Charities and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have begun to help clean up areas that suffered major damage from flooding and landslides triggered by Typhoon Morakot last weekend.
Dharma Drum Mountain Social Welfare and Charity Foundation, the Tzu Chi Foundation and the Eden Social Welfare Foundation have taken the lead in organizing volunteers to help as floodwaters began to recede.
Dharma Drum, a Buddhist charity foundation, has targeted the Pingtung County coastal towns of Linbian (林邊) and Jiadong (佳冬). Groups of eight volunteers were led at dawn by masters from Dharma Drum Monastery in cleaning debris and shattered houses in the towns.
Volunteers, who made their way to disaster areas at their own expense, also formed investigation teams to survey the area and determine the needs of residents.
The foundation said that by clearing the typhoon wreckage, it was also clearing the minds of the disaster victims and helping lift away their heavy spirits caused by the disaster.
It began sending drinking water, sleeping bags, lunch boxes and flashlights to shelters on Saturday, helping 15,000 people.
The Tzu Chi Foundation, another Buddhist charity organization, appealed to volunteers to join their local cleanup team and said residents in Tainan, Kaohsiung and Pingtung counties could sign up at the foundation’s meditation halls.
It has recruited 15,000 volunteers to help distribute more than 200,000 hot lunches through Tuesday to disaster victims. It also plans to dole out grants ranging from NT$5,000 to NT$10,000 to help 12,000 households.
The Eden Social Welfare Foundation said it had deployed professional volunteers to disaster areas since the typhoon hit to provide counseling and prepare the victims to rebuild their homes. It is also organizing clean-up crews.
Meanwhile, the Child Welfare League Foundation said yesterday it has implemented a plan to help children who lost their parents in the typhoon and its aftermath.
League representatives have already visited a temple in Kaohsiung County serving as a makeshift shelter for flood victims, bringing with them stationery and toys to comfort the children there.
The group’s social workers and volunteers will visit the children at temporary shelters to help them cope with their stress and grief, in addition to hosting day camps for other children affected by the typhoon to ease the burden on their parents.
It will also provide long-term care and school sponsorship for the children until they reach the age of majority.
“Children who have encountered calamity suffer physiologically,” said Alice Wang, executive director of the league.
“Because of the psychological impact, they will experience fear, anxiety and nightmares and will need the companionship of adults,” Wang said.
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