The Yami are indigenous people from Taiwan. They live on Orchid
Island. Orchid Island is a very small island 40 miles southeast of the main
island of Taiwan. Taiwan's Atomic Energy Council is responsible for safely
disposing of the nuclear waste produced by Taiwan's three nuclear power
plants. For 13 years the Atomic Energy Council has been shipping nuclear
waste to Orchid Island. The Yami are worried that contamination leaking
from the nuclear waste dump is poisoning the soil and water of Orchid
Island.
Deception, Contamination, & Solution
Deception: The Yami were very isolated until 30 years ago. They had little
contact with the outside world and were exposed to little formal education.
In fact the Yami do not even have a written language. In the mid 1970's
representatives of Taiwan's Atomic Energy Council took advantage of this
lack of education to obtain permission to build the nuclear waste dump on
Orchid Island. The Atomic Energy Council told Yami leaders that the
government of Taiwan wanted to build a factory that would process fish on
Orchid Island. However, the legal papers that an illiterate Yami leader
signed did not talk about a "fish cannery." Instead these papers allowed the
Atomic Energy Council to build a nuclear waste facility on the Yami's sacred
land. Since 1982 more than 98,000 barrels of toxic nuclear waste have been
stored in cement trenches at the Long-Men Nuclear Waste Depository on Orchid
Island.
Contamination: The Yami have traditionally been a self-sufficient society
that relied on fishing and farming for their food. The Atomic Energy
Council has admitted that some of the drums used to store the nuclear waste
have rusted. The Yami are afraid that the leakage from the Long-Men Nuclear
Waste Depository may have contaminated the soil and water of Orchid Island.
Many of the Yami are afraid to fish or farm in the southern part of the
island where the waste dump is located. The Yami are concerned about
reports that contaminated water has been released into the ocean. Other
Yami are worried about the increased rates of cancer among the Yami in the
years since the facility began storing nuclear waste.
Solution: The Yami are asking that Taiwan's Atomic Energy Council hire
independent specialists to determine how the Long-Men facility has damaged
the ecology of Orchid Island. In the meantime the Yami are asking that the
facility be immediately closed and that all the waste be returned to the
nuclear power plants that produced the toxic waste.
Ask the Chairman to help the Yami protect their homeland.
Address:
Hsu Yi-Yun, Chairman
Atomic Energy Council
No. 67. Lane 144
Sec. 4, Keelung Road
Taipei, 10772
TAIWAN
(Salutation: DearChairman)
A one page air-mail letter from the United States to Taiwan costs 60 cents.
GLOBAL RESPONSE
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REPRINTED FROM THE YEA NEWSLETTER.
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South and Meso American Indian Rights Center (SAIIC)
Box 28703
Oakland, CA 94604
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