By Pedro Walpole, SJ, southern Taiwan

Chiayi County's Alishan area in southwest Taiwan was one of the areas hardest hit by what was the worst flooding in Taiwan in decades. Almost a year ago, typhoon Morakot battered southern Taiwan with strong winds and torrential rain, causing flooding and landslides that left more than 700 people dead or missing and thousands others homeless.

The mountain range in Alishan Township has 18 mountains, including Mount Taiwujian, Moun Data, Mount Jhu and Mount Shihshuei. This mountain range is a branch of the famous Mount Jade as well as the cradle of three important streams in Taiwan: Zengwen Stream, Bajhang Stream and Alishan Stream (or Cingshuei Stream).

Government response

During the period after Morakot left the area, people were put up in temporary shelters in army camps and evacuation centers. Permanent relocation to safer areas however was not fully accepted well as there were indigenous peoples who felt that government was forcing them to leave their ancestral lands so that government can take over. People wanted to stay in their lands as most are farmers and depend on the land to live.

In March 2010, the national government formally announced the construction of permanent houses in Fanlu township, also in Chiayi County, for those people in the Alishan area whose homes were destroyed in the period August to September. Of the 157 households who applied for settlement in permanent houses, 90 households are expected move into finished houses by the end of this month, the first phase of the project. The government is expecting completion of all the houses and resettlement of households by the first anniversary of the disaster.

Visiting Alishan villages with Fr. Norbert Pu, a Tsou, and Chancellor of the Diocese of Chiayi

Last June, Fr. Norbert Pu accompanied me as we met with people in Leye village. People shared experiences of the rains and floods when eight Tsou villages, the indigenous populations in the valley, were severely affected by typhoon Morakot.

Members from several communities raised many concerns 10 months after Morakot washed down the mountainsides and flushed out the valley of Alishan in September 2009. Taiwanese who live along the road to this point and in the bigger established villages are all Han culture. The indigenous live in smaller villages like Lalatsu, part of Tefuye (an aborigine reservation in Alishan township), where all had to leave. In Leye and Laiji they saw a massive land slippage were several people died.

People's recollection of the event

Landslides in Alishan

They had warning signals before for earthquakes from government. When the whole island was shaken in the night of 21 September 1999, people thought this was the worst that could happen.

During the rains in August, there was no warning system from the government or indicative measure that the community can use in preparing for such landsliding and flooding. There was no training or awareness prior to the event. It was raining for a week, light rain and then three days and nights of very heavy rain; 3,000 mm fell in those three days! After the disaster, the government communicated the reports of the weather station. Now, when the rainfall goes beyond 2,000-3,000 mm, then the whole village must move, but they are not altogether sure about this requirement.

Widened rivers, ineffective sabo dams

Community members shared that the rivers are much widened and the base is heightened. All the sabo (from the Japanese term "sabo" literally translated as "sand protection") dams for trapping silt and debris are either washed out or totally covered over, and there is no protection in a time like this. For years, they say the sabo dams held the sediment and debris spreading it over the valley fields in places previously used for rice and other crops.

But why are more being built now? Is it for greater security of their lives or water quality control downstream? Most of the victims living above the riverbank are facing reconstruction and have the base for new houses, but they do not have government clearance. One person said that only the indigenous are prohibited to live in one village but the Han are not, how can this be clarified?

People's concerns, confusion, uncertainties

There are three areas of confusion and discontent with government. First is the housing options and their relation to the land. Second is the process of ongoing studies and lack of a participative process that makes them suspicious. Third is the lack of coordinated action in some respects the makes it difficult for the community to seek a clear path for community and cultural sustainability.

Government is asking and not forcing people to move. But in the last 100 years, people never experienced such a catastrophic event, so they are afraid that if no areas are clearly identified as safe, the options are not clear. Many who lost their houses moved to the temporary housing center at Leye, which is far from their land and their livelihood. Many still remain in the area, but have they decided to stay? The future plan is not yet decided. The temporary housing is for two to three years, but if there are no permanent houses permitted in the area after this period, what do they do?

They are offered new houses down at Chukou village in Fanlu township, but that is a whole other life. Also, if they move to other places, they want to keep the registration in their own land and not lose all rights and benefits. How will this affect their cultural heritage?

Their principle is to leave their lin (neighbourhood) where it was hit by disaster, and if necessary the tzuen (broader village), but hopefully not the hsiang (townships) nor the hsian (county). They want a permanent house and don't want to leave their ancestors' land and production area. All their inheritance is here. In a city, they will only own a house and become a lost culture.

Washed-out road and valley.

Limited transparency and communication from government

Government is asking people to move out, but much of the confusion focuses around the process of investigation and how this is carried out. They are aware that experts have undertaken many studies but nothing definite from these studies has been communicated to them to help make decisions.

In the assessment process of safe areas, there is initial involvement by the community. A senior indigenous community member identifies an area and the experts assess. If the experts find the identified area inadequate, a better area is selected and there is an initial understanding. But when there is a meeting of the experts and the government where the community is not present, then the officials after the meeting say the areas are found not to be secure.

So it is hard to trust the officials as this has happened several times. Some people also want to understand if the only secure places are lands of the Bureau of Forestry? Can this not be negotiated; cannot some forestry land be granted to them under the circumstances?

Despite the confusion that community presence at these evaluative meetings might cause, they want to be present even if they do not understand. Then at least they get the documentation and later have it explained. Transparency is needed.

In a recent meeting between a government councilor and the tribal advisor, they had different opinions. One kilometer away from a landslide was an identified safe area, but the official later became unsure and would not affirm the site. The government has different reasons and say contradictory things. The techniques of construction can overcome the problem for others, but not for the Tsou. Sometimes the other side of the mountain that the government is saying is secure is very hard to accept.

Stories of Tao Mou Wang and Ann Chen

Tao Mou Wang, tribal leader in the area, feels sad as the final conclusion does not come down to the community clearly and he is not directly informed. He asked his son to go search the Web recently to find the decisions. They found out that these decisions did not meet the needs of the people in their difficulties. Only the councilor or the head of county is present in the meeting. But these are important decisions and the heads of the tribes in the different communities should be invited, not just elected officials. The problem seems to be along the lines of participative justice and the community not being present when final decisions are being made. There is also no capacity built to enable community members secure essential needs as they experience them.

Ann Chen and her husband shared that her family raised fish along the valley but after the disaster the family had to separate to look for jobs outside. Two of them went to raise fish in another area; some of their children went to the city. They registered for a permanent house in Chukou, but where can they be as one family?

They are a typical family here, a mountain tribe. They do not live in the lowlands like the Amis, the biggest culture in Taiwan, and they feel that the government does not respect them. People don't understand the language of the government. They want to be more secure in their area and want to find how to secure their homes. The young people also want to live in the mountain or want to be able to return to their families. But there is little sense of this as decisions continue to shift and their needs are not adequately met on their terms and in their context.

The impact on the economic situation is enough to drive people from the land. While many are not victims of the event as they still have their houses, yet they lost very big areas of land and do not know how they will live. If they do not have the income, this will affect the education of the children. They ask if they can exchange the lands lost for which they had previous certification. Can the government not give them other land held by the forestry department?

Tourism suspended

Tourism did play a major role for the communities here, and local and foreign tourism kept the villages alive. Winter is dry and cold from December to January. By May to June, there are the mei myu (plum rains) and during the summer months of July and August, it is hot and wet.

Now, no one visits; maybe in 10 years when everything is settled, visitors will come back. All the tours stop at the valley bottom at the new shopping point and cultural center. The small gauge rail track was knocked out of place and government says it will take too much to repair, so there is no vision of how the tourism will return to sustain their life in the mountains.

Seeking conclusion and stability for Alishan and for its indigenous peoples

There is no conclusion in the Alishan area yet. In other counties, areas for housing options are already secure. Now, many more experts still arrive, but it is always a repeat of the story and the experience and they feel powerless. And so they must organize to meet officials, as indigenous peoples don't clearly understand their rights under the law. They want to find someone to help them. If in future they cannot get what they need, they plan to organize some social action or advocacy, hold a press conference, and put pressure on officials to get the minutes of the meetings.

The future is uncertain. Government has started on many of the roads washed out but it will take long to rebuild infrastructure, and even longer the stability of communities. In other areas people are reconstructing but here in Alishan it is still unclear. Does government see places for the indigenous people?

Fr. Pu is a Tsou of the area, chancellor of the Chiayi Diocese, and with his community was very active in responding to the needs of the people and their comfort during the disaster and in this time of reconstruction.