Global warming has led to numerous natural disasters and the loss of countless of lives in recent years. Meteorologists believe that extreme weather events will probably continue to increase in both frequency and severity. Up to ten compound disasters have already occurred this year, making international cooperation and humanitarian assistance an important issue for national governments and an extension of diplomatic activities.

During the 2nd anniversary of Typhoon Morakot press conference, Premier Wu Den-yih emphasized that the typhoon left many broken families and shattered homeland two years ago; though massive resources where channeled by the government and the public into the reconstruction effort, there is no reason to be contented with the achievement made in reconstruction. Instead, we should all be grateful to the selfless people that donated to charity, took part in the emergency rescue and contributed to the reconstruction effort.  Premier Wu also emphasized the need use to effectively express our gratitude to local and overseas donors.

As a conference of ambassadors had been convened by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA), President Ma invited the MOFA to arrange for a visit to the reconstruction area. The MOFA will arrange for ambassadors to travel to the Shanlin District of Kaohsiung City on August 19 to visit the Da Ai Permanent Housing Community, Xiaolin Second Village and Yonglin Organic Farm. The tour will offer ambassadors an opportunity to learn about reconstruction achievements such as permanent housing, industry reconstruction and the employment, schooling, culture and creativity of the permanent housing residents. In addition to allowing ambassadors to see the progress of post-Morakot reconstruction, they can also see the public-private partnership for permanent housing construction pioneered by Taiwan. 

Chern Jenn-Chuan, Deputy CEO of the Executive Yuan's Morakot Post-Disaster Reconstruction Commission, said that the ambassadors are welcome to travel south to see the reconstruction progress for themselves and meet the residents of the permanent housing. Once the ambassadors have learnt about Typhoon Morakot's emergency response, disaster prevention and reconstruction efforts, they can help promote the reconstruction efforts back in their host country and let overseas donors know about the progress being made. The ambassadors can also share the experience and innovations from post-Morakot reconstruction with the international community, provide international assistance where necessary and promote international cooperation.

Deputy CEO Chern emphasized the great importance of updating ambassadors on reconstruction progress. This is not the first time that overseas diplomats to tour a reconstruction area. The MOFA has arranged for three groups of diplomats to visit the reconstruction area since last year, including a group on July 29, 2010 as well as a further two groups on June 30 and July 21 this year. The visits not only increased their understanding of post-disaster reconstruction but also won the diplomats' unanimous approval. They now hope that the people of Taiwan will continue to offer their support, show the world Taiwan's experience and accomplishments in post-disaster reconstruction, highlight the outstanding contributions to reconstruction from Taiwan's non-government organizations, and encourage more overseas people to give their support to Taiwan in international situations.
 

Ambassadors visited Yonglin Organic Farm

Ambassadors listened to the report about reconstruction

Deputy CEO Chern explained the process of reconstruction