ROC Ambassador thanks SKN for support after typhoon

BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – RESIDENT Ambassador of the Republic of China (ROC) on Taiwan His Excellency Rong Chuan Wu publicly expressed gratitude on behalfof his government for concern shown from St. Kitts-Nevis following one of the most destructive typhoons to ever hit the Asian nation.

Typhoon Morakot swept over Taiwan on August 8, dumping over 80 inches of rain during the weekend, an amount equal to the nation’s annual downfall. 

The rain caused devastating mudslides in the southern Kaohsiung County, according to Ambassador Wu. An estimated 67 deaths were caused, and to date hundreds remain missing while thousands more are still stranded in the mountainous regions. 

Speaking with SKNVibes, Ambassador Wu thanked Prime Minister Hon. Dr. Denzil Douglas, Minister of Finance Hon. Dr. Timothy Harris and Leader of the opposition party Peoples’ Action Movement (PAM) Lindsay Grant for their support at a time when his country is faced with such an overwhelming disaster.  

“We are grateful for the support from our friends here in St. Kitts. They voiced their concerns about our evacuation and emergency plans, and we are grateful that our friends in St. Kitts have thought about us in light of this. In fact, we have received much support also from the international community as we try to rescue more of the affected persons,” he said.

The resident Ambassador explained that Morakot was the biggest typhoon the country has seen in the last 200 years in terms of precipitation. He noted that the typhoon came “all of a sudden”, and has taught the Government and people of Taiwan a lesson in the preparing for and responding to natural disasters. 

“This brings us a lesson in how we develop around the mountains. We must be mindful of landslides, changing of the river and natural characteristics. Most importantly, this time we learned how important it is to have a good evacuation plan, especially for the vulnerable areas.”

Climate change has significantly impacted countries around the world and, according to the Ambassador, it is critical for human beings to live harmoniously with nature and build nations according to the unique features and vulnerabilities of each country. He outlined a number of lessons that the Federation can learn from the fallout of Typhoon Morakot.

“St. Kitts and Nevis is a small island nation and it is very vulnerable to hurricanes. We must avoid overdeveloping and we must set in place preventative measures to avoid great destruction. We must also take countermeasures so that we can evacuate people and have a reliable storage of clean water to reduce the threat posed to human life,” he noted.

Wu called for a national evacuation plan to be developed, and for hurricane awareness information to be shared with the public as often as possible, as communication and transportation are usually severed as a result of such disasters.