Taiwanese band Mayday (五月天) has announced plans to perform in Hualien County following an earthquake measuring 7.2 on the Richter scale that struck the county on April 3.
At the end of a charity concert in Quanzhou, China, on Saturday night, the band announced that its next show would be in Hualien, which has also had hundreds of aftershocks.
Many Hualien residents, left messages on Mayday’s Facebook page to express their gratitude.
Photo: Screen grab from Mayday’s Facebook page
“Thank you. Hualien needs this,” one message read.
“Willing to come to Hualien when we need it most. Thank you, Mayday,” another said.
Hualien Hotel Association President Chang Hsuan-han (張琄菡), a Mayday fan, yesterday said the announcement was exciting news among many recent frustrations, including five hotel buildings that have been listed as dangerous.
Hualien County Commissioner Hsu Chen-wei (徐榛蔚) extended a warm welcome to the band.
The Hualien Research and Administration Department said it has not received information about Mayday’s concert, but thanked everyone who has helped Hualien, adding that the county government would provide the band with the necessary assistance to hold a concert.
Mayday earlier this month donated NT$5 million (US$153,563) for disaster relief after the earthquake.
In 2015, the band also held a charity concert in the area most heavily hit by a gas explosion in Kaohsiung.
Separately, earthquake relief donations from the public had reached NT$1.4 billion as of 8am yesterday, the Taiwan Foundation for Disaster Relief said.
The money would be used to assist in the areas affected by the quake, with a focus on emergency medical care, shelter and reconstruction, said the foundation, which falls under the Ministry of Health and Welfare.
The donation drive is set to end at midnight on Friday, it said, adding that online fundraising platform WaBay would stop accepting donations at midnight tomorrow, while Line Pay would close its donation platform at midnight on Thursday.
TPP RALLY: The clashes occurred near the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall on Saturday at a rally to mark the anniversary of a raid on former TPP chairman Ko Wen-je People who clashed with police at a Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) rally in Taipei on Saturday would be referred to prosecutors for investigation, said the Ministry of the Interior, which oversees the National Police Agency. Taipei police had collected evidence of obstruction of public officials and coercion by “disorderly” demonstrators, as well as contraventions of the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法), the ministry said in a statement on Sunday. It added that amid the “severe pushing and jostling” by some demonstrators, eight police officers were injured, including one who was sent to hospital after losing consciousness, allegedly due to heat stroke. The Taipei
NO LIVERPOOL TRIP: Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting, who won a gold medal in the boxing at the Paris Olympics, was embroiled in controversy about her gender at that event Taiwanese boxer Lin Yu-ting (林郁婷) will not attend this year’s World Boxing Championships in Liverpool, England, due to a lack of response regarding her sex tests from the organizer, World Boxing. The national boxing association on Monday said that it had submitted all required tests to World Boxing, but had not received a response as of Monday, the departure day for the championships. It said the decision for Lin to skip the championships was made to protect its athletes, ensuring they would not travel to the UK without a guarantee of participation. Lin, who won a gold medal in the women’s 57kg boxing
‘NOT ALONE’: A Taiwan Strait war would disrupt global trade routes, and could spark a worldwide crisis, so a powerful US presence is needed as a deterrence, a US senator said US Senator Deb Fischer on Thursday urged her colleagues in the US Congress to deepen Washington’s cooperation with Taiwan and other Indo-Pacific partners to contain the global security threat from China. Fischer and other lawmakers recently returned from an official trip to the Indo-Pacific region, where they toured US military bases in Hawaii and Guam, and visited leaders, including President William Lai (賴清德). The trip underscored the reality that the world is undergoing turmoil, and maintaining a free and open Indo-Pacific region is crucial to the security interests of the US and its partners, she said. Her visit to Taiwan demonstrated ways the
The US has revoked Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) authorization to freely ship essential gear to its main Chinese chipmaking base, potentially curtailing its production capabilities at that older-generation facility. American officials recently informed TSMC of their decision to end the Taiwanese chipmaker’s so-called validated end user (VEU) status for its Nanjing site. The action mirrors steps the US took to revoke VEU designations for China facilities owned by Samsung Electronics Co and SK Hynix Inc. The waivers are set to expire in about four months. “TSMC has received notification from the US Government that our VEU authorization for TSMC Nanjing