Jialan elders sob to government over demands for compensation

After almost two years since Typhoon Morokot stuck Taiwan, the Legal Aid Foundation has provided assistance to sixty-eight residents from the heavily hit area of Jialan, in Taitung County to lodge compensation appeals against the government under the preposition that the flooding damage caused by the Typhoon was manmade. The compensation claims, which amount to around seven million US dollars for losses in property and culture as well as for psychological trauma, are directed at Taitung County Government, the Aboriginal Committee, the Water Department and The 8th River Management Office. An elder woman from the Paiwan Tribe broke down in tears and she shared her plight and suffering as a result of the Typhoon.

With tears rolling down her cheeks, she told of how she merely wanted to settle down and live a peaceful life, never thinking her home would end up a flattened heap of debris in the riverbed. This group of Jialan disaster victims was unhappy with the speed of the reconstruction process, and so decided to approach a lawyer for help with forcing Taitung County Government to listen to their voices – in the end it was Lai Jung-hsing, from the Department of Aboriginal Administration, who came out to receive the compensation demands. The flooding from Typhoon Morakot two years ago washed away two fifths of the land in Jialan Village. This added to the loss of 16 households from Typhoon Haitang, as well as the line demarcation for the flood danger zone, means that a total of one hundred and six households in the tribal village have been forced to relocate. These disaster victims consider the calamity to be mainly manmade, and are therefore asking the government to reflect on the situation and pay out the appropriate compensation – they hope that bringing focus to the situation will stop this kind of disaster repeating itself again in the future.

Jialan elders sob to government over demands for compensation

URL: http://www.peopo.org/news/81602

(以下是中文對照)

嘉蘭耆老泣控政府 索國賠幾昏倒 ( 欖仁居修行生活網 )

照片

莫 拉克88風災即將屆滿2年，台東縣嘉蘭村68位災民在法律扶助基金會律師團協助下，提出國家賠償要求，主張家園遭洪水吞噬是人禍，向台東縣政府、原住民委 員會、水利署和第八河川局、農委會等單位提出包括房產、文化和精神賠償近新台幣2億元。排灣族耆老講到激動處泣不成聲，身旁婦女也跟著掉淚，一度還差點暈 倒，她說原本以為可以安身立命的家園，怎麼會橫躺在河床？這群台東縣嘉蘭村災民，因為不滿重建進度太慢，在律師的陪同下來到台東縣政府，請求縣長傾聽他們 的聲音，最後由原住民族行政處長賴榮幸出面接受國賠陳請書。兩年前嘉蘭村土地，因為八八風災重創，流失了將近2/5，加上治理線的拆遷戶及海棠16戶災 民，共106戶必需遷居上部落，他們認為這場災難的主要原因是人禍，因此要求政府單位必須深刻反省與賠償。以免悲劇繼續重演。

為擴大服務範圍，自2010年4月起，PeoPo每周精選三則公民報導及相關活動與發展，翻譯成英文摘要，讓更多關心台灣公民新聞的朋友，瞭解台灣在地大小事。