Last Friday, a super typhoon Morakot which had just struck Philippines, causing sever impacts in 11 villages such as Paudpod, San Juan, Baton-lapoc, Carael, Tampo, Paco, San Miguel, Binig, Bangan, and Capayawan, landed on Taiwan and brought flooding rains and sever damages. It was said to be the worst catastrophe that Taiwan ever encountered in 50 years. The tremendous amounts of rain brought about by Morakot caused mudslides and raging rivers that overflowed the banks and caused widespread flooding and erosion. Some areas in Taiwan even reported isolated amounts of water more than 8 feet depth. In the Philippines, about 30,000 families were affected by Morakot, and more or less twelve people are confirmed dead. The affected villages submerged in 4 feet or 5 feet deep floods, and thousands of people lost their homes.
A 20 years old hotel in Chihpen, Taitung (East Taiwan), was not able to survive the disaster and collapsed into the river after it was evacuated. Luckily, no one was harmed. But, in the other areas of Taiwan like Hsiao-Lin Village wasn’t this fortunate. It was reported that the village had more than a thousand inhabitants. When the mudslide washed down the village, only a few people were able to escape it. Though there were some who were continuously rescued, but there were still some residents buried alive by the mudslide. The rescue team 24/7 restlessly digs the mudslide with excavator. They thought that digging out the mudslide would make it easier for them to search for the other survivors. Yet, as they dig, they were only stunned by the consternation of dead bodies unearthed from the deep mud. One of the dead bodies was even torn into halves. Only topper half part of the body was found and the other half is still missing.
So far, there were already 400 people died and 45 wounded; and the toll seems to be increasing as days count. It was calculated that the overall damages in Taiwan had already reached more than 6.8 Billions NT Dollars and about 346 schools were destructed. Many people were forced to evacuate their homes. Hundreds and hundreds of homes were destroyed.
In Tainan area, there were many Filipino workers trapped inside their dormitories without water, electricity, food and clean clothes. Most of the dormitories’ ground floors were heavily flooded. One dormitory’s rooftop was even coiled away by Morakot. The workers had nothing to eat and shuddered in the cold. All they can do was to rely on any source of assistance they could possibly get. Though there were boatsshuttling around to give people food to eat, but still it was never enough to feed hundreds of people there. The MECO-Kaohsiung Office, together with Fr. Popong of Stella Maris, visited Tainan to give concerns and bring food supplies for these trapped Filipino workers. Some places are really difficult to break through because the roads are still flooded and the heavy rains kept on flooding the places.
The Taiwan government, as well as the media and other concerning groups, are now raising funds to help rebuild the towns destroyed by Morakot. The concerning groups like the Catholic Diocese of Kaohsiung is calling out the people to donate rice, mineral water, instant noodles, canned goods, etc. Other concerning groups of different religions also donated goods and money, and devoted efforts in the distributions of food supplies house-to-house in places isolated by heavy flood and sunken roads. There are also group of civilians who volunteer to join the rescue team.
There’s a saying in Chinese: “In plight, we all stand together.” I believe that the destruction caused by Morakot will be deeply imprinted in our memories. Morakot reminded me of the 921 quake in Taiwan in1999. The havoc had taken 2,415 lives, more than 11,000 severely wounded, and more than 44,000 houses were completely destroyed. That time, people stood together in one heart to rebuild the nation and help each other to regain faiths in life. This time, again, people stood shoulder to shoulder to overcome this traumatic event; and faith shall once again kindle our hope for the future.
A 20 years old hotel in Chihpen, Taitung (East Taiwan), was not able to survive the disaster and collapsed into the river after it was evacuated. Luckily, no one was harmed. But, in the other areas of Taiwan like Hsiao-Lin Village wasn’t this fortunate. It was reported that the village had more than a thousand inhabitants. When the mudslide washed down the village, only a few people were able to escape it. Though there were some who were continuously rescued, but there were still some residents buried alive by the mudslide. The rescue team 24/7 restlessly digs the mudslide with excavator. They thought that digging out the mudslide would make it easier for them to search for the other survivors. Yet, as they dig, they were only stunned by the consternation of dead bodies unearthed from the deep mud. One of the dead bodies was even torn into halves. Only topper half part of the body was found and the other half is still missing.
So far, there were already 400 people died and 45 wounded; and the toll seems to be increasing as days count. It was calculated that the overall damages in Taiwan had already reached more than 6.8 Billions NT Dollars and about 346 schools were destructed. Many people were forced to evacuate their homes. Hundreds and hundreds of homes were destroyed.
In Tainan area, there were many Filipino workers trapped inside their dormitories without water, electricity, food and clean clothes. Most of the dormitories’ ground floors were heavily flooded. One dormitory’s rooftop was even coiled away by Morakot. The workers had nothing to eat and shuddered in the cold. All they can do was to rely on any source of assistance they could possibly get. Though there were boatsshuttling around to give people food to eat, but still it was never enough to feed hundreds of people there. The MECO-Kaohsiung Office, together with Fr. Popong of Stella Maris, visited Tainan to give concerns and bring food supplies for these trapped Filipino workers. Some places are really difficult to break through because the roads are still flooded and the heavy rains kept on flooding the places.
The Taiwan government, as well as the media and other concerning groups, are now raising funds to help rebuild the towns destroyed by Morakot. The concerning groups like the Catholic Diocese of Kaohsiung is calling out the people to donate rice, mineral water, instant noodles, canned goods, etc. Other concerning groups of different religions also donated goods and money, and devoted efforts in the distributions of food supplies house-to-house in places isolated by heavy flood and sunken roads. There are also group of civilians who volunteer to join the rescue team.
There’s a saying in Chinese: “In plight, we all stand together.” I believe that the destruction caused by Morakot will be deeply imprinted in our memories. Morakot reminded me of the 921 quake in Taiwan in1999. The havoc had taken 2,415 lives, more than 11,000 severely wounded, and more than 44,000 houses were completely destroyed. That time, people stood together in one heart to rebuild the nation and help each other to regain faiths in life. This time, again, people stood shoulder to shoulder to overcome this traumatic event; and faith shall once again kindle our hope for the future.
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