Hopeless quake victims under Ma Ying-Jeou's lead

Two weeks ago I blogged about that Taipei City Ma Ying-Jeou can't solve the problem of a single building in 7 years (here). Today the survivors of Tong-Hsing Building, the only building of Taipei that collapsed in 921 earthquake 7 years ago, still see no hope that Ma is capable of giving them any help. According to this report,

Four years after 921 quake, Taipei City Government appropriated more than 400 million dollars (~ 1.3 million US dollars) for rebuilding (Tong-Hsing). The builder pocketed it and escaped by claiming bankruptcy. Public Works Departments of Taipei City Government (台北市政府工務局) then started over the whole process of building applications again. But then, again, the budget was put into private pocket by the new builder. In total more than 1 billion dollars went into private pocket of two builders, leaving no hope for the rebuild.
(4年後台北市政府撥款補助重建，先被營建商惡性倒閉捲款4億多元逃跑，工務局重新審核，新營建公司又爆出跳票數億元停工，兩次東星大樓被包商A走近10億元公帑，新家卻遙遙無期)

Read the lines carefully -- it took Ma Ying-Jeou's government 4 years to appropriate the fund for rebuilding. At the year Ma appropriated that fund, Taipei County Government, run by Su Chen-Chang (蘇貞昌), had already finished the rebuild of a collapsed building that was down in 921 too (see my previous post).

And when the fund was finally appropriated, it went into private pocket, repeatedly. It surprises me why Taipei citizens can tolerate such a corruption and still think that Ma is capable of running for president. Do they even care to ask Ma, "Is there something called LAW in Taipei?"

It seems to me that to be a Taipei Citizen, you'd better hope that nothing bad happens to you. If it does, you are on your own.

921 quake victims still suffer, thanks to Mayor Ma

It's the 7th anniversary of 921 earthquake disaster yesterday. On September 21st, 1999, a huge earthquake struck mid-Taiwan, resulted in tremendous loss of lives and wealth. Many buildings collapsed, and even geography was changed.

Surprisingly, I couldn't find any news media over the net talking about this disaster. Comparing to the way American mourn their loss in 911, Taiwanese seem relatively absent-minded (or, cold-blooded?).

I can only find a report that is remotely related to 921: 921 7th anniversity, Tong-Hsing residents: belated justice is not in sight . In Taipei, far away from the epicenter, Tong-Hsing building ("East Star" building, 東星大樓) was the only one building that collapsed during 921. It resulted in the loss of 87 lives. What is ironic is, it has been 7 years, yet the government led by Ma Ying-jeou couldn't even solve the issue of a single building. Not only the building hasn't been rebuilt yet, but also the compensation to the victims is still pending.

In contrary to Ma's impotence, a collapsed building located in Taipei Country has been rebuilt 4 years ago.

Here are some paragraphs:

921七週年 東星住戶：等不到遲來正義
921 7th anniversity, Tong-Hsing residents: belated justice is not in sight

中央社 2006-09-21 12:51
（中央社記者林長順台北二十一日電）九二一大地震在今天屆滿七週年，台北市唯一倒塌的東星大樓至今尚未重建完成，受災戶提出的國家賠償訴訟也仍無結果。罹難者家屬陳建華指出，他們的處境像是被正義遺棄的孤兒，活著的人竟比死去的八十七位親人更傷痛。
It's the 7th anniversary of 921 earthquake. The only building that collapsed in Taipei hasn't yet been rebuilt, the national compensation to the victims' family is still pending. Chen Jian-Hua (陳建華), victim's family, said that their situation is like the orphans abandoned by justice, living is worst than the 87 victims who died in the event.

「東星人不是外星人！」母親與小弟在這場災難中喪生的陳建華說，九二一已經過去七年了，台北縣災難原址重建的「龍閣」早已蓋好，東星災民多等了四年，卻還只能在舊址淋雨。
"Tong-Hsing residents are not spacemen!" Chen, who lost his mother and younger brother in 921, said that 7 years has past since 921. Long-Ger (龍閣), a building that collapsed in Taipei County during 921, has long been rebuilt, but waiting for 4 extra years (after Long-Ger's rebuild), Tong-Hsing residents are still suffering the rain shower in the old debris.

陳建華指出，九二一大地震帶給受災戶及罹難者家屬太多無法撫平的遺憾。「我們的骨肉分離、家園破碎，尤其漫長繁複的國賠訴訟過程，如果沒有鄭文龍與蔡志揚律師義務協助，根本沒有機會在法院一、二審獲判國賠勝訴。」
Chen said, 921 has brought to the victims' family too much unforgotten sorrow. "Family separated, home broken, especially the long and complicated process of national compensation court, if not for the volunteer aid of lawyers Cheng Wen-Long() and Tsai Chih-Yang(), we didn't have chance to win the district court."

不過，在七周年前夕，最高法院於九月十四日將國賠案發回高院更審，讓東星受災戶遭受晴天霹靂的重擊。陳建華說，「經過七年等不到遲來的正義，我們像是弱勢的外星人，也是被司法正義遺棄的孤兒。」他認為東星大樓的八十七位「捨身菩薩」至今無法安息。
However, in the eve of the 7th anniversary, the Supreme Court denied the national compensation and issued a re-consideration, which delivered a huge impact on Tong-Hsing residents. Chen said, "Wait for 7 years for the belated justice, we are like the helpless spacemen, like orphans abandoned by justice." He thinks that the 87 victims can not rest in peace even today.

陳建華表示，台北市政府工務局 (Public Works Departments of Taipei City Government) 因審照不實，造成廠商偷工減料，使東星大樓瞬間毀滅性倒塌，已經讓罹難者家屬流盡了眼淚，而另一項打擊，讓受災戶傷痛加深。
According to Chen, Public Works Departments of Taipei City Government didn't carry out the building code, allowing the construction company chances to use cheaper materials, resulted in the sudden deadly collapse of Tong-Hsing building. It already caused the survivors to run out of their tears. The current impact (the pending of national compensation) causes even more harm to the victim family.

As Ma has been beautified by media for years, people always think of Ma Ying-Jeou as the most promising candidate for the 2008 president campaign. Can you imagine handing over the entire country to a politician who can't even solve the issue of one single building for 7 years ?