For Hsu Jen-hui (徐仁輝) and Hsu Jen-ming (徐仁明), the road home on Aug. 7 was a long one.
On the eve of Father’s Day, held on Aug. 8 in Taiwan, they received a telephone call from home saying that their grandmother was critically ill. The two brothers, who are serving in the military, asked for a leave of absence from their units and readied to go home. However, the highway leading home was blocked by mudslides caused by Typhoon Morakot, which began lashing Taiwan on the same day. They were not able to say goodbye to their grandmother, who died the following day.
On Aug. 9, news of the disaster began to appear on TV, but they saw no reports about their hometown of Jiamu Village (佳暮), a mountainous settlement in Wutai Township (霧台), Pingtung County.
When they called their cousin, Lai Meng-chuan (賴孟傳), he told them that the torrential rain had caused the mountain to collapse, leading to landslides that cut off roads and bridges.
Worried about their parents and community, the two brothers reported the situation to the southern disaster response center and asked for assistance.
On Aug. 10, the two brothers and their cousin embarked on the journey home despite the bad weather. They set off at 4am, bringing medical supplies for chronic illnesses, generators and daily necessities. They first drove, then rode bicycles and then walked because of the bad road conditions.
When they reached Ila settlement at around 7am, they were asked to help in the search for five villagers buried alive by mudslides. The search went on until that afternoon, but turned up nothing.
The weather improved on Aug. 11 and helicopters were sent out to search for survivors. The county attempted to airlift Jiamu residents from the isolated village, but found out that there was no landing pad for rescue helicopters.
The two brothers, natives of the Rukai Aboriginal tribe, who the military trained in jungle warfare and outdoor survival skills, requested to be airlifted to Jiamu so they could help build a landing pad.
The relocation effort, which saved the lives of 72 tribal members, took three days to complete. The two brothers and their cousin were the first rescuers to arrive and the last to leave. They were each awarded a medal by President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) on Thursday for their heroic deeds, among a total of 60 soldiers and military officers.
Morakot brought more than a year’s worth of rainfall in just a few days, triggering the most serious flooding and mudslides in 50 years. Fatalities from the disaster were at least 700. The military came under fire for responding too slowly to the disaster. Although Ma is the commander-in-chief of the armed forces, then-minister of national defense Chen Chao-min (陳肇敏) took the heat and later resigned.
Aside from their military duties, the 34-year-old Hsu Jen-hui and 30-year-old Hsu Jen-ming are members of the Retired Paratrooper Association and Mountain Calamity Relief Association.
Asked to describe how they felt about receiving the award, the 34-year-old said he and his brother felt the honor should go to the entire army. As for what kept them going during the crisis, he said they simply wanted to go home.
Marine Sergeant first class Pan Kuo-ching (潘國清) lost his father, brother, grandparents and 30 other family members in the disaster.
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