Guangfu Schools Reopen, Residents Argue Over Subsidy Eligibility

TaiwanPlus News

Guangfu Township in Hualien is welcoming some students back to school after a deadly flash flood in late September. Flood survivors can now apply for subsidies and lost identification documents. But there's controversy over evacuees staying at the schools and over who is eligible for subsidies.

Transcript

00:00Parents in flood-stricken Guangfu Township in eastern Taiwan's Hualien County

00:10raised their voice as school staff,

00:12questioning their children's safety and quality of education.

00:16Dajing Elementary School became an evacuation center

00:19after the region was flooded by a mountain lake that bursts its banks.

00:23But after two weeks of cleanup efforts, it's welcoming students back,

00:27with one caveat, that they share their campus with over 170 flood victims still staying there.

00:34The school and the county officials say the students and evacuees are separated on either side of the campus,

00:40and only teachers are allowed to enter the students' areas.

00:43In this difficult period of time, we can provide time for the students.

00:49We will allow the students to give the students to the students.

00:54Taiwan's cabinet is also rolling out a service to make it easier for Guangfu residents to apply for subsidies

01:00to make it through this trying time and to reapply for lost identification documents.

01:05We will allow all the students to submit a request.

01:09All the central support, the state's support,

01:12the relevant work of the department, are all簡化.

01:15This is called a platform of one-planning service.

01:17Officials say all villages within the red-lined evacuation zone are eligible for financial compensation,

01:23including some areas that were not flooded.

01:26But this is sparking anger from peripheral villages further south.

01:30Residents there say, while their homes were not buried in mud,

01:34their lives have been deeply affected.

01:35As of Tuesday, the death toll remains at 18, with six people still missing.

01:55Officials are also asking volunteers to be careful while working on wreckage,

01:59after one volunteer died when a wound got infected.

02:02With a long road to recovery still expected,

02:06officials and locals are taking it one step at a time,

02:09with everyone's safety a top priority.

02:11Patrick Chen and Irene Lin for Taiwan Plus.

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