20130922戒慎防災‧虔誠齋戒Continuing Typhoon Preparedness, Being Vegetarian to Prevent Disasters
These few days, we keep hearing news of Typhoon Usagi. It started out as a tropical storm, developed into a typhoon and then turned into a strong typhoon. As the typhoon intensified, the worries in our heart deepened, making it feel as if time crept by slowly, dragging on for a long time.During peaceful times, we feel time flies by very fast. But for the whole day yesterday, I felt it was very long. This difference in feeling is due to our state of mind. The weather bureau reported that Usagi is the second strongest typhoon to hit Taiwan in the past 20 years with a wind force of 17 on the Beaufort scale.
It made me remember the year when the typhoons Haitang and Longwang hit Taiwan with a wind force of 16. The wind was so strong that I remember, that year, our Tzu Chi primary and secondary schools sustained damages including fallen trees. So it worries us to hear that this typhoon has a wind force of 17. When we were designing our buildings, I told the architect that since Hualien experiences so many typhoons and earthquakes, our buildings must be able to withstand these. The architect said:” I’ve designed it to withstand a wind force of 15”. I asked, ”A wind force of 15, is that enough?” He replied, ”Force 16 winds are very rare”. Force 17 winds have been measured this time.
Think about it, how could I not be worried? The weather bureau has forecasted heavy rain on top of the strong winds. In the Hualien-Taitung area alone, according to the forecast, there might be up to 1.100 mm of rain. Seeing this number is truly frightening. But we are truly fortunate that the strongest winds did not make landfall. We really must be grateful for this.
Yet, this typhoon has effected Luzon Island in the Philippines, causing landslides and other damages.
In Taiwan, some areas are flooded, but most people are safe and well. However, the rain continues to come down hard. So everyone still needs to stay on high alert. If there’s no need to go out, it’s best to stay indoors, and do not travel on mountain roads.Safety should be our priority. Being safe is being blessed. As long as people are safe and well, things will be all right.
Such a strong typhoon, makes me recall the August 7 floods of 1959, which truly caused widespread disaster. At the time, I was in my twenties, I was in Fengyuan and could feel the impact suffered by central and southern Taiwan as most homes even in the cities were still made of mudbricks which collapsed after being submerged in floodwaters. Even in the downtown areas, many buildings were destroyed. Many people also died.
The exactly 50 years later, Typhoon Morakot of 2009 caused severe flooding in southern Taiwan. There was a mass mobilization of Tzu Chi volunteers across Taiwan with groups travelling daily via high-speed rail to help with the disaster cleanup effort. Also, professors, businesspeople, actors and diplomats in Taiwan went with Tzu Chi volunteers to participate in the cleanup.
We also brought in construction machinery to help with the cleanup. When these machines were being transported on the expressway, it made for an impressive sight, as there were dozens of machines all in a row moving on the expressway with Tzu Chi banner waving in the wind. Later, we built Great Love Villages for the disaster survivors, and the first batch of 700 homes in Shanlin were completed in 88 days, ready in time for people to move in by the Chinese New Year. It was a record-breaking achievement. The Great Love Village is now a prosperous community.
It was good thing these people had relocated. Now, when there are typhoons bringing heavy rain, like this one, we can rest assured they’ll be safe. Though streams still overflow and mudslides still happen, yet now that they aren’t living in the mountains anymore, they are much safer. We should always love and respect Mother Nature with a heart of gratitude.
With the climate going into the extremes, as the result of human’s activities, we need to heighten our alertness and wake up to the lessons that alarming disasters are trying to teach us. Humanity needs to awaken now. With life so short, why create so many problems and disasters in our world?
I hope people can abide by their proper roles and responsibilities and live a simple life without being wasteful.
We should be very grateful that this typhoon Usagi passed Taiwan with its center and strongest winds remaining at sea. So we should not underestimate the severity of this typhoon and think that the forecast is off as we don’t see much rain or wind happening in our areas and then let down our guard. We must not do this. We should harbor a grateful heart and believe in the accuracy of scientific forecasts. We are just lucky and blessed that the typhoon veered a bit south, which allowed us to be much safer. So, we should continue to be prepared vigilant and sincerely pious.
Also, a few days ago, we saw that in Mexico, two hurricanes made landfall on opposite coasts on the same day. Now there is another potential Storm coming. So, the people in Mexico are very worried now. Actually we in Taiwan should be on guard as well because there is another tropical cyclone following behind Usagi. Currently, it is forecasted to head north toward Japan. Despite the forecast, we should still be on high alert and be sincere and prudent. I also hope everyone in Japan will be safe. That’ll be even better.
So for the welfare of ourselves and the world, it’s best that we eat vegetarian every day. Being a vegetarian is our best way to reduce natural disasters and to protect Mother Nature by reducing pollution and carbon emissions from meat production. We really need to be sincerely pious.
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