Displaced by typhoons, Taiwan’s Bunun Indigenous people struggle to preserve heritage

Around 150 Bunun Indigenous residents of Tengjhih, a high-mountain settlement in southern Taiwan, were permanently relocated to lowland areas after Typhoon Morakot destroyed their only access road in 2009, a storm that killed 755 people nationwide and disproportionately devastated Indigenous territories.

Rebuilding attempts in 2012, 2021 and 2023 all failed due to climate-intensified landslides, and a 2025 typhoon damaged the mountain further, closing the surrounding national forest recreation area and gutting the local tourism and farming economy.

Displaced families received ownership of lowland apartments but not the land under them, blocking them from selling, expanding or rebuilding, while a scholar says the relocation itself violated Taiwan's 2005 Indigenous Peoples Basic Law by proceeding without consultation.

Local officials have ruled out permanent resettlement, and an alternative access road is now scheduled to open in January 2027 after years of advocacy by the tribal council president.

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