Eighty-eight so heartless
【Confidence born of storm】2
Father’s Day, August 8, should be a day of warmth and joy! Unexpectedly, Typhoon Morakot swept across the country on August 8 and severely damaged southern Taiwan. People can't help but think of the August 7 floods and the September 21 earthquake. God! When will Taiwan be free from disaster and suffer no more?
Sister, your home was just washed away
Standing at the entrance of the Risheng Club in Taimali, Taitung, I really couldn't believe the sight in front of me. For several years in a row, we have chosen to stay in this hotel converted from a farmer's association barn during the "1919 Love Walk" bicycle tour. This year’s trip around Taiwan has not yet come, but the row of shops selling custard apples in front of the club has disappeared; the "Taiwan Beef" beef noodle shop opposite has also been washed away.
From the downhill slope of Daren Township to the Taimali River at Risheng Hall, the entire stream bed becomes ten times as wide as it should be, and there is no trace of the bridge over the stream. A group of strange workers were digging on the New River bed. They vaguely recognized the location of the police station and were working hard to excavate the bodies of the two police officers who died in the line of duty. Probably no one would have the heart to tell their families that there was no need to dig them up because their bodies might have washed up in the Pacific Ocean.
One of the two police officers is a member of Tawang Baptist Church. The pastor said: "One monster hand is too slow. Can you support them with two monster hands? They can definitely dig it up in two days." I agreed without even asking how much a day's rent for one monster hand would cost. When a pastor sets up an aid station in his church and works non-stop for days to minister to the victims, who can say no?
Even worse than Taimali is Jialan Village in Jinfeng Township. The road leading to Jialan Village along the river embankment has been buried under the expanding river bed. Now you have to climb to the top of the Golden Needle Mountain to slide to Jialan. I have been here before, in 2006. During another typhoon, six houses along the stream in the highlands of Shangjialan Village were washed away, right up to the back wall of the Catholic Church. At that time, we went to distribute emergency relief funds to disaster victims, but this time, what made people stunned was that the Catholic Church was missing, and the twelve houses in the same row as the Catholic Church were also missing. In the Taimali River under the high platform, there are two three-story reinforced concrete houses, which are the homes of the leaders.
The Taimali stream was like a scraper, scraping away several tribal houses again and again. According to the order, the Jinfeng Township Office and the Presbyterian Church Chapel may be scrapped next time...
The female pastor of the Gleneagles Baptist Church said with tears, "That morning, we believers all shouted and prayed loudly. We declared that God is our refuge and our tower, and He will guard our houses. But while praying, But I saw the house being washed away. I turned around and told the sister in the church, "Your house was just washed away, and that sister fainted." How can we strengthen the hearts of believers in the coming years?
The scene in Xiajialan was even more horrific. More than 40 houses in the entire tribe were completely covered with sand. Sister Gao and her family of Tawang Baptist Church are the lucky ones among the misfortunes. When the water rushed to their house, it seemed that a hand was blocking it, and the river diverted from their house. Eleven members of their family and neighbors climbed onto the roof to wait for rescue. In her fear, she thought there was a pack of frozen dumplings in the refrigerator, so she climbed down to the kitchen to cook the dumplings, and then took them to the roof for everyone to eat. she says:
"We were very afraid in our hearts, but we also had a lot of faith and believed that God would deliver salvation. Across the river, our pastors and believers stayed with us on the top of the mountain from a distance. They shouted loudly and prayed for us. We have always kept faith. We didn’t know how long we waited, but the helicopter finally came to rescue us.”
▲The houses in the disaster area "Jialan Village" were destroyed by the surging floodwaters of Taimali River.
I wonder if the house on the mountain is still there?
Returning to Taipei from Taitung and then to Qishan, the water in Qishan has receded, but the streets are still muddy. The electricity has come, but the running water has not yet come. I wonder when the house will be clean? When we arrived at Qishan Junior High School, it was really a battlefield. The helicopters landed one by one, those who ran out of the cabin got on the transportation vehicle, and those who were carried out got on the ambulance. A bunch of people were running behind them on both sides, trying to see if their family members were in the car, or chasing someone and calling someone. Has someone come down? The police blew their whistles and waved their hands, but how could they wipe away the anxiety in their tearful eyes?
The road from Qishan to Foguang Mountain is broken, so we can only take the industrial road to cross the mountains. Fo Guang Shan set up a shelter for disaster victims at the Pumen Middle School Activity Center, housing nearly a thousand aborigines who were evacuated from the Kaohsiung mountains. There were no rescued smiles on the faces, only blank expressions. When I asked them what they were thinking, they all answered: "Is the house on the mountain still there? I don't know when I can go home?" I could only hold their hands and pray, hoping that they would not lose hope in their hearts.
Christian Aid Society's work areas are in Donggang, Linbian and Jiadong. The water in Donggang has receded long ago and the city's functions have been restored. However, the Linbian River breached its embankment by fifty meters, and the Jiadong Yudao Village and Linbian City Center on both sides of the stream were still in shambles.
It is really unimaginable that fourteen days after the disaster, the water in front of Linbian Station has just receded; Guanglin Village at the head of Linbian Bridge is covered with mud up to the chest; the low-lying areas of Jiadongyazi and Yanyang are still waist-deep in water. Our daily number of volunteers ranges from 300 to 1,000, but the mud on our homes and roads never seems to be cleared.
Although it is also next to the embankment of Linbian Creek, the water in Datong Village in Jiadong has receded, and the National Army is removing the soil. Our volunteers then use high-pressure washers to clean the houses. I asked an old lady: "How high was the water on the day of the typhoon?" She pulled me and said, "Come and see!"
I entered her home, which faced away from the main road. "Look, the incense burner was flooded! What a fluke!" It felt so weird. The two-wing room occupies both sides of the hall, with only four walls remaining. The incense burner hanging from the roof beam is the only thing left in the house, and it is also a flood gauge. There was absolutely nothing in the house. It was like looking at a new house without furniture, except that the house was old and had a strange smell. The old lady is seventy-two years old and the old gentleman is seventy-four. They live together in the countryside. I don’t know how they will live their lives in the future.
Shuozi Village is the breeding area closest to the sea. The gentian grouper cultivated by the residents is said to be sold for 200,000 yuan per tail. It's just that all the fish ponds have been flooded, and there are not many gentian groupers left in the pond. I squatted next to a middle-aged man who was cleaning furniture. While he was cleaning the wooden sofa, he said: "My son is the youngest, and the loss is at least 10 million. That family over there is the big one, and they will lose a certain amount of money." Hundreds of millions."
I said, "I'll ask the volunteer team to help you clean it up!"
"No, you have already helped a lot. Go and help that family over there. They need it more." I don't know how to distinguish between large households and small households, but at least they are all the same now, with sludge piled at the door. Just for the big house at the bottom of the road, the water at the door was up to the knees, and the volunteers were unable to help.
▲It’s really unimaginable that the valleys were filled with mud after the disaster; even though the number of volunteers every day ranged from 300 to 1,000, it seemed that the mud on the homes and roads would never be cleared.
Is there anything we can do to help?
Our command center is set up in Nanrong Junior High School in Kanding. Every day, the volunteers return to camp. After walking through the disinfection pool and unloading, the shoe washing team starts cleaning the volunteers’ rain boots, the laundry team cleans the volunteers’ vests, and the gloves washing team cleans them. Gloves, a bit like the production line of a big cleaning company.
As the volunteers began to take showers and have dinner, the nursing station began to be filled with injured patients. The nurse would instruct the volunteers to take care of themselves every day, but there were wounded soldiers every day, and they were even sent to the emergency room for tetanus shots.
▲"Did you feel sleepy last night?" (Taiwanese, Did you sleep well last night?) Volunteers' greetings always bring back a lot of memories for residents. I hope this simple care and prayer can help them relieve their depression and anxiety. fear.
Da Yu has been here from Taipei for a while. He is tall and has a warm personality. He is a very competent volunteer leader, but his big toes on both feet are injured and swollen. The next day he didn't lead the team out. I asked him what was wrong, and he said, "I went to the emergency room yesterday and the doctor pulled out the nails of both my big toes."
"Ah! Why?"
"The doctor said he has been infected with cellulitis." I felt very sad as I watched him silently helping with the camp's logistical work.
"Pastor Xia, I am Brother Wu Yingming, and I have brought seven volunteers to help." He is a professor at Sun Yat-sen University, a former chairman of the Kaohsiung City Government Research and Examination Committee, and later the director of the Kaohsiung City Government Manpower Development Center. Deacon of the church. "Long time no see. Are you still at the Manpower Development Center?"
▲Seeing the condition of the victims, I couldn't help but sigh: "Baba is so heartless!" But when I saw the volunteer team working tirelessly, I couldn't help but murmur: "There is still warmth in the world!"
"No, no, I am currently working at Kaohsiung City Air University." I got his new business card, and my title is principal. It’s hard to imagine how this university president would clean houses in the mud. Just when he was trying to find a suitable job for him, he no longer knew which brigade to join. It seemed that the southern celebrity, radio host, and university president had no choice but to experience a new day in the mud.
In fact, the large number of volunteers from the relief association not only clean homes, we also do household damage surveys and provide spiritual care. We train every volunteer to speak six sentences in Taiwanese:
"Did you feel sleepy yesterday?"
"Can you start cooking?"
"How high was the water on the day of the typhoon?"
"How is everyone else in the family?"
"How are you feeling now?"
"Is there anything we can do to help?"
Every sentence will trigger a basket of memories from the residents. I wonder if such simple care can help them relieve their depression and fear?
When volunteers complete a day's tiring service work, they will feel a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction, but they will also feel inexplicable frustration and sadness among the victims. The daily volunteer evening is a time for us to sing, pray, give thanks, and encourage. Volunteers also need to relieve stress and clear away depression.
Those who bear the greatest pressure should be the full-time colleagues of the relief association. They have to inspect the disaster area, collect disaster situation developments, dispatch manpower, transport machinery and equipment, accept volunteer registrations, take care of volunteers' lives, and manage volunteer camps. Fortunately, there is a team of support volunteers and administrative volunteers who would rather stay in the camp to serve and support the volunteers. Without their logistical support, the volunteer team would not be able to serve.
▲Eighteen days after the disaster, looking around, the disaster area is still full of ocean.
Seeing the condition of the victims, I couldn't help but sigh: "Baba is so heartless!" But when I saw the volunteer team covered in mud, I couldn't help but murmur: "There is still warmth in the world!"
Although it is already the eighteenth day after the disaster, the disaster area is still muddy. The flooding in the low-lying areas of Shuongzi Village has not yet been eliminated, but sooner or later, the woods and Jiadong will be clear; the flooded belongings will always be replaced with new ones, and life will always return to normal. Maybe normality and busyness will make them forget what the volunteer team has done for them, but I believe that the volunteer partners will never forget what they experienced in the disaster area!
Note
This article is reproduced from the September 2009 issue of "Relief Monthly". For detailed disaster relief stories of the China Christian Relief Association and how readers can participate, please visit www.ccra.org.tw.
Author profile
Pastor Xia Zhongjian served as the Director-General of the Evangelical Movement in 2000. Since 2001, he has served as the Secretary-General of the Christian Aid Society and the Evangelical Association, actively promoting church renewal, evangelism, community service, emergency relief and other ministries.