Project Reach: Taiwan

(Translated and adapted from the Japanese by James Huffman)

On August 19th, at the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in Japan (Tokyo), President Takeju Ogata of The Nippon Foundation announced the foundation’s decision to provide 30 million yen in emergency aid to Taiwan in the wake of the devastation wrought by Typhoon Morakot. Deputy Representative Lo Koon-tsan attended from the Taipei side.

Foundation President Takeju Ogata (left) and Deputy Representative Lo Koon-tsan

The money will be relayed to Taiwan through the Economic and Cultural Office, and will be used for such things as medicine for victims of the typhoon.

At the presentation ceremony, President Ogata said, “I would like to express my deepest sympathies for the victims of the typhoon. Japan as well must deal with many typhoons and earthquakes, and has very advanced disaster technology, so we are glad to do what we can to help out.” Deputy Representative Lo Koon-tsan responded, “As representative of the victims of the disaster, I would like to thank you from the bottom of my heart. We will do all we can to ensure that things return to normalcy as soon as possible.”

Further, he said, “This typhoon was a major disaster, and probably brought an entire year’s worth of rain to the region over the course of two days,” and made it clear that in order to deal with the disaster, Taiwan plans this year to forego its National Foundation Day celebrations.

According to an August 18th report from the Taiwan's Disaster Relief Center, Typhoon Morakot caused 126 deaths and 45 injuries. 491 people have yet to be accounted for. In addition, more than 10,000 are considered victims of the disaster. The Japanese government has decided to give 100 million yen in emergency aid, of which 50 million is a grant.

Previous Disaster Aid
This is not the first time that the foundation has provided emergency aid following a major disaster. Recent examples include support following the September 21 1999 earthquake in Taiwan. The quake had a magnitude 7.3, killed 2,300 people and injured 9,000. At that time as well, the foundation provided 300 million yen in aid as part of its overseas cooperative assistance program. Further, in 2007, it provided 900 thousand dollars to Sri Lankan refugees forced to live in camps due to the violence between the Sri Lankan army and anti-government insurgents. The money was used to secure food and medicine.