A volunteer group consisting primarily of Indonesian construction workers yesterday traveled to Hualien County's Guangfu Township (光復) to clear the streets of mud and debris left by floodwaters, providing much-needed assistance to areas devastated after a barrier lake collapsed.
The Mataian River (馬太鞍溪) barrier lake on Tuesday last week burst after Super Typhoon Ragasa pounded eastern Taiwan with heavy rains. An estimated 60 million tonnes of muddy water rushed downstream into Guangfu Township, covering the streets in thick mud.
Huang Jung-tun (黃榮墩), founder of the non-governmental organization Welldoer House, organized the cleanup campaign online, appealing for volunteers.
Photo courtesy of Welldoer House
About 40 Indonesians and 10 Vietnamese, who mostly work at construction sites in Taiwan, answered the call, said Tsai I-yang (蔡翼陽), a member of Welldoer House.
Equipped with helmets, rain boots and shovels, they gathered at Hualien Station at 5am and departed for Guangfu.
Kholis Anwar, one of the Indonesian volunteers who works at an auto repair shop, said that he wanted to show solidarity with those affected by the disaster.
Photo courtesy of Welldoer House
"I was free today [yesterday], so I made plans to help," Kholis said.
"When I arrived, the roads were still muddy, with some puddles. Most household items on the ground floor had been damaged beyond repair and mud had poured into the buildings," he said.
Kholis said his interactions with locals were warm.
"They were happy [to see us] and did not forget to say thank you to us and give us all a thumbs-up," he said.
For nine years, Welldoer House has routinely distributed aid to migrant workers at fishing ports, Huang said.
He said he hopes that these actions will reduce discrimination against migrant workers in Taiwan and increase the public's understanding and appreciation of their contributions to society.
SECURITY: Starlink owner Elon Musk has taken pro-Beijing positions, and allowing pro-China companies to control Taiwan’s critical infrastructure is risky, a legislator said Starlink was reluctant to offer services in Taiwan because of the nation’s extremely high penetration rates in 4G and 5G services, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said yesterday. The ministry made the comments at a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee, which reviewed amendments to Article 36 of the Telecommunications Management Act (電信管理法). Article 36 bans foreigners from holding more than 49 percent of shares in public telecommunications networks, while shares foreigners directly and indirectly hold are also capped at 60 percent of the total, unless specified otherwise by law. The amendments, sponsored by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Ko
The eastern extension of the Taipei MRT Red Line could begin operations as early as late June, the Taipei Department of Rapid Transit Systems said yesterday. Taipei Rapid Transit Corp said it is considering offering one month of free rides on the new section to mark its opening. Construction progress on the 1.4km extension, which is to run from the current terminal Xiangshan Station to a new eastern terminal, Guangci/Fengtian Temple Station, was 90.6 percent complete by the end of last month, the department said in a report to the Taipei City Council's Transportation Committee. While construction began in October 2016 with an
NON-RED SUPPLY: Boosting the nation’s drone industry is becoming increasingly urgent as China’s UAV dominance could become an issue in a crisis, an analyst said Taiwan’s drone exports to Europe grew 41.7-fold from 2024 to last year, with demand from Ukraine’s fight against Russian aggression the most likely driver of growth, a study showed. The Institute for Democracy, Society and Emerging Technology (DSET) in a statement on Wednesday said it found that many of Taiwan’s uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV) sales were from Poland and the Czech Republic. These countries likely transferred the drones to Ukraine to aid it in its fight against the Russian invasion that started in 2022, it said. Despite the gains, Taiwan is not the dominant drone exporter to these markets, ranking second and fourth
The military has spotted two Chinese warships operating in waters near Penghu County in the Taiwan Strait and sent its own naval and air forces to monitor the vessels, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said. Beijing sends warships and warplanes into the waters and skies around Taiwan on an almost daily basis, drawing condemnation from Taipei. While the ministry offers daily updates on the locations of Chinese military aircraft, it only rarely gives details of where Chinese warships are operating, generally only when it detects aircraft carriers, as happened last week. A Chinese destroyer and a frigate entered waters to the southwest
RSS