Relief Plans for Typhoon Morakot Flood Victims

Gov't unveils relief plans for flood victims
TAIPEI, Taiwan -- The Ministry of the Interior (MOI) announced yesterday a program of providing relief funds for flood victims while the Executive Yuan (Cabinet) has decided to cooperate with private welfare foundations to build permanent living spaces for people whose houses were destroyed.
Yeh Shih-wen, director of the Construction & Planning Administration under the MOI, said the government will offer NT$3,000 per month to each person whose houses were destroyed beyond repair for a period of six months.

Speaking at a press conference held at the Central Emergency Operation Center, Yeh said the maximum relief fund for any household is set at NT$15,000 a month (for a family of five people).

In addition, households of three will also be entitled to a rental subsidy of NT$6,000 each month for a maximum period of two years.

Families with up to four members or with five or more members will be given a monthly rental subsidy of NT$8,000 and NT$10,000 respectively, Yeh said.

For those who plan to purchase their own living units will be qualify for housing loans of up to NT$3.5 million, with preferential interest rates for 20 years.

The loans, which carry a low interest rate of 0.533 percent per annum, will have a grace period of five years during which the house buyers need to pay the interest only.

Yeh said people who need funds to repair their houses damaged by floods or mudslides caused by Typhoon Morakot earlier this month may apply for same preferential loans, up to NT$1.5 million for 15 years.

People who plan to apply for the relief funds, rental subsidies or loans may call the ministry at (02) 2192-7171, he said.

Meanwhile, the Cabinet finalized a plan to team up with major welfare organizations in the private sector to build temporary shelters, in the form of prefab houses, for flood victims.

In order to prevent damage from natural disasters like typhoons and floods in the future, permanent housing units will be constructed in more appropriate sites for the victims.

At the instruction of Premier Liu Chao-shiuan, Cabinet officials worked out plans with private organizations to build both prefab houses and permanent communities in southern Kaohsiung and Pingtung counties, which sustained the heaviest blows from the typhoon and floods.

Organizations that will join the project include the Red Cross Society, World Vision Taiwan, the Tzu Chi Foundation, the Foguangshan Foundation, and the Dharma Drum Mountain Social Welfare and Charity Foundation.

Premier Liu instructed Cabinet agencies, including the Water Resources Agency, the Central Geological Survey, the Council of Agriculture, and the Environmental Protection Administration, to find proper sites for the prefab houses and permanent housing units.

Under the plan, the government will provide public land and partners in the private sector to construct the buildings for the victims.

People receiving the housing units from the welfare organizations will then pay a preferential rental fee to the National Property Administration under the Ministry of Finance, which owns the public land.

Cabinet officials said the prefabs and housing units will be constructed at sites not within victims' original communities, as they will have to be built at sites immune to damage from floods or other disasters, they said.

To speed up the post-disaster development, the government is also soliciting assistance from private welfare foundations by persuading each of them to sponsor a specific district in the reconstruction program.

Officials urged the flood victims to cooperate for the resettlement project. Many residents in remote mountain regions had ignored government warnings for evacuation before the floods engulfed many areas in southern Taiwan on Aug. 8.

From http://www.chinapost.com.tw/taiwan/national/national-news/2009/08/18/220878/Govt-unveils.htm