Taiwan Church News
3841 Edition
Oct 6 ~ 12, 2025
Weekly Topical
PCT Urges Governments to Hear Fata’an Victims Pleads due to Barrier Lake Flood
Reported by Lin Yi-ying Taipei
Due to a Guangfu Township inundation, caused by a flood of barrier lake at Fata’an River upstream on September 23rd, the PCT Church and Society Committee held a press conference on October 2 to plead for local indigenous ‘Amis tribes of Fata’an and Tafalong. Calling on central and local governments to carry on rescue jobs to rehabilitate and rebuild their households, PCT urged the rescue operation shall adhere to principles of “run away from troubled waters, but not tribal villages.”
In other words, PCT called both central and local governments to respect the collective decisions of ‘Amis tribes, and focus on five major first-aid tasks: taking care of the victims’ needs of daily livelihood and jobs; participating in local tribal lives amid its indigenous cultures; taking notice of the resilient demands of the reconstruction plan; building up disaster-reduction measures; taking care of the safety of voluntary workers.
Mr Kulas Umo, a member of the Fata’an Voluntary Rescue Association, said that he hoped that the governments could respect the will of ‘Amis people to preserve tribal cultures when planning the rehabilitation, and adopt a mid-way house project in a spirit of “not leaving home” to maintain a holistic community life of ‘Amis people. He reminded that in the destructive Typhoon Morakot in 2009, KMT government forced an unfortunate decentralized rehabilitation project, which made it impossible for the replaced people returning back to their original community lives.
“These victims of Typhoon Morakot even left irrecoverable traumas as they could not return their houses ever since,” said he, “the government should respect the will of ‘Amis people, so that the majority of tribal residents can join the discussion before an imminent resettlement plan, and express their thoughts and demands for an restoration of their daily lives, culture and faiths.”
Rev Pawlo Mayaw, moderator of PCT ‘Amis Presbytery, called on the government to notice that current devastated status of the indigenous lands are no longer useable for agricultural cultivation especially when a comprehensive renewal plan was just under way. He said that because of the unique culture and living habits of ‘Amis people, “it is no more suitable to keep a community mixed with the non-indigenous.” He hoped to find a suitable rehabilitation plan for ‘Amis people to live, work, and seek spiritual healing. “The renewal plan should consider the affected households first, rather than realty developers or construction companies,” he stressed explicitly.
Rev Puyang SING, a pastor whose hometown is located in Guangfu Township, said “she is deeply touched and grateful to so many Taiwanese volunteers pouring into the inundated Guangfu town.” “These immediate first-aid rescues are inspiring Taiwan society and many indigenous tribes,” she observed with a plead, “the Hualien County government should be compassionate, responsible, and diligent to listen the voices and needs of ‘Amis tribes to implement an efficient rehabilitation plan as soon as possible.”
Besides being strongly touched by the continuous influx of volunteers into the inflicted area to clean up so many households, Rev Ng Tet-gan, secretary of the PCT Church and Society Committee, expressed that many voluntary workers were also injured by broken glasses and other households debris. He wished all volunteers should pay attention to their own safety and health during such a big-scale clean-up services.
Mr Chen Lian-chuan, former director of National Science and Technology Center for Disaster Reduction and an Elder of Tien-Mu Church of the Taipei Presbytery, warned “as now the Fata’an River is deposited by slided sands, its bank damaged, and its urban drainage ditches get stuck seriously, the risk of a second flood disaster will be very likely if there is another heavy rain.” He called on the government to be vigilant to collect critical informations in its plannings for subsequent rehabilitation and reconstruction.
Mr Wu Jie-ying, director of PCT Church and Society Committee and an Elder of the Guay-Shan Church of the Hsinchu Presbytery, indicated central government’s assessment that it may take two to three years to fix the whole Fata’an River.
“Therefore top priority of the rescue mission is to take care the inflicted households, who want to clean up sediments and restore their daily lives as soon as possible,” he said, “meanwhile, safety of voluntary workers is also very important. Only a policy of effective disaster reduction could be done thoroughly, the inundated area can avoid a second tragic disaster again!”
Translated by Peter Wolfe
