Several days ago, the Hualien Tzu Chi Hospital received a touching letter. Ryoichi Shirai, the father of a Japanese cyclist named Hiroyuki Shirai who met with a fatal accident during a visit to Taiwan last year, expressed his gratitude to the Taiwanese, and donated 200,000 Japanese yen to the Buddhist Compassion Relief Tzu Chi Foundation.
Hiroyuki was struck during a rock fall in Hualien’s Taroko Gorge in September, and was rushed to the Hualien Tzu Chi Hospital, where he passed away. Cyclists in Hualien escorted a van taking the Shirai family to the train station to bid farewell, and to accompany Hiroyuki on his final journey.
Following the recent major earthquake in Hualien, Hiroyuki’s father Ryoichi not only expressed his own sadness at the news of the quake, sending his best wishes to the hospital on several occasions via Teizo Miyazaki, director of the Shizuoka Prefecture Taiwan Office in Japan, he also remitted 200,000 Japanese yen to convey his sympathy and best regards.
Photo courtesy of the Tzu Chi Foundation
照片：慈濟醫院提供
(CNA, translated by Paul Cooper)
花蓮慈濟醫院日前收到一封洋蔥信，去年來台意外身故的日籍單車騎士白井寬之的父親白井良一 ，感謝國人協助，並捐出二十萬日圓給慈濟基金會。
白井寬之去年九月在花蓮太魯閣遭落石擊中，經花蓮慈濟醫院急救後仍不幸過世。花蓮車友用騎單車的方式，護送白井一家人抵達火車站致意道別，陪伴白井寬之最後一程。
這次花蓮發生強震，白井寬之的父親白井良一不僅表達自己對花蓮震災的不捨與難過，多次透過日本靜岡縣駐台辦事處長宮崎悌三向花蓮慈濟醫院表達關心，並匯二十萬日幣表達慰問心意。 （中央社）
“Beep—beep—beep.” Your phone roars in the dead of night and wakes you up. Adrenaline surges as a low rumble shakes the pictures on the nightstand. Panic threatens, but you remember the earthquake drill you practiced. You drop to the ground, take cover under your desk, and hold on tight. Though the shaking intensifies, relief washes over you because you knew it was coming thanks to the warning. How do we get these precious seconds before an earthquake hits? Enter earthquake early warning systems, life-saving tools that provide a crucial head start for taking cover or evacuating. Operating through a network of
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