Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Huang Chao-shun (黃昭順) yesterday announced a plan to organize a New Year party for the survivors of the destruction of Siaolin Village (小林) in Kaohsiung County, which was leveled by Typhoon Morakot in August.
“The typhoon devastated the village, but Siaolin’s villagers are not alone because we stand by them,” she said. “It is important to continue providing care to the Siaolin villagers, who are still suffering immense pain at the turn of the year — their first New Year since the tragedy.”
Huang, who was elected from a constituency in Kaohsiung, said she and some 30 volunteer workers from colleges and universities in the south, in collaboration with a self-assistance group of villagers, would organize the party at the village on New Year’s Eve.
“We hope to help the survivors and their families wave goodbye to the sorrow and embrace a better New Year in a warm atmosphere,” she said, adding that “there will be no celebrities or fireworks, but we will stage a concert, a barbecue and a night campfire for them.”
Huang said she would also donate children’s books collected from the public.
“We hope Siaolin’s children can find solace and a new lease on life from these books and welcome the New Year with confidence and strength,” she said.
More than 600 people in Siaolin were buried alive in a landslide triggered by Morakot, making the village the hardest-hit area in the country.
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