A letter from Kaohsiung arrived at our offices in Taipei yesterday, addressed to "International Community, Earthquake Rescue Teams." Inside was a card, with a brief message in Chinese addressed to all the members of the overseas rescue teams that came to Taiwan to help in post-quake search-and-rescue efforts.
The message read: "Thank you for caring about Taiwan. We in Kaohsiung just want to say we were moved and touched by your generosity and hard work. Even though we could not help out ourselves here in Kaohsiung, we saw your faces on TV and in the newspapers. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts."
The notecard was signed by 28 residents of Kaohsiung, including Kuo Chih-fu, Ho Hsiu-hsia, Lin Che-shih, Tsai Hsiang-ju and Wu Chien-hung, among others.
Le Monde, le story
"Le tremblement de terre secoue la press de Taiwan," blared a recent headline in Le Monde, France's prestigious newspaper. ("The 921 earthquake shakes the press of Taiwan," might be an apt translation.) The
feature story about Le Taipei Times was written by reporter Francis Deron, who by coincidence arrived in Taiwan on the day of the earthquake. The subheadline began: "The Taipei Times, a new English-language daily, knew how to use the earthquake as an opportunity to show its independence, its pugnacity and its identification with the feelings of the Taiwanese."
Le Monde, the world.
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