Taiwan Panorama visited the area in the wake of the disaster. Like a scene from a movie, the destruction was painful to behold, and that pain spurred many Taiwanese to call for land use plans to focus on sustainability rather than simply economic growth. Our November issue featured an article entitled “Living with Mother Nature, Not Fighting Her,” looking at the issues around subsidence along Taiwan’s west coast and overbuilding in the Lushan hot springs area. A year later, in 2010, Taiwan Panorama returned to the stricken area, this time focusing on the relocation and rebuilding of the Bunun village of Namasia in Kaohsiung and the Rukai village of Wutai in Pingtung. Three years after Morakot, we returned again to find residents who had found new purpose and, with the help of the government and NGOs, new lives.
The destruction wreaked by Typhoon Morakot awakened Taiwan to the threat of global climate change. Lee Hong-yuan, a professor of civil engineering at National Taiwan University, summarized the core problem with Taiwan’s approach to land and water management thus: “What needs controlling isn’t the flow of rivers, but mankind’s inappropriate use of the land and water.” Perhaps the greatest lesson Morakot taught us all was that when it comes to our relationship with the natural environment, we shouldn’t seek to conquer it, but rather to respect the natural order—only then can our lifestyle be truly sustainable.
In the wake of the typhoon’s devastation of southern Taiwan, everywhere one looked were scenes of people and places in need of help.
In the wake of the typhoon’s devastation of southern Taiwan, everywhere one looked were scenes of people and places in need of help.
In the wake of the typhoon’s devastation of southern Taiwan, everywhere one looked were scenes of people and places in need of help.
