN. Lin called on lawmakers to prioritize actionable steps rather than what he described as attention-seeking, open-ended questions.
On Saturday, DPP Tainan City Councilor Hsieh Shu-fan (謝舒凡) and five other councilors criticized the city government for burdening typhoon-affected residents with excessive paperwork, per FTNN. They argued that the documentation requirements were too difficult, particularly for elderly and underprivileged victims.
Typhoon Danas revealed gaps in the local government’s disaster management. Village leaders reported poor coordination, with some areas receiving excess supplies and others experiencing shortages, per the Reporter.
Wu Ping-han (吳秉翰), a disaster recovery official with the NGO Mustard Seed Mission, said resource coordination was lacking in the hardest-hit areas and questioned why the central government had not deployed additional aid after seven days of blackout. Wu also noted that while information was shared on how to prepare for the typhoon, many elderly residents did not have access to cellphones to receive it.
Former 921 Earthquake Relief Foundation head Hsieh Chih-cheng (謝志誠) said the government’s emphasis on earthquake preparedness had come at the expense of typhoon readiness. He said the inability to quickly set up damage-reporting networks created unnecessary chaos.
Tainan Social Affairs Bureau Deputy Director Yeh Chih-ming (葉誌明) acknowledged the difficulties, noting that damaged roads and communications networks slowed the assessment process.
Li Ya-che (李亞哲), director of a Syuejia nursing home, said the city required annual updates to the facility’s disaster response plan, but provided little assistance beyond checking on blackout status. He noted that eight patients depend on respirators and that a recently installed emergency generator was essential to their survival.
Li said he had to purchase fuel by bike due to blocked roads. He also recounted that despite nearby residential buildings regaining power, local officials did not offer assistance on restoring the power to his nursing home.
Li urged the government to provide more direct aid to nursing and medical facilities during disasters.
