Another forgotten group of typhoon victims and Aborigine tribe plead for aid and justice

["Taiwan Church News" <enews@pctpress.org>]

3086 Edition

April 18-24, 2011

Church Ministry News



Another forgotten group of typhoon victims and Aborigine tribe plead for aid 
and justice                                                                     
                           



Reported by Chiou Kuo-rong

Written by Lydia Ma



“We Hagay Aborigines are the forgotten Aborigine tribe who still live in prefab 
housing!” claimed Atayal Aborigines from Hagay community. They assembled in 
front of the Executive Yuan on April 14, 2011, to remind the government that 
Morakot victims weren’t the only ones still waiting for fulfillment of promises 
about new homes.

When Typhoon Aere made landfall in Taiwan in August 2004, flash floods and 
landslides triggered by heavy rain flooded and swept away Hagay community, 
leaving everyone homeless in its aftermath. The typhoon claimed some lives and 
would’ve been more devastating if those living in Hagay hadn’t been evacuated 
beforehand.

Though the government at the time provided temporary shelters and prefab 
housing for evacuees so that Aborigines would have a place to live for the time 
being, not a word has been heard since then about rebuilding permanent housing 
and a new community for these people.

Hagay community representative Tai Li-chuan explained that many years ago, 
Water Resources Agency had built Baling Dam for the purpose of prolonging the 
life span of Shihmen Reservoir and controlling sediment. As result of this 
project, the riverbed and landscape in the area changed dramatically and what 
used to be a safe haven to live turned into a dangerous place whenever there 
was a typhoon. Eventually, both Hagay community and Baling Dam were washed away 
by a typhoon.

The Hagay community presented a letter of appeal to the Executive Yuan on that 
day. They called on the central government to provide them with permanent 
housing and to assume responsibility for the damages to their land and the 
ecology of the river caused by the construction of the Baling Dam.

“We feel like a forgotten tribe,” said Tai, adding that her people live in 
prefab housing that originally was supposed to accommodate them for 3 years at 
the most according to initial plans.

Though Church of the Nazarene is the only existing church in Hagay community, 
PCT Atayal Presbytery’s Church and Society Committee is determined to help 
Hagay Aborigines claim government compensation. They visited this community and 
gave them advice on becoming better prepared when claiming compensation.



********************

Taiwan Church News is published weekly in Taiwan's local languages. 

You may translate and re-use our articles online only if you acknowledge the 
source as "Taiwan Church News" and list the names of the reporter and writer. 
Contact us before reprinting any of our articles for print publications. 

Direct comments and questions about this article to: enews@pctpress.org

Visit our website for more news at: http://enews-pctpress.org/ (English) or 
http://www.pctpress.org (Chinese) 

********************