Water rationing in Taiwan's second largest city as drought deepens

Space Daily via AFP: Taiwan's government said Friday it will expand water rationing to its second largest city next month to battle a worsening drought following record-low rain in nearly 70 years.

The state water company will cut supplies to households and businesses in southern Kaohsiung from May 4 for two days a week -- the first time such a measure has been imposed in the city, the economic affairs ministry said.

Water rationing was already launched in some areas of northern Taiwan earlier this month, including Taoyuan and parts of New Taipei city, after the lowest rainfall across the island last autumn and winter since 1947.

"The water supply situation in Kaohsiung is urgent. The Gaoping River which is its main source of water is running low as there has been little rain for over nine months in the city," said Lai Chien-hsin, a spokesman for the water resources agency.

Kaohsiung city authorities have shut down 12 public swimming pools since late March and reduced water supplies to industrial and some commercial users to fight drought.

Local businesses are now bracing themselves for the new round of rationing. "We will close off the swimming pool and sauna when water rationing starts next month in addition to taking other measures to conserve water," said Emily Huang, a publicist for the Lees Hotel in Kaohsiung. "So far we don't have any cancellations but I I am concerned that the drought will affect business."...

Typhoon Matmo spares Taiwan major damage

Jenny Hsu in the Wall Street Journal: Typhoon Matmo brought fierce winds and torrential rain to Taiwan on Wednesday injuring at least 10 people, but sparing the island major damage. The typhoon made landfall around 12 a.m. local time Wednesday in the eastern coastal counties of Taitung and Hualien and has dumped some 600 millimeters of rain in the mountainous areas, according to the Central Weather Bureau.

Taiwan's Central Emergency Operation Center reported at least nine noncritical injuries related to the typhoon. The weather bureau said Matmo moved out to sea at about 4:20 a.m. and is expected to hit eastern China later Wednesday. At about noon on Wednesday was moving northwesterly at approximately 20 kilometers per hour with maximum sustained winds of 155 kilometers per hour.

Schools and offices across Taiwan were closed on Wednesday because of the storm. Trading on the Taiwan stock exchange and foreign-exchange markets was also halted. The strong wind shattered windows, uprooted trees, washed out at least one bridge, and disrupted electricity in the county of Hualien on the east coast of the island, affecting about 30,000 residents.

Taiwan's airport authority said that 43 international flights to and from Taoyuan International Airport were canceled Wednesday morning. A handful of domestic flights were also been suspended. Most rail services had resumed after earlier disruptions....

Typhoon Matmo, via NASA, July 24, 2014

Taiwan typhoon victims lose compensation suit

Terra Daily via AFP: A Taiwanese court on Friday rejected a group compensation claim filed by victims of a deadly typhoon in 2009 against local authorities for alleged negligence. A district court in the southern city of Kaohsiung ruled that the city government and a local township office did not have to pay Tw$590 million ($19.67 million) jointly sought by relatives of 175 people who died when their village was destroyed during Typhoon Morakot.

Morakot, the worst storm to hit Taiwan in half a century, left more than 600 dead, including 400 people from Hsiaolin village in Kaohsiung that was buried by mudslides triggered by torrential rains. The disaster plunged President Ma Ying-jeou into his worst political crisis since taking office in May 2008, amid widespread public criticism that his government's response was late and inefficient.

Surviving residents of Hsiaolin village filed the compensation suit in 2011, arguing that authorities failed to efficiently monitor mudslides and evacuate the village in time, resulting in massive deaths and financial losses.

The court, however, ruled that it was impossible for the officials to predict the occurence of mudslides that buried the village. The villagers said they would appeal the decision....

The landslide has completely blocked the Wugan Riverbed in Nantou County,caused by typhoon Morakot on 8th August,2009. Shot by Yiken, Wikimedia Commons,  under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license 

Tropical Storm Trami lashes Taiwan

Terra Daily via AFP: Tropical Storm Trami battered Taiwan with strong winds and torrential rains on Wednesday, forcing authorities to close offices and call off nearly 200 international flights.

The Central Weather Bureau said although the storm, 100 kilometres (62 miles) north-northeast of Taipei at 0930 GMT, was likely to miss the island, it would generate more heavy rainfall in the day ahead.

The bureau urged the public to be vigilant as the storm could even produce "cloudbursts" -- more than 100 mm of rain per hour -- in some areas. Persistent torrential rains could lead to landslides in mountainous areas and flooding, it warned.

The storm has dumped up to 400 mm (16 inches) of rain in some northern parts of the island since Tuesday, the bureau said, adding that the volume could surge to one metre (40 inches)....

Severe Tropical Storm Trami on August 18, 2013.  This image comes from NASA

Taiwan's weather bureau issues land warning for Soulik

The China Post (Taiwan): The Central Weather Bureau (CWB, 中央氣象局) issued a land warning at 8:30 p.m. yesterday as Typhoon Soulik continued moving toward Taiwan's east and north shores. An ocean warning was issued on Thursday morning at 8:30 a.m.

Ocean warnings are usually issued 24 hours prior to a typhoon coming within 100 kilometers of Taiwan, while land warnings are issued 18 hours prior to a typhoon making landfall.

As of 5 p.m. Thursday, the center of Soulik was around 790 kilometers east-southeast of Yilan County and moving at 22 kilometers per hour in a west-northwesterly direction with maximum sustained winds of around 63 meters per second.

The CWB predicted the center of Soulik will have moved to about 270 kilometers east-southeast of Yilan by 5 p.m. today.

With the typhoon moving closer to the East Coast, the CWB said the storm will impact the north, northeast and southeast shores as well as the Bashi Channel...

Typhoon Soulik, July 11, 2013

Taiwan evacuates 2,000 tourists as super-typhoon looms

Terra Daily via AFP: Taiwan evacuated more than 2,000 tourists on Thursday as the island braced for super-typhoon Soulik with authorities warning of fierce winds and torrential rains. The typhoon, packing gusts of up to 227 kilometres (140 miles) per hour, was 960 kilometres east of the island's southernmost tip as of 0300 GMT, Taiwan's Central Weather Bureau said.

Soulik is moving west-northwest towards Taiwan at about 22 kilometres per hour and could narrowly skip or make landfall in the north of the island sometime between late Friday and Saturday morning, the bureau said. "The public must heighten their vigilance as the typhoon will certainly bring strong winds and heavy rains," a weather forecaster told AFP.

Authorities on Thursday evacuated 2,300 tourists from Green Island, off the southeastern city of Taitung, and issued a warning to ships sailing north and east off Taiwan to take special precaution. The Hong Kong Observatory has classified Soulik as a "super typhoon" on its website, while Taiwan's weather bureau listed it as a "strong typhoon"...

Typhoon Soulik on July 9, via NASA

Taiwan mulls shipping water from China as ties improve

Space Daily via AFP: Officials on a Taiwan-controlled island group near the Chinese mainland said Sunday they are considering importing water from China in yet another sign of warming relations. The move would mark another significant step forward in the improvement of ties, since the fortified Kinmen island group was a flashpoint during the Cold War and was shelled from the mainland at one point.

Officials from Kinmen have discussed a proposal to use ships to transport water from Xiamen, a coastal city in China's southeastern Fujian province just miles away.

Water supplies, mostly from desalination, underground supplies and a tiny dam, are sufficient at the moment to meet the needs of some 100,000 civilians and of troops stationed there. "But water supplies may fall short in the near future if more tourists, many of them from the mainland, visit Kinmen," Chen Chaur-jiung of the Kinmen county government told AFP...

Climate policy key to fighting global warming: experts

Lee Hsin-Yin in Focus Taiwan: A top-down climate change adaptation policy for the energy industry is crucial in Taiwan's efforts to develop environmental sustainability, foreign and local experts said Thursday at a forum on a low-carbon economy.

Regulations aimed at reducing harm to the environment caused by global warming needs to be systematically directed by the government for better risk management, a British expert said.

"We have to understand those risks, and we need to have the right regulations in place," said Michael Harvey Lord, senior adviser of the U.K.'s Climate Change Environment Agency.

A visioning policy could help both the authorities and the public think long-term, Lord said, adding that his country has been doing so since it passed its Climate Change Act in 2008.

Lord said that under the scheme, the U.K. government is able to set planning guidelines for large energy infrastructure projects through helping operators assess their vulnerability to climate change....

Typhoon Tembin seen looping back to Taiwan

Bloomberg: Typhoon Tembin, which drenched southern Taiwan last week before going out to sea, appeared to be looping back Monday for another run at the island and the nearby Philippines, forecasters said.

The revisit comes after another storm about 1,200 miles (750 miles) to the northeast, Typhoon Bolaven, lashed the Japanese island of Okinawa. It injured five people and left 66,500 households without power as of Monday afternoon, but did less damage than feared before moving north into the East China Sea. Bolaven could affect coastal areas of South Korea by Tuesday, weather officials said.

Taiwan's Central Weather Bureau predicted that Tembin would make landfall early Tuesday in the same part of southern Taiwan where it dumped more than 500 millimeters (20 inches) of rain three days ago. Tembin, packing winds of 119 kph (75 mph), will likely skirt the eastern Taiwanese coast before moving northward toward the Chinese mainland, the bureau said.

In Manila, the Philippine weather agency reissued typhoon warnings to residents and fishermen for Tembin, which blew out of the archipelago over the weekend. Fishing boats in the north were urged not to venture out to sea while larger ships were warned of possible big waves and heavy rains.

While Tembin was not likely to blow onto land, Filipino forecaster Manny Mendoza said its 600-kilometer (375-mile) -wide cloud band would likely intensify monsoon rains and bring strong winds and thunderstorms to the country's still-soggy north....

Typhoon Tembin on August 24, via NASA

Typhoon Saola batters Taiwan, takes aim at China

Voice of America: Typhoon Saola is moving slowly across Taiwan, dumping torrential rains, triggering landslides, and forcing nearly the entire island to shut down. Government officials warned residents to stay in their homes Thursday because of the powerful storm, which has already been blamed for four deaths in Taiwan.

Dozens of flights have been cancelled and major financial markets closed because of Saola, which is packing winds of up to 155 kilometers per hour. Earlier, the storm brushed across the northwestern Philippines, dumping up to a half meter of rainfall and causing widespread flooding that left 23 people dead and thousands homeless.

Edgar Ollet of the National Disaster Coordinating Center in Manila tells VOA there is now an increased risk of water-borne diseases such as leptospirosis. “Usually water-borne diseases are following after heavy downpours of rain. And there are high tides here in metro Manila and a lot of waste and a lot of dead rats, (so) the water is contaminated and many people walk in these contaminated waters.”

He says the Philippine military and coast guard are involved in rescue efforts. Close to 180,000 people have already been evacuated from effected areas. The Philippines has put out a heavy rain alert that will continue at least through Friday. U.S.-based forecaster Jason Nichols says Saola, which should impact China by Friday, is just the first part of a larger series of storms rolling through the region. He tells VOA that Typhoon Damrey is already taking aim at southeastern China...

Saola on July 30, when it was a Tropical Storm, via NASA

Typhoon Guchol could trigger torrential rainfall

Asia One via the China Post (Taiwan): The Central Weather Bureau (CWB) announced yesterday that although Typhoon Guchol has changed course and will not hit Taiwan directly, it might still affect the nation with heavy downpours beginning June 19-22.

According to the CWB, the storm was centered at 900 km southeast of Taiwan's southernmost tip as of yesterday morning, traveling at a speed of 24 km per hour toward the north of Taiwan. The southwesterly air currents caused by the storm will trigger torrential rains in Central and Southern Taiwan, the bureau said. They also cautioned the public to take precautions over the next two days to avoid flood damage.

A new low pressure system that formed around Hainan Island, and was located about 1,000 km from Taiwan as of yesterday, may quickly evolve into a new typhoon, according to the bureau.

Despite the upcoming storm, skies cleared up yesterday, after one week of ceaseless rain. In a weather forecast report, the bureau mentioned that with the front moving away, weather was likely to become more stabilized on Sunday. It also predicted that temperature will slightly rise in all parts of Taiwan, ranging from 30 to 33 degrees Celsius.

Following the torrential rainfall in the previous week, Kaohsiung City evacuated numerous citizens from dangerous spots, especially mountainous areas that could easily lead to landslides. In an interview yesterday at the opening of the Yancheng Social Welfare Building of the Kaohsiung City Government, Mayor of Kaohsiung City Chen Chu (??) explained that although the skies have cleared from the previous storm, they will continue to evacuate inhabitants from landslide-prone areas to safety, in preparation for the heavy downpour in the upcoming days....

Typhoon Guchol on June 16, 2012, from NASA

Taiwan endeavoring to reduce disaster risks

Focus Taiwan via CNA: Taiwan has been working hard on disaster risk reduction, particularly in reducing typhoon and flood risks, Water Resources Agency Director-General Yang Wei-fu said Thursday. "Located in one of the world's most typhoon-prone areas, Taiwan often sustains serious damage from typhoon-induced flooding and we have spared no efforts to curtail disaster risks," Yang said in response to an international disaster exposure survey that ranked Taiwan among the countries most highly exposed to natural disasters.

British risk management consultancy Maplecroft has ranked 196 countries according to their exposure to earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanoes, landslides, floods, storms and wildfires. According to the Maplecroft study, four nations -- the United States, Japan, China and Taiwan in descending order -- are deemed at "extreme risk" in absolute terms, which means the overall cost in U.S. dollar terms, of a natural disaster.

Yang said three to four typhoons hit Taiwan annually on average, which usually cause heavy property damage and human casualties. As disaster risk reduction tends to be cheaper than emergency response or post-disaster relief, Yang went on, the government has improved urban planning projects by requiring more land to be left available to accommodate parks, floodwater storage ponds and stormwater holding basins.

In the face of the threat of sea level rises, Yang said the government has stepped up coastal conservation efforts and has refrained from launching public infrastructure construction projects in climate-sensitive or disaster-prone areas....

Shown here on August 16, 2007, Super Typhoon Sepat came ashore in Taiwan on August 17 after bringing torrential rain and flooding to the Philippines the day before. NASA photo

Tropical Storm Aere pounds Philippines, takes aim at Taiwan

Voice of America News: Tropical Storm Aere continued its deadly path across the northern Philippines Monday on a course that could take it to Taiwan later in the week.

Philippine officials warned residents to avoid areas prone to flooding and mudslides on northern Luzon island. At least 11 people have died and 100,000 have been displaced since the season's first tropical storm struck eastern Catanduanes province early Sunday.

In Taiwan, the central weather bureau issued a sea warning Monday, saying the storm could bring torrential rains to the island's eastern and southern areas….

Satellite image of Tropical Storm Aere intensifying east of the Philippines on May 7, 2011

Taiwan aborigines protest resettlement after deadly typhoon

Terra Daily via Agence France-Presse: Hundreds of Taiwanese indigenous villagers staged a protest on Saturday against the government's resettlement plans ahead of the one-year anniversary of a deadly typhoon. "Guard the homeland" and "oppose forced resettlement", shouted the protesters, from central and southern Taiwan, as they gathered in a square leading to the presidential office in the capital Taipei.

"We are forced to move out of our lands and this will destroy our tribes and cultures," said organiser Omi Wiling. "We want to have a say in the resettlement process. The government neither understands nor respects our way of life." About 500 villagers camped in the square late Friday to demand President Ma Ying-jeou hear their requests, he said.

Thousands of indigenous villagers were left homeless when Typhoon Morakot ravaged Taiwan last year, leaving more than 700 people dead or missing in one of the island's worst natural disasters. The authorities have since built 1,480 new houses accommodating nearly 6,000 people, according to a cabinet statement. Taiwan's government stressed that it has never forced the villagers to move and that all resettlement are voluntary….

Typhoon Morakot over Taiwan in August 2009, via NASA

Future droughts probably serious threat to Taiwan

China Post: Taiwan will possibly follow the steps of mainland China and some Southeast Asia countries and face constant drought threats, said Liu Shaw-chen, distinguished research fellow and lab director of Academia Sinica Research Center for Environmental Changes.

Although Taiwan has already entered the wet season of spring, until March 22, the total rainfall of Tainan in March is only 0.3 mm. Tainan's average rainfall in March in previous years is 35.4mm. Kaohsiung records only one mm of rainfall in March till March 22. If there is no rain before the end of March, the two areas will have the lowest amount of rain in history, according to Central Weather Bureau (CWB).

…Liu said the decrease in rainfall in Taiwan is influenced by the global climate change. In the past century, the surface temperature of the earth had increased by 0.6 degree Celsius and that had changed the raining patterns. “The most pressing impact of climate change in Taiwan is the extreme rainfalls,” said Liu. “Central and southern districts of Taiwan had already suffered from draft for eight years in the last decade.”

According a research done by Liu and his team, in the last 45 years, the days with drizzles in Taiwan are halved. For central and southern districts in Taiwan, where the main water source is drizzles, would face drought much more often. And as the days with torrential rain are doubled that of 45 years ago, the risks of water hazard and landslides are also doubled.

In an interview with United Evening News, Liu said digging reservoirs could solve the extreme rainfall problem. “I really admire the wisdom of the Hakka ancestors,” Liu said. “They lived in mountain areas that cannot access water sources easily. So they dig lakes near their farmlands, which could store rainwater when there were downpours to avoid water hazards, and could provide water for irrigation in dry seasons.”…

Mount Yu, Taiwan, circa 1929

Taiwan remains oblivious to climate

Chen Meei-shia, the director of the Taiwan Association for the Promotion of Public Health and a professor of public health at National Cheng Kung University, in the Taipei Times: …What Taiwan desperately needs … is more in-depth analysis and reflection of global warming than can be offered in media reports. Global warming has not only caused the earth’s temperature to rise, it has also caused various negative environmental effects like extreme climate change, ecosystem imbalance, rising sea levels, salinization of coastal areas, the destruction of water resources and decreased grain production. It has even had a negative impact on human health. Floods, typhoons, hurricanes, droughts and higher temperatures have resulted in physical injuries and even deaths.

The increased spread of various types of microorganisms and bacteria have caused a higher incidence of food poisoning and water contamination; changes in the relationships between the host, the vehicles for germs and pathogens have given birth to new and reoccurring infectious diseases such as dengue fever, swine flu, schistosoma — otherwise known as blood-flukes or snail fever — and malaria. An increase in the number of allergens has caused a rise in the number of people with allergies. Pollution of the air with noxious gases has increased the incidence of respiratory tract problems and various types of heart disease, while decreased production of grain has caused problems such as malnutrition, disease and starvation.

Global warming is mainly caused by the large amounts of fuel, natural gas and coal used by humankind and the destruction of forests. We use fossil fuels and destroy forests primarily to produce large quantities of commercial goods.

…[I]is Taiwan prepared for global warming? No. We do not reflect on the mistakes we have made, nor do we take action to combat global warming as other nations have done. The lives of most Taiwanese are based on the aspiration to and an obsession with consuming large amounts of products. The government’s policy is also obviously centered on economic growth:

…If capitalist societies do not change their mainstream social values of production, profit, consumption and economic growth, the problem of global warming will only get worse. Taiwan has to get involved in the international anti-global-warming movement. However, before this, Taiwanese desperately need to be introduced to and educated about global warming. Taiwanese people, industries and the government must get away from blindly pursuing consumption and eliminate misconceptions about economic growth. We need to care for the Earth, gain a deeper respect for the environment and take an active role in its protection.

Satellite photo of Taiwan

Typhoon a political disaster for Taiwan leader: analysts

Terra Daily via Agence France-Presse: Taiwan's leader saw last week how quickly a natural disaster can become a political one -- now he must win back political capital he lost during the bungled response to Typhoon Morakot, experts said. Bodyguards had to step in to protect President Ma Ying-jeou from the very people he had come to comfort as he visited survivors of the typhoon that may have left more than 500 dead across central and southern Taiwan.

Dogged at every turn, Ma bowed to public anger by the weekend, apologising several times over the government's failure to see the magnitude of the crisis in time. "We could have done a better job and we could have done it faster. I am sorry that we did not do our job better and faster," Ma said while inspecting relief efforts in Nantou county on Saturday....

Morakot at peak intensity over Taiwan

Morakot's death toll may reach 500, says Taiwan's president

Tim Culpan and Weiyi Lim in Bloomberg News: Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou said the death toll from Typhoon Morakot may climb to 500, with the government estimating losses of as much as NT$110 billion ($3.34 billion) from the worst storm in 50 years.

Some 389 people are feared buried in mudslides in southern Shiao Lin village and may add to those already confirmed dead, Ma said at a meeting of the National Security Council early today, according to a transcript. The toll rose to 118 as of 3 p.m. today, the National Fire Agency said.

Typhoon Morakot hit Taiwan from Aug. 6 to 9, the island’s worst storm since 1,000 people were killed in 1959. Taiwan’s cabinet is preparing a special budget for typhoon relief to present to the legislature next week, while Ma today called his first meeting of the Security Council amid criticism the government responded too slowly.

…The Foreign Ministry yesterday accepted international offers of assistance and asked for specialized heavy-lift helicopters, prefabricated housing and sanitation supplies, it said in a statement. The ministry declined offers from two overseas rescue teams, Andrew Hsia, deputy foreign minister, said in a phone interview today….

A bridge in Danshui, Taiwan, shot by Udo Schoene, Wikimedia Commons, under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2

Morakot causes agricultural losses of NT$6.8 billion (USD 208 million) in Taiwan

E-Taiwan News: Agricultural and fishery losses from Typhoon Morakot which swept Taiwan over the weekend were estimated at NT$6.85 billion (US$208 million) as of yesterday, according to the newest government statistics. Tallies compiled by the Cabinet-level Council of Agriculture (COA) showed that the storm damage figure is the fourth-highest in 18 years.

A total of 49,723 hectares of farmlands were devastated by Morakot, with banana plantations on some 5,356 hectares suffering the biggest blow, followed by papaya, guava, bamboo and vegetable farms. Poultry and animal losses amounted to NT$737.59 million, with 2.7 million chickens and 709,000 ducks perishing in the storm. Pig farmers reportedly lost a total of 80,815 pigs.

Fisheries losses reached a new high of NT$2.91 billion, exceeding the NT$2.43 billion recorded when Typhoon Herbert hit in Aug. 1996, COA tallies showed. A combined 5,832 hectares of fish farms in southern Taiwan's Tainan, Pingtung and Kaohsiung counties were badly damaged by Morakot - the worst typhoon to hit the south in 50 years.

Losses in the forestry sector were estimated at NT$16.36 million, while agricultural facilities suffered damage amounting to NT$168.32 million, and 73 hectares of farmland were washed away, according to the COA….

NASA satellite photo of Taiwan