An estimated 500 people are believed to have perished, most of them buried in massive mudslides, reports the Reuters News Agency. Typhoon Morakot caused widespread mudslides, smashed houses and severed roads and bridges in southern Taiwan when it swept across the island last weekend. The accompanying photo, courtesy of Reuters, shows one area of collapsed homes and businesses.
The Taiwan Covenant Church is working in partnership with Covenant World Relief, sending workers, supplies and other aid to stricken areas, including Donggang where one of the Covenant churches is located.
“Help is needed now, and we want to do whatever we can to support the relief efforts currently under way,” says David Husby, CWR director, in announcing creation of the new fund.
Those interested in making a charitable donation to the Taiwan Relief Fund may do so online by clicking here. Checks may be made payable to Covenant World Relief, designated for Taiwan Relief, and mailed to Covenant World Relief, Evangelical Covenant Church, 5101 N. Francisco Avenue, Chicago, IL, 60625. All gifts will be acknowledged for income tax purposes.
“They hope to have 50 volunteers working out of the Donggang Church as well as several other churches in the area,” says David Dolan, regional coordinator for Chinese Ministries for the Evangelical Covenant Church. “They are staffing two food stations that hope to provide for the needs of 300 people each.”
Volunteers are providing clean water and food and are involved in cleaning streets, houses, providing blankets and sending food and clothing to people who cannot reach the food stations.
The three main areas of volunteer activity are Pingtung County, including the towns of Donggang, Linbian and Dapeng Wan; Kaohsiung County, including Jiasian, Chishan, Meinung and others; and Taitung County, including Taima village where volunteers also will conduct a children’s program.
Covenant News Service will provide additional updates as they become available.
