Typhoon Morakot victims remembered in various ways on August 8

["Taiwan Church News" <enews@pctpress.org>]

      Taiwan Church News

      3050 Edition

      August 9~15, 2010

                                   

       

      Typhoon Morakot victims remembered in various ways on August 8

       

      Reported by TCN staff reporters

      Written by Lydia Ma

       

       

      PCT holds memorial service to honor victims

       

      2,228 PCT members gathered at National Nei-Pu Senior 
Agricultural- Industrial Vocational 

      High School on August 8, 2010, for a music service remembering 
the 1st anniversary of 

      Typhoon Morakot and all victims who perished or lost their 
homes in what has become known 

      as the “88 Flood” in Taiwan. 

       

      Christians prayed for rebuilding efforts, emotional healing of 
Morakot survivors, and PCT’s 

      role in both. They also encouraged one another to continue 
supporting post-Morakot 

      rebuilding efforts through prayers and financial donations.

       

      PCT General Assembly Moderator Rev. Lai Hsien-Chang gave the 
sermon. He underscored 

      that our first step is to repent and seek God’s forgiveness for 
our role in environmental 

      degradation. Next, we must be still, pray, and listen to God’s 
voice, for it’s through quietness 

      and time that we will find healing and strength. Finally, we 
must work through this ordeal 

      together as a unified nation.

       

      Rev. Ngerel from Paiwan Presbytery shared about Typhoon 
Morakot’s impact on his 

      presbytery. He recalled that as his congregation got ready to 
celebrate Father’s Day on 

      August 8 last year, heavy rains followed by landslides had 
washed away or inundated many 

      people’s homes. 

       

      As a pastor, he and his family braved the rainstorm to visit 
and comfort his congregation and 

      other residents in his village. Together, they prayed and cried 
out to God for 7 consecutive 

      days, pleading the rain would stop and praying for God to 
protect Aborigine villages. 

       

      “Morakot helped me experience the amazing power of prayer. 
Though our reservation was 

      damaged, no one was hurt and no one perished. Thank God!” 
Ngerel said.



      Elder Lai Tsung-ming from Kudrengere Church in Rukai Presbytery 
recalled that water levels 

      in nearby rivers rose and covered Kudrengere in Wutai Township 
near Pingtung County on 

      August 7 of last year. Both of his parents perished in the 
flood that followed and a helicopter 

      that’d been dispatched to rescue Kudrengere residents crashed 
in the mountains, killing all 

      rescue workers aboard.

       

      In the brink of death, Lai learned to depend on God for 
strength. The flood strengthened his 

      faith and renewed a sense of solidarity among people in his 
community. Those rescue 

      workers who lost their lives trying to save others would always 
be remembered as heroes by 

      Aborigines, he said.

       



      Aborigines stage overnight rally and light bonfire in protest

                                                                      
             

      Besides this music service, Indigenous Peoples Action Coalition 
of Taiwan (IPACT) staged 

      an overnight, “sleep-in” protest in front of the Presidential 
Palace to voice concern over post-

      Morakot rebuilding policies.

       

      More than 1,000 Aborigines took part in this rally, using 
chants, laments, films, and even 

      bonfires to voice their grief and displeasure at wrong-headed 
and snail-paced rebuilding 

      policies of the past year.

       

      A small band of elementary school children from Namasiya 
Township wore headbands with 

      the words, “No to forced relocation! No to division!”, and 
carried signs inquiring, “Mr. 

      President, what happened to our elementary school?”. Their 
presence caught the attention of 

      reporters on the scene.

       

      Some Aborigines complained that a few police officers working 
in their reservations had lied 

      by telling them the rally at Ketagalan Boulevard was illegal 
and had been orchestrated by a 

      shady organization. Other Aborigines reported the Ma 
administration had deliberately fueled 

      internal strife and division among Aborigines in the aftermath 
of the typhoon through policies.

       

      The rally began after Tsou, Taroko, Atayal, and Amis pastors 
led the crowd in prayer in their 

      own languages. PCT Associate General Secretary Sing ‘Olam 
prayed for God to open 

      President Ma’s eyes and ears to see and hear the cries of 
Morakot victims so that he’d be 

      convicted and govern responsibly. He also prayed for God’s 
mercy on Morakot victims so that 

      they’d regain their carefree spirit as they journey on this 
road toward recovery.

       

      PCT General Secretary Rev. Andrew Chang was also present at the 
rally and spoke with 

      uncharacteristic passion. “The road back home is very hard. Our 
demands are very simple 

      and we’ve waited one year. We ask President Ma to give us an 
answer,” he said.

       

      Aborigines voiced their stark opposition to permanent housing 
units as quick fixes and urged 

      government officials to include Aborigine leaders in policy 
planning. Their appeals seemed to 

      fall on deaf ears as the Executive Yuan’s Reconstruction 
Council reiterated it’d done its best, 

      to the disappointment of Morakot victims.

       



      Experts slam wrongheaded policies

       

      Former Council of Indigenous Peoples Minister Walis Pelin 
accused the government of lying 

      to Aborigines. He explained that 83% of the budget allotted for 
post-Morakot rebuilding had 

      already been approved, but merely 6.78% had been spent so far. 

       

      He claimed 3,423 applications for permanent housing units had 
been received, but only 2,119 

      had been approved. In other words, 1,304 applications had been 
left unaccounted for. Out of 

      the 2,119 approved applications, only 1,127 families managed to 
secure permanent housing. 

      Apparently another 1,000 or so applications were unaccounted 
for again.

       

      Walis Pelin reminded the public that Aborigines moving into 
permanent housing were forced 

      to sign away rights to the land of their ancestors in exchange. 
This condition prompted many 

      Aborigines to decline permanent housing units. “This government 
policy is anti-humanitarian!” he said.

       

      Another former Council of Indigenous Peoples Minister Yohani 
Isqaqavut recalled when he 

      visited a friend in Namasiya two weeks ago, he was discouraged 
from entering the village 

      because his friend was afraid he’d be stuck in the mountain if 
it rained. Another time, while 

      visiting an Aborigine reservation in Alishan area, he wondered 
whether the roads he saw were 

      made for humans or for mountain pigs.

       

      During a conference on Typhoon Morakot hosted by Taiwan 
Association of University 

      Professors on August 6, IPACT convener Rev. Lituan remarked 
that government policies in 

      the aftermath of the typhoon turned out to be more devastating 
than the flood itself. 

       

      Lituan slammed Tzu Chi Foundation and bureaucrats for placing 
blame on Aborigines for this 

      natural disaster and forcing them to leave their homes under 
the pretext that forests needed 

      rest from exploitation. He berated them for lack of 
introspection and failing to see the results of 

      excessive, though legal, logging policies that’d precipitated 
landslides.

       

      He referred to recent water diversion projects to re-channel 
water from Tseng-Wen Reservoir 

      to Nan-Hua Reservoir as examples of anti- environmentalism on 
the part of the government. 

      “When mountains are blasted to make way for construction, we 
can literally feel the mountains moving,” he said.

       

      As an Aborigine who lost his home to Typhoon Morakot, PCT Youth 
Ministry Committee 

      Secretary Itan Pavavalong has already filmed a documentary 
featuring Aborigines’ forced 

      relocation. He remarked that personally visiting many 
reservations had enabled him to truly 

      understand how government rebuilding policiess had torn the 
social fabric of Aborigine reservations.

       

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