[Environmental Engineering] Responding to the Disaster, Taiwan Scholars Suggested: Reinforce People's Sense of Crisis and Stop Striving for Land with Nature

[Environmental Engineering] Responding to the Disaster, Taiwan Scholars Suggested: Reinforce People's Sense of Crisis and Stop Striving for Land with Nature (Chinese Version)

Awakening News Networks (2009/08/11) Typhoon Morakot caused serious damage to many areas in Taiwan. Professor Su-Chin CHEN, Chair of Department of Soil and Water Conservation, National Chung Hsing University, believed the major crux was not about soil and water conservation but the extraordinary downpour of Morakot. Professor Jen-Chen FAN, Department of Bioenvironmental Systems Engineering, NTU, suggested that people's crisis of sense about mudflows should be reinforced and the government should spend more effort on this; besides, he suggested, “do not rebuild the repeated disaster areas!”

Su-Chin CHEN said, the factors for mudflows and landslide includes “steepness,” “loose soil” and “heavy rain.” He thought, the volume and intensity of downpour was extraordinary, and this was the major problem for the disaster. Besides, people's ignorance of the danger was also another significant problem. Professor Jen-Chen FAN said, the government should take more positive devices promoting the conception of precaution and preparedness. Besides, urged Professor FAN, the government should give clear instruction explaining the meaning of governmental alert indicators. He also suggested the government to make laws restricting the reconstruction in the repeated disaster areas in order to prevent the repetition of the disaster occurrence.

As for the post-disaster reconstruction, Professor Su-Chin CHEN thought it was preferred to return the dangerous land to nature rather than to rebuild revetments or dams. He said, the construction of revetments and dams encouraged the development in dangerous areas; the government should announce the improper residence areas in accordance with the national land-use plan. Only stopping striving for land with nature, he said, could fundamentally solve the problem.

Besides, China Times E-paper (2009/08/10) reported about Professor Su-Chin CHEN's awarded invention (iENA Nuremberg), an anti-scouring steel circle for bridge pier, whose cost was lower than one million NT dollars but it could reduce 70 % of the scouring. By equipping the pier with a steel circle at about 50 cm above the river bed, the flow could be directed towards both sides or upwards, so that the river would not scour the basement of the piers directly, and the pier would be protected.

Further Information:
Awakening News Network 2009/08/11 (Chinese)
China Times E-paper 2009/08/10 (Chinese)



(編輯記錄)

I think here you should use "Environmental Engineering" in the title rather than the one you used, which stands for 環境工程師.



(編輯記錄)