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Typhoon survivors to have new homes
2010/02/08 21:59:01 |
Taipei, Feb. 8 (CNA) More than 500 families in southern Taiwan's Kaohsiung County who were displaced by Typhoon Morakot will begin moving into new houses built by a leading Buddhist charitable group Tuesday, ahead of a holiday that traditionally brings families together.
"We thank the Taiwan Buddhist Tzu Chi Foundation for building solid houses to help us begin a new life, " said a typhoon survivor identified as Da Hu at a press conference held by the government on reconstruction efforts in the past six months.
"Although we have lost a lot, Tzu Chi members have opened classes on humanism for us, which have taught us a great deal," he said.
Over the next three years, Tzu Chi members will also help these residents develop traditional skills, including wood and stone carving, Da Hu added.
The typhoon claimed more than 100 lives and hundreds more were believed to be buried alive when it battered central, southern and eastern Taiwan last August.
Foundation spokesman Her Rey-sheng told the Central News Agency that more displaced people will move into the houses after they are formally recognized by the government as flood victims.
He also said collective efforts have accelerated the building process.
"Hundreds of thousands of Tzu Chi members helped build houses for more than 600 households in less than three months, " he said. The 59.29-hectare area will accommodate about 1,540 households.
"We hope to give them a homeland forever, " he noted. "We are very happy that 500 households will move in ahead of the Lunar New Year."
The victims need to carry nothing but their own clothes when they move into the new dwellings, as everything, including closets, a dining table, rice and cooking materials, has been prepared for them, he said.
At present, 824 of 1,204 households in typhoon-ravaged parts of Taiwan have been allowed to live in the houses established by Tzu Chi, said Chen Chen-chuan, vice chairman of the Cabinet-level Post-Typhoon Morakot Reconstruction Commission.
Premier Wu Den-yih said at the press conference that the completion of the houses was the first step in the reconstruction work, which will be followed by creating jobs, re-establishing conventional industries, and preserving local cultures. (By Hsieh Chia-cheng and Alex Jiang) ENDITEM/ls
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