Taiwan races to find Ragasa victims as ‘utterly vile’ political firestorm erupts

As rescuers raced to find people still missing after catastrophic floods in eastern Taiwan, attention shifted to responsibility and recrimination, turning the disaster zone into a partisan battleground.

At least 14 people have been confirmed dead after a landslide dam on the Mataian River burst during Super Typhoon Ragasa, submerging much of Guangfu township in Hualien county and destroying homes and farms.

While emergency workers waded through knee-high mud in search of the 22 people still missing, grieving families wept while others clutched phones in hope of hearing word of missing relatives.

But amid the frantic search, the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the Hualien county government traded blame for the disaster, with the DPP accused of exploiting the disaster to smear its rivals.

Much of the blame game is focused on whether the county government failed to act on repeated evacuation orders issued by central agencies.

Local news outlets reported on Thursday that the Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency (FANCA) had sent nine warnings that the county government ignored.

  

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