d Retaining wall at east exit damaged
V. Fulfillment of Land Planning Vision
Following the 1999 Chichi Earthquake, consensus on post-disaster land rehabilitation was gradually formed. The Public Land Restoration Strategy and Ac-tion Plan (draft, Jan. 19, 2005) promulgated by the Council for Economic Planning and Development pro-vided a prototype for balanced land rehabilitation and regional development. The Regulations Governing
Public Land Restoration was promulgated on May 25, 2005. The Public Land Restoration Strategy and Action Plan was approved on Jan. 23, 2006.
The August 8 Floods of 2009 provided opportuni-ties for assessing the measures taken by the government to implement the strategy and action plan. There was little time for thorough implementation of the plan to let the land recuperate, and the unprecedented floods
Post-Morakot Reconstruction and Land Resources Planning 95
caused catastrophic consequences. Shortly after the Special Statute for Reconstruction for Post-Typhoon Morakot Disaster was promulgated on Aug. 28, 2009, the Ministry of the Interior announced the National Land Planning Act (draft).
The National Land Planning Act (draft) reads in part:
The following problems have resulted from the current practice of control over land use in Tai-wan through the mechanisms of regional plans, urban plans and non-urban land use plans: (1) The maritime nature of Taiwan has not been un-derscored as the seaboard and territorial waters are not incorporated; (2) a comprehensive plan, and with it a macroscopic vision, is missing for nationwide land use (counties/cities included); (3) failure to consolidate land rehabilitation and safe-ty plans has caused environmental destruction; (4) there is a lack of integration and effectiveness in the manageent of national water, land and forest resources; (5) the failure to ensure an intact envi-ronment for agricultural production has affected management of the agricultural industry; (6) cities
and towns have not developed in an orderly fa-shion and public facility planning is not supported by supplementary measures; (7) guidance is lack-ing in the plannlack-ing and approval of non-urban land development; (8) international competitive-ness is compromised due to the absence of a coor-dination mechanism between major urban infra-structure projects; (9) planning enhancement is desperately needed in regions with slow develop-ment pace or special concerns; (10) without the guidance of a national land plan, individual agen-cies are prone to make inefficient investments.
With regard to sustainable development, the Na-tional Council for Sustainable Development completed Taiwan Agenda 21: Vision and Strategies for National Sustainable Development to serve as a basis for imple-menting relevant national policies in November 2004.
(See Fig. 5-1 for conceptual framework.) Experts and scholars were consulted and public forums held to help draft an amendment to the Sustainable Development Action Plan. Three bills were prepared in 2009. They were the Seashore Rehabilitation and Conservation Plan, National Land Safety and Rehabilitation Plan and Sustainable Development Policy Guidelines.
Fig. 5-1 Taiwan Agenda 21: A Conceptual Framework for National Sustainable Development
Source: National Council for Sustainable Development
In order to fulfill the national land planning vi-sion and prevent disasters before they happen, the following actions have to be taken at once:
1. Reorganization of Administrative Agencies
At present, management of bridges and rivers is controlled by different government agencies. The man-agement of the same river, for instance, is often con-ducted by several agencies. The upper and lower stream section of the Gaoping River I taken care of by the Construction and Planning Agency of the Ministry of the Interior (national parks) and the Water Resources Agency of the Ministry of Economic affairs (river management offices) and irrigation associations (irriga-tion), while hillside land and hillside conservation are
separately managed by the Forestry Bureau and the Soil and Water Conservation Bureau of the Council of Agriculture. The bridges and roads are managed by the Directorate General of Highways under the Ministry of Transportation and Communications and local county and municipal governments. If the river crosses differ-ent counties and cities, the managemdiffer-ent becomes even more intricate and complicated.
To help relieve the dilemma of two banks of one river being simultaneously administered by several au-thorities, an independent governing body should be created to exercise overall coordination of all public works construction in mountains, all roads and bridges, along the rivers and in the seas for the effective imple-mentation of the national land plan and post-disaster
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reconstruction.
The long-term execution of the national land plan requires sustainable fiscal planning. Different levels of agencies must each raise sufficient funding to fulfill local and regional needs. In addition, the following measures will also facilitate the implementation and administration of the national land plan: proper alloca-tion and utilizaalloca-tion of resources under control of the central and local governments, pooling of resources from the private sector and academic communities, and systemization of relevant technical resources (e.g. ur-ban planning, survey, monitoring, information ex-change formats, etc).
2. Establishment of a Disaster Prevention Sys-tem
Strategically, enhancement is required in the fol-lowing areas: early warning of typhoons, floods and draughts, disaster mitigation measures against landslides and debris flows, and disaster response pro-tocols for major earthquakes.
Technically, disaster impact may be minimized by ensuring proper software and hardware are in place at target locations along with long-term monitoring and warning mechanisms. In addition, emergency commu-nication technologies already in use will help further limit the devastation and ensure timely rescue and relief;
they include wired and wireless networks, satellite networks, telemetry, etc.
Moreover, the public need disaster response train-ing. Unfamiliarity with professional terms used in dis-aster information dissemination (e.g. “potential debris flow hazard area”) impedes timely evacuation and re-sponse during natural disasters and often results in loss of lives and properties. To get to the root of this prob-lem, disaster prevention concepts must be promoted and regular training and drills must be provided.