20160709 - 強颱輕受應感恩 Super Typhoon: Mitigating Disasters with Acts of Love and Kindness
Super Typhoon: Mitigating Disasters with Acts of Love and Kindness
Typhoon Nepartak landed in Taimali of Taitung County in Taiwan with winds of 234km/h.
Such a powerful wind devastated many families in Taitung, but overall, the situation was safe.
When people are safe, everything else will be fine.
A Tzu Chi volunteer also suffered damages to her home but after a quick fix and cleanup, she returned to her volunteer post in Taitung Tzu Chi office to set up the typhoon disaster response and relief center to care for others in need.
Local volunteer coordinators have suffered various degrees of damages to their homes, but they let go of their personal needs at home to go to and clean up the local Tzu Chi office.
They have rotated in shifts to serve people’s needs when disaster damages are reported or when volunteers go out in teams for community outreach.
Local volunteers have begun to deliver care. We keep receiving updates about the typhoon.
Currently in Hualien and Taitung, Tzu Chi has several school rebuilding projects for disaster mitigation going on.
Therefore, Tzu Chi’s staff told me yesterday that Dharma masters form the Abode would go south to Taitung with the staff to the disaster area.
They set off to Taitung early this morning a little after 5 A.M. for disaster relief.
We see that this super typhoon brought only minimum damages. Because of the path it traveled, northern and western Taiwan have been spared damages.
As the typhoon turned south before landfall, its strength weakened.
Yesterday, the typhoon was further weakened by Taiwan’s mountainous terrain.
So, although it brought rains and wind to Pingtung and Kaohsiung, it should not cause severe damages.
This is something that we need to be grateful for and be very glad about.
Of course, there are housing damages. In south Taitung, around the area of Taimali, many houses are damaged though people are relatively safe.
Although Taiwan has suffered damages, it escaped from serious damages on the whole.
Therefore, we have to be grateful for this. We need to be grateful that Taiwan has blessings so that this super typhoon caused minimal damage.
Overall, the whole island of Taiwan has survived the typhoon safely.
We see many people with love who carried out good deeds with dedication.
An owner of a golf and country club told his general manager to open its door to senior citizens and disadvantaged families who were in need of a temporary evacuation shelter so that they could have a safe and secure place to stay.
See, people with love have taken action to help. This is what the public need to do.
We must remind everyone that good deeds can mitigate disasters. When people carry out their acts of love, this love can avert many disasters.
With people’s kindness and love, we can slow down the impact brought on by the climate changes.
This is the reason why this super typhoon did not impact Taiwan severely. We truly must be very grateful.
We must also remember to be grateful to those who took precautionary measures against the typhoon prior to its arrival.
Many of them risked their own safety; some climbed up very high to prune tree branches before the typhoon.
Also, we need to be grateful to the technicians who climbed up electricity poles in the middle of the night to restore power because the typhoon had caused a power outage, allowing us to return to our normal life sooner.
We must be grateful to these unsung heroes for their silent contributions that went on unacknowledged.
Whether it’s before or after the typhoon, there are many people who risk their lives to serve the community.
We should be grateful to people who contribute and serve in each and every area within our society.
Take the staff of Tzu Chi missions for example, they’ve also remained committed to their jobs under all circumstances. TV news reporters had gone against inclement weather to report news on Typhoon Nepartak in order to keep the public informed of the latest updates and raise people’s awareness of the typhoon.
Even though I repeatedly tell out Da Ai TV reporters that if the winds are too strong and the rain too heavy, don’t take the risk.
They have always replied that they would be very careful.
As a matter of fact, without their commitments, we could not have known and seen how strong and powerful the typhoon was, what damages have the typhoon brought us, and what places and areas have been hit hard.
(The reason we can get news) is that news reporters from Da Ai TV as well as reporters from other TV stations go to high-risk places for covering news.
So, even though we worry about them, we also need them to perform this job.
In a modern world, to see and hear what goes on in the world clearly requires news services.
Medical workers are the same. They stand on the front line to respond to the typhoon.
We have to be grateful for these first responders.
We also have to be grateful that most people are safe and well after this typhoon.
After the news about typhoon updates, some people complained that the weather forecast was not accurate.
The government declared a day off from work without storm or rain.
Some people thought this interrupted their work. Some questioned the reason for students to have a day off without storm or rain. People had complaints.
They should not complain in fact, they should turn their complaints into gratitude.
Being safe is most important. Taiwan’s weather forecast is accurate about this typhoon, from its speed, structure, its eye, location, and size to its rapid development.
We, in Taiwan, have to be really grateful for this typhoon’s landing point and path, because, as a result, the damages it has caused has been minimized.
We should be grateful for this and not accuse.
We should be grateful that Taiwan is blessed with kindhearted people.
We have to inspire more kindness and love, so that there will be more kind and loving people.
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