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進入《TAIPEI TIMES》Mataian warning to remain: minister
A rescue team stands in front of a house covered in mud in Hualien County’s Guangfu Township yesterday. Photo coutesy of New Taipei City Fire Department via CNA
ASSESSMENT AWAITED: The decision whether to remove the red warning must be made through meetings with experts, Minister of Agriculture Chen Junne-jih said
By Esme Yeh / Staff reporter
The red warning for a barrier lake in the Mataian River （馬太鞍溪） in Hualien County would not be revoked until experts conclude their evaluation, Minister of Agriculture Chen Junne-jih （陳駿季） said yesterday.
Chen made the remarks in Taipei in response to media queries about the progress in disaster relief following the barrier lake breach on Tuesday that hit the Guangfu Township （光復）.
The ministry is monitoring the lake’s condition and the government mobilized helicopters to aid disaster relief, Chen said.
The lake’s water level reaches 113m and the water decreased to about 7 million tonnes after the barrier lake partially collapsed on Tuesday, he said.
As surrounding soil and rocks continued to crumble, it would not be safe for workers to reinstall water gauges at this moment, Chen said.
Water gauges would be installed as soon as the conditions allow, he added.
“The most important thing is to provide a safe living environment for midstream and downstream residents,” he added.
Asked why the central and county governments set up separate command posts in the disaster area, Chen said the Executive Yuan established a local command post to step up the delivery of relief supplies and the removal of silt.
“The primary task of the command post is to restore all the county’s disaster areas as soon as possible, and the county government is also part of it,” he said, adding that the central and local governments would cooperate to meet people’s needs.
As the lake’s status has yet to be fully examined, the red warning would remain, Chen said.
The decision must be made through meetings with experts, he added.
Asked about the differences between “overflow” and “collapse” of the barrier lake, Chen said the two terms describe two different things — the lake water and the natural dam respectively.
“The Agency of Rural Development and Soil and Water Conservation is responsible for anticipating when the lake water would flow over the top of the dam based on water levels,” he said
“Since such overflows would affect midstream and downstream areas, the agency in previous reports focused on when the water would flow out of the dam,” Chen said.
Overflowing water could proceed to erode surrounding soil due to various causes, he said, adding that the collapse was a result of the overflow.
“However, the severity of the collapse varies and could not be predicted prior to the overflow,” Chen said, adding that was why the ministry had chosen to use the term “overflow” when describing possible scenarios previously.
“What matters is that we estimated the timing of the overflow and issued the warning to midstream and downstream residents ahead of time,” he said.
Meanwhile, search-and-rescue personnel yesterday recovered the body of an 87-year-old woman.
The woman, surnamed Huang （黃）, was found inside her home on Fozu Street in Guangfu, said the Kaohsiung Fire Department, which participated in the operation.
Rescuers had narrowed down Huang’s location based on information from her family, but accessing the house was difficult, it said, adding that it was buried under about 2m of mud and surrounded by waist-deep floodwaters.
A team of 15 rescuers and 12 military personnel reached the site on foot, opened the roof of the house, and found Huang’s body beneath a religious altar at 2:35pm, the bureau said.
Huang’s family, including her younger brother and two of her daughters, expressed gratitude to the rescuers for making it possible for them to hold a funeral.
With the recovery of Huang’s body, Hualien County’s emergency response center updated the flood toll to 17 confirmed dead, seven missing and 83 injured.
Additional reporting by CNA
新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES
