Consolation Money Yet to be Given Out

“The rehabilitation program has still not been followed through with. The government may have gone deaf.”

Lee (79), who undergoes medical treatment on his legs which were injured when typhoon ‘Maemi’ struck the peninsula, has not received support from the government. It has been almost two months, but the law and regulations laid down for support to natural disaster refugees are very shabby and poor. Even the execution of the budget has been delayed.

The voice standing up for the improvement of this system has been loud because of the riled-up complaints to collect rehabilitation money.

Many Civil Petitions Lined Up to Solve – According to the ordinance of “Natural Disaster Inspection and Restoration Plan,” the injured who are categorized to be higher than 7th class of physical handicap can be beneficiaries of consolation money. It usually takes three to six months for the injured to receive medical treatment and registration to the government.

The conflicts on the consolation money for the agriculture and fishery industries are much more serious than we expect because the government has appropriated it by the ratio according to damage and not by the size of damaged land.

The government has provided each individual farmer with serious damage to his rice field of 0.2 hectares with $5,000. This figure is four times higher than his usual income when he actually sells his crop to market. On the other hand, if a farmer who sows rice on his 1.8 hectares land has damage to 0.2 hectares of his land, then the farmer will be denied support. The reason is that if the land below 2 hectares received damaged on 80 percent of its land, it will get $5,000. If there was damage to 50 to 79 percent of the land, the farmer will receive $3,000, for damage to 30 to 49 percent of the land, the farmer will receive $400 from the government. This system applies for the fishery industry also.

“The damage ratio mostly depends on who checks it. Many civil petitions have been piling in. Arguments among the neighbors on this problem have become very serious recently,” said one of the farmers living in the damaged area. As for the damage to fish culturing ponds and fishery facilities, the exact inspection is very difficult to assess. Some of the support funds are wasted in this case.

Financial support is delayed too long – As for the southern Kyungsang province, which had been seriously damaged by the typhoon, about $10 million out of total consolation money of $15 million has been given out so far. But, the process of support is very slow. In the recent 10 days, only a total of $3 million has been distributed. Approximately 60 percent of people who suffered property damage have received money in Tongyoung and Namhae, which saw heavy damages to its fishery facilities.

As for the rehabilitation of private facilities, $10 million out of total $22 million has been distributed. This is only 50 percent of total support planned before. As for the housing restoration money, only 37 percent has been conducted. The money for public facilities recovery has been worked out even in this month.

The main reasons for this delay are obscure standards of inspection, impractical scales of the consolation money, and a shortage of government employees who are responsible for on-the-spot inspection.

How can we sort this out? – As of late, the scales of cultivating lands have greatly expanded. The government has to adjust the related law and ordinances so that it can reflect the reality properly. The consolation money has to be distributed according to the amount of damage, not by the ratio of damage.

“The affected people should prove the damage themselves as much as possible. Even though they receive support from other private agencies, only the rigid verification can cut down the waste of public money and the troubles,” remarked an officer of civil organization in southern Kyungsang province.

“Including the improvement of a support system, we need to look for an alteration plan such as expanding the range of insurance, not just wholly turning to the budget of government,” pointed out a government employee in northern Kyungsang province.

manman@donga.com boriam@donga.com