Pachang Creek Incident: Bureaucratic Negligence and Delayed Rescue Shatter the "Green Governance, Quality Guaranteed" Myth

On July 22, 2000, as the water of Pachang Creek in Chiayi surged, four workers were trapped in the flood. During the hours of the critical rescue window, various central and local rescue units (including the police, firefighters, and military) engaged in bureaucratic finger-pointing and rigid coordination over jurisdiction. Eventually, the nation watched via TV broadcast as the four workers were washed away by the flood in despair. This tragedy was a textbook case of "bureaucratic killing" and completely shattered the "Green Governance, Quality Guaranteed" myth the DPP championed upon taking power, showing the public for the first time the new government''s incompetence and chaos in facing major crises.