TAIPEI: Every year when the northeastern monsoon blows in late autumn, townships located along downstream stretches of the Jhuoshuei, Dajia and Daan rivers in central Taiwan tend to suffer from serious dust storms, and this year has been no exception.

Among the towns hit particularly hard are Yunlin County's Siluo, Erlun, Lubei and Mailiao townships located near the Jhuoshuei River estuary in south-central Taiwan and Taichung County's Dajia Township at the estuary of the Dajia and Daan rivers.

"The dust storm problem is especially serious in riverside towns," said Yunlin County Magistrate Su Chih-fen.

The county government has sponsored forums at elementary schools in those townships to teach schoolchildren how to cope with dust storm damage, Su said.

Hsukuang Elementary School in Erlun and Fengjung Elementary School in Lunbei are among the hardest-hit victims.

Lin Huang-jung, the principal of the Hsukuang school, said the school has had to spray water on its grounds frequently every day during the northeastern monsoon season.

"All classroom windows facing north have to be closed when the seasonal winds blow," Lin said, adding, "Even then, our desks and chairs are often covered by dust."

During breaks, schoolchildren play outdoors. "We invariably remind them to wear face masks, but our words often fall on deaf ears with the young children," Lin sighed.

Schoolchildren tend to return home with their outfits covered with dust, the head of the school's parent association said.

Although the dust storm issues have existed for years, systematic efforts to deal with them did not begin until two years ago.

At present, two strategies are being tried to counter the dust storms: building wind-breaking forests and building water-blocking dams to raise water levels and thus prevent winds from blowing up sand from dry riverbeds.

Officials from the Fourth River Basin Management Bureau under the economic affairs authorities said the bureau has launched a project to plant 7 kilometers of trees along the river's northern bank in Changhua and the southern bank in Yunlin to shield the riverbed from the winds.

China Daily/CNA

(HK Edition 10/14/2009 page2)