Stationed in Kaohsiung, Pan flew on rescue helicopters over his hometown of Namasiya Township (那瑪夏), Kaohsiung County, but he was unable to get there because of his assignment to other disaster areas. It was not until one week after the disaster struck that he had a chance to return home.
He seemed to have come to terms with desolation when he talked about the loss of his family members.
“As a soldier, my priority is to do the job I am told. It is an obligation that I cannot decline,” he said. “If there is one more person contributing to the relief effort, there is more power.”
Sergeant Tsao Pei-chi (曹沛淇) was one of the soldiers sent to the Aboriginal community of Sinkai (新開) in Liouguei Township (六龜), Kaohsiung County, to help recover bodies buried under mudslides.
To call attention to their plight during rescue efforts in the wake of the disaster, mudslide victims put up a cardboard sign reading “32 people killed, SOS.”
The image was broadcast on TV and published the front pages of newspapers.
Tsao said she and four other female colleagues requested to go to Sinkai two weeks into the disaster.
“We thought if men could do it, we could do it too,” the 21-year-old said.
She said she did not think twice when they were asked to sniff out the bodies with their noses. The unconventional approach, however, was scrapped the next day following public outcry and was later replaced with more scientific means.
Tsao said she did not feel moral suffering or lose sleep because she was well prepared before she took on the mission.
“I just told myself not to think too much and that I was there to do my job,” she said.
Deputy commander of the land force Lee Ching-kuo (李清國) said they sent more than 1,000 soldiers and 40 heavy machines to Sinkai. The excavation project consisted of two stages, the first one focusing on exhuming more than 4 hectares of land. During the second stage, they dug at spots requested by families, he said.
Lee, who also participated in the rescue operations after the 921 Earthquake, said the devastation caused by the 1999 quake could not rival that caused by Morakot because the two disasters were completely different.
“The catastrophe caused by Morakot was the combination of the 921 Earthquake, 87 Flooding [of 1959], foot-and-mouth disease and H1N1 [swine flu],” he said, adding that the area affected by Morakot was bigger, rainfall was heavier and the response was slower.
Lee said he entered the Morakot disaster area on Aug. 8 and completed the mission on Sept. 30. He was also involved in the pre-emptive deployment of military personnel ahead of Tropical Storm Parma earlier this month. During his two-month involvement in relief work, Lee said he lost 4kg.
RSS