Title: Following South Taiwan Earthquake, Church Agencies Spring into Action
Taiwan Church News 2862 1-7 January 2007
Reported by Staff. Written by David Alexander
On the evening of 26th December 2006, the second anniversary of the South Asia Tsunami disaster, a pair of serious quakes under the Taiwan Straits offshore of Heng-chun in southern Taiwan rattled the entire region. In contrast to the events of 2004 in South Asia when thousands died, these temblors took the lives of only two people. The morning following the quake, Rev. Ong Chhun-gi, head of the Church and Society Committee of the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan, arrived at Chhia-cheng Presbyterian Church in Heng-chun Township to coordinate church response.
Following the quake itself, Chhia-cheng's pastor Lin Yi-chuen had contacted Chen Chia-wan, who doubles as chaplain of Heng-chun Christian Hospital and the regional coordinator for disaster relief in the area. They learned that learned that some houses had been damaged, some roads blocked, and some walls had fallen over. But, the volunteer coordination center of the Chinese Christian Rescue Association estimated that damage had not been sufficient to warrant the churches setting up a community rebuilding office.
Rev. Liou Jin-chung, pastor of Heng-chun Presbyterian Church, went out early the next morning with church members to survey neighborhood conditions. Since half the members of his congregation are elderly, many of them living alone, he was grateful to learn that nobody had been injured. Besides personal visits, he spent a lot of time praying with people over the telephone.
On December 31st, a Sunday, area churches held services of thanksgiving, even as aftershocks continued to occur from time to time.
For more information: Liou Jin-chung FAX +886 8 8882263
Lin Yi-chuen TEL +886 923 633 700
Ong Chhun-gi Wangkhunyi@yahoo.com.tw
Heng Chun Christian Hospital www.hcch.org.tw
For Current Reports on Taiwan's ongoing earthquake situation: http://www.cwb.gov.tw/V5e/index.htm
Taiwan Church News is published weekly in Taiwan's local languages.
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