A troupe of amateur actors from Nantou County’s Puli Township (埔里) are to stage tomorrow a re-enactment of some of the events that took place during the 921 Earthquake to mark the 19th anniversary of the disaster, Jhuzaishan Community (珠仔山) management council director Huang Chi-jui (黃啟瑞) said.
The play demonstrates the raw emotions and difficult decisions people felt or made during the earthquake, Huang said.
A scene shows a man realizing that he has lost his wife before losing his career and another shows a survivor trying to decide whether to stay behind and help trapped children, Huang said, adding that the play shows the best and worst of human nature during the distribution of disaster relief.
Photo courtesy of Huang Chi-jui
The play is being put on by community residents and is the only one in a series of commemorative events that was created without outside help, Huang said.
All the actors are amateurs, “but re-enacting that terrible night needed no training,” Huang said, adding that many Puli residents were driven to tears while watching rehearsals.
This year, Sept. 21 is only three days from Mid-Autumn Festival, just as it was in 1999, a resident said, adding that the community had been preparing for the festival when the earthquake struck.
The Puli Township Office has planned several other commemorative events.
A vigil is to be held at Changcing Village (長青) until 1:47am, the time the quake struck in 1999, the office said.
The New Homeland Foundation is holding a commemorative concert at the Paper Dome facility, it said.
About 16 communities in the township are hosting a joint exhibition on community development at the Puli Township Culture and Arts Center, the office added.
The magnitude 7.6 quake struck 9.2km southwest of Sun Moon Lake (日月潭) near Jiji Township (集集) at a depth of 8km and hit. It killed 2,456 people and injured 10,718, and caused property damage of about NT$300 billion (US$9.74 billion at current exchange rate).
It was the second-deadliest quake in Taiwan after the 1935 Hsinchu-Taichung earthquake that killed 3,276 people.
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