Buddhist Compassion Relief Tzu Chi Foundation

More than 100 volunteers of the Tzu Chi Foundation have begun relief work in areas of southeast Taiwan devastated by typhoon. Nepartak hit Taiwan on the evening of July 7, bringing heavy winds and torrential rains. It caused the evacuation of more than 150,000 people and the cancellation of air and train services.

At five o’clock in the morning of July 10, three tourist buses left Hualien, the headquarters of the foundation, carrying over 100 volunteers for two districts hard hit by the typhoon – Taitung City and Taimali Township. Their mission was to bring comfort and concern. In Xianglan village, they launched a ‘cash for relief’ program, to encourage a spirit of mutual help among the victims, to rebuild their community together. When everyone cleans up the damage, they can see hope.

“We held on for three days. Now we see you coming, our eyes are full of tears.” In Taitong city, the foundation set out 28 routes for the volunteers. They brought with them the concern of Tzu Chi members around the world. They brought this concern to about 1,300 households, on the south side of Zhonghua Road, on both sides of Zhengqi Road, Baosan Road, Fuxing Road, Xinsheng Road, Datong Road, Zhongzheng Road, Siwei Road, Xinyi Road and Tiehua Road. They brought blessings to those who had been terrified by the typhoon.

During the visits, the volunteers enquired about the losses and living conditions of each family in order to estimate what cash aid and bag of daily necessities to give them. Those who had been moderately affected received NT$10,000: those more seriously affected NT$20,000: and those who find it difficult to live NT$30,000. In addition to distributing these items, the volunteers read out a letter of blessing from Master Cheng Yen, to give them the strength of stability and the confidence to rebuild their homes and community.

Nepartak hit not only Taitung City but also Taimali county, The situation of many residents is extremely serious. The volunteers went to Taihe, Meihe, Sanhe and Xianglan villages. The damage to the village of Xianglan was very serious, so the volunteers organized a ‘cash for work’ program. Village chief Xiao Hui-ming asked the victims to work together, pool their energy and rebuild their community.

Today the program in Xianglan village involved about 60 of the affected villagers, their ages ranging from nine to 83, young children and elderly people. One was a grandmother whose home was destroyed and whose children are working away from the village; she had given up hope and could not bear to look at the ruins of her house. But today, when she saw the arrival of the Tzu Chi volunteers encouraging and caring for the villagers to clean up together, she said happily: “I am not going to leave. I will stay here and continue to clean up with everyone else.”

The villagers appointed a team leader to be in charge of the team. Homes are destroyed and six hectares of arable land and trees devastated. The team worked out a plan to clear the roads and to work as efficiently as possible. Many of the residents work on the land and see how the typhoon has almost entirely destroyed their crops. But, when they see everyone in the village working together, they feel and full of confidence in restoring their home place to what it was before.