Clean-up and Reconstruction
On September 25 President Lee Teng-hui declared a state of emergency in the affected areas, giving sweeping powers to local authorities to ignore the usual bureaucratic and legal restrictions on measures to bring relief to people and locations most in need. This was the first time emergency powers had been used since the death of former President Chiang Ching-kuo in 1989.
Many charities, corporations, and private individuals contributed to the relief effort and the later reconstruction. Private donations directly to the government-run disaster fund totalled NT$33.9bn, while organisations including the Presbyterian Church of Taiwan, Rotary International, Cathay Life Insurance, Dharma Drum Mountain, I-Kuan Tao, the Tzu Chi Foundation and various temple, church, and community groups all contributed to aiding survivors and funding reconstruction. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints provided both direct relief and translation services for the foreign rescue teams, while the Red Cross of the People's Republic of China contributed US$3m to the Republic of China Red Cross, which amassed a fund of NT$1.8bn towards disaster relief.
Following the election of Chen Shui-bian, the reconstruction policies were continued despite the change in ruling party. Chen said in his inaugural address in May 2000 that "our people experienced an unprecedented catastrophe last year, and the wounds are yet to be healed. The new cabinet feels that restoration cannot be delayed ... Reconstruction has to cover every victim and every earthquake-affected area."
One task that had to be undertaken was the setting of new land ownership boundaries in areas where the landscape had been significantly altered by the quake. The whole island was elongated about 1.5 metres (4 ft 11 in) in the north-south axis and compressed west-east by the forces unleashed. One solution offered to land issues was to offer landowners an equivalent parcel of government land not located on a fault line.
Read more about this topic: 921 Earthquake