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Our home, Taiwan
Typhoon Morakot, May 2009, Taiwan
Two months after the Typhoon Morakot
This film was taken in northern Taiwan, at Greenbay.
Floating wood covers the white beach.
Part of the floating wood is from a mountain area in central Taiwan
some others are from Ali mountain.
Among the migrations in 2009, this is the migration of the forests and the mountains
Landslides, collapsed trees, and floating wood across the ocean.
Whoever walked past the coast realized the world is changing.
The effects of climate change exceed that of a war.
Is Typhoon Morakot the only one?
Let's take a look at the stats.
Taiwan·s population density is second place in the world, behind Bangladesh.
Due to insufficient lands with high population,the poor have to live at either inappropriate or unsafe areas.
Due to a steep mountain, coupled with water erosion which eats away 2% of the lands each year on an average,
Taiwan's geology is one of the weakest around the world
Taiwan is a part of the chain of Asian islands affected by typhoons, which includes Philippines, Taiwan and Ryukyu.
Besides Philippines, Taiwan suffers the most from typhoons
On average, there are about 4 typhoons per year.
This is a historical map of Taiwan
The Climate Center has been tracking the path of every typhoon since 1947
From 1947 to 1996, Taiwan, our home, looks like a land crushed by woven bamboo
Looking at the chart, the rain fell mainly in Hualian and the middle and south of Ali mountain.
"Teacher!! Will we be the victims of climate change?"
Today, we visit Taipei Fuhsing Private School to put forth a question to a climate expert.
"Teacher, where does Taiwan rank in the crisis of global warming?"
It is an important issue related to your future, survival, and lives
Any questions
Please feel free to ask.
There are two groups to look at when we talk about global warming.
I would like to ask which group does Taiwan belong to?
Speaking of suffering from global warming,
Taiwan is not only a part of both these groups but also others to follow.
Since Taiwan is in the high-risk group, we need to take serious precautions.
Will there be another Morakot kind of typhoon next year?
Morakot is an extreme example.
The shock it has brought to us is something we haven't experienced before.
Will there be another Morakot next year?
By tracing back in history, the answer is that the probability is high.
Although the challenges you are facing are tough
it''s an opportunity too.
If you can seize the opportunity
you are then starting a whole new page and rewriting history
You can reverse the history of the earth
This is a unique mission for your generation
Don't give up.:
Taiwan has to face three truths.
According to Professor *** of Academia Sinica,
One degree Celsius increase in global warming; global average rain accumulation increases by 6%.
However, since Taiwan is located at Tropic of Cancer which is close to the Equator,
and with factors such as its topography and geography,
Taiwan's rain accumulation is 15 times that of the global average, in other words, a 100% increase.
If the sea-level rises 6 meters due to the melting of the Arctic ice sheet,
Taiwan will lose 11% of its land
The first areas to be affected will be Dongshi, Chiayi
Linbian, Pingtung
Donggang, Pingtung
Lan-Yang Plain
as well as the location of the biggest petrochemical industrial park, Mailiao, Yunlin
If the sea-level rises more,the next areas which will be affected will be the most prosperous cities of Taiwan
Taipei Basin and Kaohsiung City
In the list created by climate experts,
Taiwan, Vietnam, Bangladesh, Southern Pacific Ocean, Caribbean Sea are all in the first batch of climate victims
The places under elevation of 100 meters will become uninhabitable.
Taiwan has one more risk
which is immediate and obvious.
Past typhoons from south to north have almost choked the important reservoirs in Taiwan.
These are aerial photos of Shihmen Reservoir.
Southern Taiwan was not the only area affected by Morakot's rain accumulation
A painting-like picture of a reservoir can be easily turned into a terrible disaster in a moment
Rain accumulation caused by the extreme climate is getting unpredictable
Let·s imagine a scene which is likely to happen
What would happen if only half of the rain brought by Morakot Typhoon fell in Shihmen Reservoir, near Taipei?
According to a professor of Civil Engineering at National Taiwan University, Lee, Hong-Yuan
Once the rain accumulation exceeds 1500 mm,
which is over the limit of Shihmen Reservoir's flood control,
the dam might collapse.
200 to 300 million tons of water will be released
starting from Dasi, Sanshia, Tucheng, Banchiau, and Sinjhuang
followed by the entire Taipei City, which would drown.