Hualien Flood Survivors Cling to Hope Amid Disaster Recovery

TaiwanPlus News

A little over a week has passed since flash floods swept through Guangfu Township in Hualien, eastern Taiwan. Today, survivors continue working to rebuild their homes while holding on to hope.

Transcript

00:00Thank you. Bye, bye, bye, bye.

00:02Encouraging each other with smiles,

00:05though sadness weighs heavily on their hearts.

00:0839-year-old Gulasumu is among the thousands of residents

00:12devastated by recent flash floods in Hualien in eastern Taiwan.

00:16An estimated 68 million tons of water surged through the region

00:21when a mountain dam burst, leaving at least 18 people dead,

00:26more than 100 injured, and several still missing.

00:29While thousands were displaced.

00:32That time only my father was at home.

00:35As the water came in and came to the street,

00:39everyone realized it was very dangerous.

00:41So my father would be able to go to the mountain.

00:44Despite not being in Matahan village when it was inundated,

00:48Gulasumu wasted no time returning home to help his community,

00:53contacting whoever he could to bring back resources.

00:56The disaster struck after Typhoon Ragusa brought intense rainfall

01:00to that part of Taiwan in late September.

01:03This overflowed a natural dam that had formed in the mountains earlier this year.

01:08Many locals were unprepared for the wall of water,

01:11as the area was not in the storm's direct path.

01:13Over a week after the incident,

01:16the area remains ravaged,

01:18with homes buried under mud,

01:20and people's belongings washed away.

01:22And for some, friends and family were lost.

01:35From small to small, I was a child of the village of the village.

01:42I would see that I would breathe a lot of tears.

01:47Really.

01:49And even this time, my mother and grandmother,

01:52because of the wind,

01:53and the wind was running away.

01:55It was also running away.

01:56It was impossible to escape.

01:57Thousands of first responders, soldiers and medical staff

02:06from around the country were deployed to the area

02:09to begin rescue and recovery efforts.

02:12And within days, huge groups of volunteers started appearing.

02:21These volunteers pulled on boots, grabbed shovels and got to work.

02:27But the residents of the area were very happy,

02:29and they were more afraid of them.

02:31And then we just moved here.

02:34I'm from Tunisia, North Africa.

02:36So I live in Taoyuan, and I've been in Taiwan here for seven years.

02:41When I first saw the news, I felt like the need to come and help.

02:45So, yeah, it's common sense to do that.

02:50Yet, the tragedy was not entirely unexpected.

02:54Experts had been watching the natural dam for months.

02:57Drafting Response Plans.

02:58This is a great threat of a great threat of a great threat.

03:03It's like a non-stop explosion.

03:05Basically, we're going to go through our plans.

03:11And at the time of the pandemic, we're able to manage the very long time.

03:15Basically, we're going to go towards the forest of the flood.

03:19But this forest of the forest of the forest of the flood,

03:23It's probably the first time it's been in Taiwan.

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