The families of the four people who were killed in a landslide on National Freeway No. 3 last Sunday are entitled to national compensation. No one could take issue with this. But as taxpayers, we are entitled to know whether any government officials were responsible for the disaster; if there were, who they were and would they be punished for failing in their duties. Under the law, there are two types of compensation that could be claimed in such cases. The first type is for damages as a result of negligence on the part of government officials, and the other is for damages in the case of fault or failure of public facilities not necessarily as a result of human error. The disaster on National Freeway No. 3 was caused by a landslide on a dip slope that had been shaved at the base to build the freeway. This cannot be categorized as a natural and unavoidable catastrophe over which government officials had no control. There was no rain or storm near the slope that day that could have triggered the landslide. In addition, the ground anchors used to retain the slope had rusted and were therefore weak, which belies the claim by government officials that human error was not a factor. It seems that the government is trying protect its officials by offering compensation under the category unrelated to human error, but this would not go down well with the public. (April 30, 2010) 