Taiwan is rushing to provide emergency services to the country's homeless population as a cold front sweeps in, causing temperatures to plummet. Although shelters have been made available in the north, many homeless people don't use the facilities. Some say the shelters' low numbers have to do with their inaccessibility or worries about their conditions.
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00:00Rushing to the scene, emergency responders come to the rescue of a homeless man after
00:10he fainted from hypothermia as a cold snap chills the country.
00:14Temperatures across Taiwan have plummeted recently, triggering a public health crisis.
00:20Emergency medical services have responded to over 100 cases of out-of-hospital cardiac
00:26arrests in just the past three days.
00:29In response to the chill, the Taipei government has opened shelters to accommodate its homeless
00:34population.
00:35There are only two places open at the moment, one is at the K8 station in Taipei, and the
00:39other is at the Wanhua Social Center.
00:41We don't want to argue with people here, we don't want to drink, but we can basically
00:45accept it.
00:46The government says it will keep these shelters running around the clock, as long as the outside
00:50temperatures fall below 12 degrees Celsius.
00:53The shelters offer sleeping bags, a change of clothes, library access, and television.
01:00But some homeless people still choose to stay where they are.
01:12The government has registered around 850 unhoused people in Taipei and New Taipei, but typically
01:18only around 100 of them make use of overnight shelters when temperatures drop.
01:23Some say they're not aware they could use these shelters, while others have simply chosen
01:28to stay put.
01:41Low temperatures in Taiwan are expected to persist into the new year.
01:45The government says it'll do what it can to help the country's homeless population.
01:50But many of the most vulnerable people remain outside, braving the cold.
01:55Klein Wong and Wesley Lewis for Taiwan Plus.