[quote=“Baas Babelaas”]
Figured it out, finally.[/quote]
It may just be your pictures, but that area looks really nice. Looks almost like back home. 
Rain stopped here in Tainan. There’s been some drizzle in the afternoon, but since this morning (heavy winds and rain) it’s been mostly over.
What area of Taiwan is this picture from?
Isn’t Baas in Xiamen? Lots of cities in China are better put together than Taiwan…
Could be the strip in Margate, innit? Or anywhere on the north or south coast.
Nah, it’s Xiamen. I live by the beach, pretty nice. I get to gaze over to Jinmen from the boardwalk, or my balcony.
Here’s another one:
That was taken from the boat, when we had our monthly boat party. Anyways, back on topic…
Could be the strip in Margate, innit? Or anywhere on the north or south coast.
Nah, it’s Xiamen. I live by the beach, pretty nice. I get to gaze over to Jinmen from the boardwalk, or my balcony.
Here’s another one:
That was taken from the boat, when we had our monthly boat party. Anyways, back on topic…[/quote]
Yep, nice. I also thought it looks like the South Coast. 
In a bit over a year I reckon I should go visit you there if you’re still in Xiamen. 
[quote=“tommy525”]Seems one bus with at least 19 on board is missing. While 7 people have been pulled out dead from a house in Suao.
Typhoons are killers.
Taiwan has lost EW highway’s eastern part from Lishan to Kukuan to the 921 quake and subsequent later typhoon. Lost the Southern Cross to Morakot. And now the Suao-Hualian has proven its danger once again. Broken until at least mid to end Nov.
I wonder why roads that are known to be dangerous were not closed off as the rains approached? Wouldnt it have been better to have closed the Suao-Hualian a few days ago? Rather then having buses smashed into and people killed. And hundreds having to be rescued? Those people shouldve been put on trains to taipei from Hualian instead.
The govt in taiwan has got to wake up. Morakot now results in them being careful bout evacuating remote mountain villages that may be in danger. Now they must learn from this typhoon that certain roads and bridges must be closed as soon as the rains come or a day before at the latest.
And this pic was not of the bus thats missing !
telegraph.co.uk/news/picture … um=twitter
cbc.ca/world/story/2010/10/2 … china.html[/quote]
Well, the railroads were under two meters of water at a time, and the trains had stopped running at noon. The accidents ocurred around 2pm. They say they were fleeing the storm or that the tourists had to catch their planes the next day. Interestingly, one of the travel agencies involved was one of those fly by night, dodgy looking in an old gongwu, unmarked office kind of place. They wer eina panic when they couldn’t reach the driver nor the guide of their tour bus.
Horrible thing at the temple. If you ar a parent, be warned there was a child involved, very sad.
Those pics in the Telegraph are very eloquent. Pity CNN -the McD of news- that is still the most watched keeps on using China TV’s shots, which are awful/incorrect.
And please tell me -can’t understand from the news- whether the bus is still missing or what.
A few things that could have helped:
GPS on all tour buses. Emergency beacons if possible.
Cameras along the highway, to know if 500 meters or so sudenly dissappear into the sea, along with a bus or two. Solar powered, or long live batteries, better both.
Definetively, better coordination between local and central governments regarding prevention and rescue. During the no typhoon seasons, inspections should be carried out and warn people of dangerous hills that can topple over, in particular.
You forgot that Taiwanese people do not plan ahead… they react to a situation and nothing more. It is simply not in the culture here to plan for things…
That’s a bit harsh. It’s true about how they walk down the street or ride a scooter but unless you are being sarcastic, i think you are over-generalising here.
Both buses have been found.
They need to close that road and some others once rainfall gets over a certain level, that’s for sure.
Buses from big companies all have GPS. Cameras are already set on the Yilan highway. They send the army promptly. So they do plan, but we all fumble sometimes.
last i read one bus found, the one with a pic with everyone safe (but some injured) but driver and chinese tour guide missing, the other bus has been found to have been found as well having gone over the side 100 some meters but nobody inside, not sure where the people are?
yes a 4 year old girl was killed when her grandparents took her to the temple to higher ground. Of course nobody knew a landslide would bury the temple killing them along with others.
the suao-hualian is a road that iv driven on a few times, and i always felt it dangerous and gave a sign of relief after making it thru. And that was in good weather. It should always be closed when rain reaches a danger level. Along with other mountain roads that present a similar danger. Yes apparently the train was no solution as bout the north bend and south bend rail had shut down for the typhoon. Many tour buses headed down south and were safe as the road towards kenting was open (albeit in some places only one lane could be used). Perhaps , in spite of possibly missing the flight, they should have stayed on in hualian an extra day or two. Course tour companies dont want to foot the bill. But perhaps tour operators should put a deposit on tours for such eventualities in future.
Say an extra 15,000nt deposit required on each tour, should such events occur and extra expense be needed.
Hv the passengers on the other bus been found yet?
[quote]Yep, nice. I also thought it looks like the South Coast.
In a bit over a year I reckon I should go visit you there if you’re still in Xiamen. [/quote]
More than welcome, I might be back in the Wan then though.
Don’t want to threadjack…
[quote=“tommy525”]last I read one bus found, the one with a pic with everyone safe (but some injured) but driver and Chinese tour guide missing, the other bus has been found to have been found as well having gone over the side 100 some meters but nobody inside, not sure where the people are?
yes a 4 year old girl was killed when her grandparents took her to the temple to higher ground. Of course nobody knew a landslide would bury the temple killing them along with others.
the Suao-Hualian is a road that iv driven on a few times, and I always felt it dangerous and gave a sign of relief after making it thru. And that was in good weather. It should always be closed when rain reaches a danger level. Along with other mountain roads that present a similar danger. Yes apparently the train was no solution as bout the north bend and south bend rail had shut down for the typhoon. Many tour buses headed down south and were safe as the road towards Kending was open (albeit in some places only one lane could be used). Perhaps , in spite of possibly missing the flight, they should have stayed on in Hualian an extra day or two. Course tour companies dont want to foot the bill. But perhaps tour operators should put a deposit on tours for such eventualities in future.
Say an extra 15,000nt deposit required on each tour, should such events occur and extra expense be needed.
Hv the passengers on the other bus been found yet?[/quote]
That’s the one I’m talking about. They found the bus but no sign of the 19 people? And what about the one that was supposedly pushed into the sea?
taipeitimes.com/News/front/archi … 2003486755
yeah seems that one bus that is on the beach is found but the inhabitants missing, while the other bus is not missing but only its driver and tour guide for some reason.
TV says 25 people still missing. Traffic restored most of the highway. A white van found crushed, kids clothes inside, still looking for people.
And it is still raining, and there is more rain on the way… So why is it so hot?
The central government is now very serious about ordaining such closure. But it’s meeting with very strong complaint and resistance from Hualien residents. I saw a report on the TV news today in which they interviewed Hualien residents for their reaction to this proposal, and the comments ranged from “The central government has no conscience” and “They’ll be making us Hualien people 5th-class residents of Taiwan” to “That will sound the death knell for Hualien.”
I really cannot understand their opposition. The road is almost certain to be blocked by landslides when there’s a typhoon or extremely heavy deluge, so why would it make such a huge difference to them if the road was occasionally closed for a limited time before that occurred in order to prevent people from being buried or trapped by the all-but-inevitable landslides?
The central government is now very serious about ordaining such closure. But it’s meeting with very strong complaint and resistance from Hualian residents. I saw a report on the TV news today in which they interviewed Hualian residents for their reaction to this proposal, and the comments ranged from “The central government has no conscience” and “They’ll be making us Hualian people 5th-class residents of Taiwan” to “That will sound the death knell for Hualian.”
I really cannot understand their opposition. The road is almost certain to be blocked by landslides when there’s a typhoon or extremely heavy deluge, so why would it make such a huge difference to them if the road was occasionally closed for a limited time before that occurred in order to prevent people from being buried or trapped by the all-but-inevitable landslides?[/quote]
Yes a govt’s job can be a tough one. If the Suao-Hualian was cordoned off a few days ago and the landslides did NOT happen, then the residents wouldve been up in arms about how inefficient and ridiculous the govt was, how that road has stood the test of hundreds of typhoons, etc etc etc. But of course if the road was cordoned off and the slides happened lives wouldve been saved but still there wouldve been people saying it should have been left open a day longer or whatever.
And what if the Suao-Hualian , deemed more dangerous was cordoned off and then buses fell on their way south around the southern tip because that road was not deemed as dangerous but say in fact there were serious slides? Again the govt would be blamed for "sending people to their deaths because the Suao-Hualian was cordoned off, leading people to use the southern bend and blah blah and blah blah.
The people of Eastern Taiwan, especially Hualian should realize that topography and nature dictates that they may be cut off and isolated during a storm. And that it may be prudent to block the roads before the storm hits.
They should realized that. Nobody is criticizing the railways for suspending operations or the airlines for suspending operations. Typhoons KILL. Each and every typhoon has resulted in deaths wherever the foons go.
IN fact not long ago Singapore Airlines 747 met up with disaster during a typhoon. And the airport really should have been closed. The flight crew was at fault largely but there were mitigating circumstances. Impending worsening storm conditions, lack of ground radar, etc etc. Mainly the weather was the largest factor in that mishap. Same with the China Airlines drop of a nearly brand new 747 into the drink at kaitak, also during a foon.
Lets go back to basics on foons.
Only prudent to do this.
Heres a clip where it seems the other bus fell off where the road is over 300 meters high. They have found remnants of this bus , like a bus tire , but the main wreckage may be buried by the landslide, along with its inhabitants it looks like to me.
youtube.com/watch?v=VHRb8RzFhpI
DOesnt look good indeed to be knocked off a 300 meter cliff into the sea by a landslide. Certainly does not bode well for survival.
The central government is now very serious about ordaining such closure. But it’s meeting with very strong complaint and resistance from Hualian residents. I saw a report on the TV news today in which they interviewed Hualian residents for their reaction to this proposal, and the comments ranged from “The central government has no conscience” and “They’ll be making us Hualian people 5th-class residents of Taiwan” to “That will sound the death knell for Hualian.”
I really cannot understand their opposition. The road is almost certain to be blocked by landslides when there’s a typhoon or extremely heavy deluge, so why would it make such a huge difference to them if the road was occasionally closed for a limited time before that occurred in order to prevent people from being buried or trapped by the all-but-inevitable landslides?[/quote]
Yes a govt’s job can be a tough one. If the Suao-Hualian was cordoned off a few days ago and the landslides did NOT happen, then the residents wouldve been up in arms about how inefficient and ridiculous the govt was, how that road has stood the test of hundreds of typhoons, etc etc etc. But of course if the road was cordoned off and the slides happened lives wouldve been saved but still there wouldve been people saying it should have been left open a day longer or whatever.
And what if the Suao-Hualian , deemed more dangerous was cordoned off and then buses fell on their way south around the southern tip because that road was not deemed as dangerous but say in fact there were serious slides? Again the govt would be blamed for "sending people to their deaths because the Suao-Hualian was cordoned off, leading people to use the southern bend and blah blah and blah blah.
The people of Eastern Taiwan, especially Hualian should realize that topography and nature dictates that they may be cut off and isolated during a storm. And that it may be prudent to block the roads before the storm hits.
They should realized that. Nobody is criticizing the railways for suspending operations or the airlines for suspending operations. Typhoons KILL. Each and every typhoon has resulted in deaths wherever the typhoons go.
IN fact not long ago Singapore Airlines 747 met up with disaster during a typhoon. And the airport really should have been closed. The flight crew was at fault largely but there were mitigating circumstances. Impending worsening storm conditions, lack of ground radar, etc etc. Mainly the weather was the largest factor in that mishap. Same with the China Airlines drop of a nearly brand new 747 into the drink at kaitak, also during a foon.
Lets go back to basics on typhoons.
Only prudent to do this.
Heres a clip where it seems the other bus fell off where the road is over 300 meters high. They have found remnants of this bus , like a bus tire , but the main wreckage may be buried by the landslide, along with its inhabitants it looks like to me.
youtube.com/watch?v=VHRb8RzFhpI
DOesnt look good indeed to be knocked off a 300 meter cliff into the sea by a landslide. Certainly does not bode well for survival.[/quote]
Insightful, Tommy.
[quote=“archylgp”]
Insightful, Tommy.[/quote]
Do not easily disparage the intellectually impaired. They are people, too.
Tommy525 for President :bravo:
:bravo: