DaAiTV DaAi Headlines 20100728 Sturdy dams are a strong defense

• Report rights infringement
• published: 28 Jul 2010
• views: 380

---Sturdy dams are a strong defense--- Continuing on the topic of last year's Typhoon Morakot, at least a dozen houses in the Qianghuangkeng(羌黃坑) community of Yushan-- located by Nanhua(南化) reservoir in Tainan County-- were damaged or completely destroyed, while landslides in Guanshan's Yameikeng (亞美坑) clogged the Nanhua reservoir. At the beginning of this year, the Soil and Water Conservation Bureau set up slit- and submerged dams to improve the areas' defense against landslides, while along the river banks, trees were planted to stabilize the slopes. In the first segment of our new feature, we return to the flood-torn areas to meet some of the victims who have moved back in, and started putting their lives back together again. ---Back to devastated Qianghuangkeng--- It has been about a year now since Typhoon Morakot. Today we take a look at Qianghuangkeng, in Tainan County's Nanhua Township, where the old community was completely swept away by massive rocks and mudslides. Qianghuangkeng resident, Jiang Qiuxiong: "One house was swept away, here; and there, too. There were two houses before. The owners no longer live here." ---Trauma comes flooding back--- Just a year ago, these houses had roofs and walls and families who lived in them. That all changed in a single night: the 88 disaster. Qianghuangkeng resident, Jiang Qiuxiong: "We reacted quickly; we heard the landslides crumbling down, so we started to run. It was around 7 at night; around 6pm, the mudslides came rushing down, so by around 7pm we started to evacuate." ---Where to farm now?--- A night of unforgettable trauma, even now the scars upon the land are still evident in these muddled rocks and widened rivers. Yet the impact upon the villagers' lives was even harder Organizing box after box, weighing and packing these glossy-looking mangoes to be exported to Japan, 43-year-old Han Zongde is considered lucky by the farmers, here. Though his field was flooded in the 88 disaster, he managed to buy land elsewhere, to resume work. Qianghuangkeng resident, Han Zongde: "My old paddy was flooded when they built the reservoir, so I got compensated for it. I took the money to buy land in Jiaxian, and it was ok, it didn't erode. It's just that, when the landslide lake collapsed, water flooded the whole area, and a lot of the fields downstream from Nanhua reservoir were washed out. The mangoes and fields were swept away." ---A restoration project is in order--- Of course, life goes on, and over the years, the villagers are slowly returning to their old ways. However, a long-term restoration project is now planned for the Qianghuangkeng community. Engineer, Lai Zongcheng: "Our first task is to clear away the debris. We started with the upstream slope. The concept of our design is to alternate between the slit dam and submerged dam models." ---Slit & submerged dams to secure river--- The submerged dams serve to protect the river banks, reducing the chance of the river beds getting emptied; as for the comb-shaped slit dams, they serve to block big rocks from falling down. Engineer, Lai Zongcheng: "We made four slit dams. The highest one is on the top; it's the first line of defense. The massive stones are blocked at the top, yet small rocks can still pass through. This way, the storage capacity of the reservoir can be increased, improving its flood defense system." ---Dams & buffer trees in Yameikeng--- With the dams in place, the engineers are confident that they will significantly reduce the velocity and impact of landslides in the future. Meanwhile, another village is following suit, with their own restoration project. Snaking our way through the winding mountain trail, in an hour's time, we have arrived in Guanshan's Yameikeng community. This is at the source of the Nanhua Reservoir, where it was once severely clogged by the 88 floods. Here, not only slit dams were built, but a buffer tree belt, as well. Engineer, Lai Zongcheng: "We still wish for it to return to nature; this place is the Nanhua reservoir area, so we tried to plant some seedlings up here. For one, they will conserve water; second, they will lock in the soil."