Three weeks after a burst dam buried Guangfu Township in Hualien County with mud, life has mostly gone back to normal, with the exception of farmlands close to the Matai’an River. The agriculture ministry has proposed plans to revive the fields but these could require years.
00:00At the official one-stop service desk set up by the Cabinet in Guangfu, flood victims line up to apply for subsidies and missing documents.
00:08Officials have approved more than 90 percent of the applications submitted by local households and are preparing to return to the regional headquarters.
00:17It's now been three weeks since Typhoon Rokasa brought torrential rains to eastern Taiwan,
00:22leading to a barrier lake in Hualien's mountains overflowing and flooding downstream communities and farms.
00:28Authorities have not yet lowered their highest level alert for the lake.
00:33Before they can do that, officials first need to finalize an emergency evacuation plan and practice it with local residents.
00:41Authorities say they're still working with the county government on some details.
00:44While the streets and homes are cleared up, local farmers are worried about their livelihoods, as their fields remain buried in mud.
01:05The Agriculture Ministry says researchers have found little damage to the soil underneath, and that it will not affect growth in the future.
01:14But questions remain on how to deal with the mud, and potentially how to divide and redistribute the plots.
01:20包括光阜跟凤苓,兩邊的這些農地被淹沒的,
01:25大概總面積大概將近775到800公頃左右.
01:30有的是大概幾十公分,有的是甚至可以達到五六米的部分。
01:35全部移 μ's is the only big工程,因為600萬噸的這些土砂,
01:42你必須要有站字點,然後这个清除時間也非常非常的長,可能三年.
01:47As of Monday, 19 people are confirmed dead, and five remain missing.
02:10But things are looking up in Guangfu.
02:12Since the disaster, the local train station has seen unprecedented traffic,
02:17from about 1,000 travelers a day before the storm to a recent peak of 50,000,
02:22thanks to volunteers from all over coming to help.
02:26At the Matai An River, a temporary river crossing was finally opened on Friday,
02:31which has allowed larger vehicles to access the area.
02:35Now with the initial recovery work wrapping up and some traffic beginning to flow again,
02:39the next stage may involve bringing home displaced residents,
02:43even as restoring their livelihoods could be a years-long effort.
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