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Selfless few help many in need

Silt brought by flooding, as well as pollution and the risk of contagious diseases brought by massive piles of garbage, are major challenges facing the government. PHOTO: GEORGE TSORNG, TAIPEI TIMES

On the evening of Sept. 16, Yeh Hu-lung (葉胡龍) called his grandmother in Chunghua County, telling her that he would bring home some crabs the following day, since he had a two-day vacation coming and crab was one of her favorite foods.

Three days later, his bloated body was found in the third basement level of a building in Sanchung, Taipei County.

Yeh was one of 56 fire fighters from the Taipei County Fire Department in Sanchung dispatched to help in relief efforts after Typhoon Nari swept through northern and central Taiwan.

He was the only one who failed to come back alive.

Typhoon Nari, which hovered over Taiwan between Sept. 16 and Sept. 19, caused the worst flooding in northern Taiwan's history and killed 90 people.

During and after the 73-hour deluge, many were called in to help in rescue and evacuation efforts. The National Fire Administration reports that none of the over 24,000 people that called for help were lost. But many remain in peril, and emergency crews continue on the job.

A cleanup worker grabs a moment of rest yesterday in the seemingly endless work of clearing away garbage left in the wake of Typhoon Nari. PHOTO: GEORGE TSORNG, TAIPEI TIMES

`A great hero'

Outside the Sanchung fire department, Yeh's colleagues have constructed a shrine where people can pay tribute to the nine-year firefighting veteran.

Yeh had just passed a national examination which qualified him to become an administrator when a slot became available. Unfortunately, the 30-year-old didn't live to see his promotion or his two young children grow up.

Yeh was called back on duty the night of Sept. 16 to rescue a senior citizen trapped in a building on Chingshan Road in Sanchung. He and another firefighter went to the scene in an inflatable boat, but before they could reach the person they sought, they and the boat were washed away by a flash flood.

His partner, a 21-year-old from Pingtung County, was too traumatized to talk about the accident.

"I think he needs a little time to get over it," said Wu Te-sheng (吳德盛), one of Yeh's colleagues.

Wu said that he remembered Yeh as a gregarious individual.

"He loved tea and liked to make friends. Five or six of us would find time to sit down, chat, drink tea, and take it easy during breaks," Wu said, pointing to Yeh's personal set of teapots and cups.

Wu said he remembered Yeh filling out forms for the intensive training program after passing the national exam the morning of the accident.

"I remember how he told me he had to pay NT$300 for the training. No one would've believed this would happen to him," he said.

Sitting outside the shrine was Yeh's aunt who helped raise him for six years after his mother remarried and abandoned him at the age of six.

"I raised him like one of my own," said the 60-year-old. "He got along well with my three children."

Yeh's father died four months after Yeh was born. Yeh was the first and only child in the family. He remained under the care of his grandmother after leaving his aunt and graduating from elementary school.

"We didn't dare tell my mother when we learned of his death," the aunt said. "I was worried like hell the moment I knew he was missing. Because I cannot read, I paid close attention to the news reports on TV and waited for the telephone call."

Three days of waiting finally ended with the sight of Yeh's bloated body.

Feeding her two-year-old son in the shade next to her husband's shrine Friday morning, Lu Yi-chun (盧依君) paid close attention to her four-year-old son playing under the blue sky.

"They're too young to know what happened," she said, putting a spoonful of food into her younger son's mouth. "I want them to remember that their father was a great hero who risked his life to save others."

Lu described her late husband as a loving father and a caring spouse.

Tough times

"He did a good job as a father, a husband, and a firefighter. He shouldn't have been taken from us at such a young age," she said.

But grieving won't help solve the problem, she added.

"The most important thing for me at the moment is to organize his funeral. Then the next thing will be to find a job," said Lu, a fulltime housewife.

A data processing major in college, Lu said that she anticipates spending time finding a decent-paying job.

"I know it's a tough time and good jobs are hard to find, but I'm willing to do anything," she said.

To help the family better cope with the disaster, Lu's brother-in-law, who is a firefighter in a different section of the county, said that he is launching a donation drive.

The family is eligible for a NT$7 million consolation pension because Yeh was killed in the line of duty.

The family would also receive an annual pension of NT$220,000 for 20 years.

"You know that's simply not enough," he said.

It was Friday afternoon, two days after Typhoon Nari left Taiwan. Sergeant Chung Hsing-han (張興漢), a member of the Taipei municipal military police corps, was leading 90 of his men in cleaning up mountains of waterlogged furniture and garbage piling up along Kuangfu South Road, Sec. 1, in Taipei City's Sungshan District.

Cleanup continues

Chung and his group were part of the 4,500 soldiers mobilized to help in the city's first-wave of post-typhoon cleaning, which began at 10pm on Sept. 20 and was to last until 6am this morning.

During the four-day operation, traffic controls were imposed in areas of Neihu, Nankang, Chung-shan, Sungshan and Hsinyi districts to speed the removal of the estimated 100,000 tonnes of garbage dumped on city streets and alleys.

On the first day of the operation, more than 25,000 tonnes of garbage was collected. The city's average daily garbage volume is 1,800 tonnes.

The city plans to finish cleaning up 70 percent of the total amount of trash by yesterday and 90 percent by today.

Watching his men carrying large garbage bags on to a military truck, Chung suddenly shouted out "put on your raincoats." The light rain quickly became a downpour.

"It's exhausting, but it's our job," he said, with a wink and went right back to work.

This was Chung's fourth day of relief efforts. He and his men have been working in two eight-hour shifts a day.

Team effort

Waiting in a military truck queued up outside the municipal baseball stadium, Corporal Chen Wen-chun (陳文俊) said that it was his third truckload of the day.

"It's going pretty slowly because there are only three backhoes for us to unload the garbage," he said, adding that there were about 30 trucks provided by the military and private gravel companies to help clean up the Sungshan District.

One of the roads leading to the Shanchuku landfill was blocked. Instead of spending four hours driving to and from the site, Chen said he was told to dump the refuse at a temporary transport site in the baseball stadium. The city is scheduled to clean it up today.

Chen, who was also involved with relief efforts after last year's Typhoon Xangsane, said that although he was glad to help, he felt the Taipei public took it for granted.

"The people of Taipei seem a little bit ungrateful to me, compared to people elsewhere," said the 21 year old from Pingtung County who joined relief efforts on Thursday.

In addition to support from the military, municipal clean-up teams and private gravel truck companies also pitched in to help.

Liang Hung-lang (梁宏郎), interim chief of the Nankang District clean-up squad, was called in to fill in for the incumbent team captain on Sept. 19. After working for two days straight he had fallen ill.

Liang, whose day started at 8am and concluded at around 3 or 4am the following morning, said that although he felt exhausted after working such long hours, he felt obliged to serve the public, especially during a time of disaster.

"We are, after all, civil servants," he said.

Liang's job is to assign over 20 municipal garbage trucks and 40 private gravel trucks to transport garbage collected in the Nankang District to the Nankang commercial park, the other temporary transport site.

Gravel truck driver Chang Chin-hui (張錦輝) from Miaoli County was one of the five truck drivers coming to Sungshan District's rescue on Thursday.

He and the four others were taking turns showering at the municipal Physical Education College, which is next to the baseball stadium, on Friday evening.

"We don't come here to get paid more, and we don't get paid more anyway.

"We come here because we know we have to do something to help other people," said Chang, who has been driving gravel trucks between Miaoli and Hsinchu Counties for six years.

Wu Hsiu-lan (吳秀蘭), a desk clerk at the Hsinyi District clean-up squadron, said that she has been working for 17 hours a day since Sept. 17.

Wu's job is to find as many gravel trucks and bulldozers as possible for the squadron.

"We have gravel trucks coming from as far as Taichung. We also have four bulldozers coming from Miaoli County," she said.

As of yesterday, Wu said she has garnered 150 vehicles and 300 people to help.

"I'm still worried that we won't be able to finish the job on Sunday as required by the mayor. If that's the case, I might as well jump out of the window since it's the best we can do," she said.

As soon as the relief program ends, Wu said, she plans to take a long vacation, probably as long as a month.
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