God Bless Taitung: Praying for the Land Where the Sun Rises

July 09, 2016

On the early morning of July 8, making landfall from the Taimali Township, Taitung faced its strongest wind in history, Typhoon Nepartak. Under winds reaching Beaufort level 17 (extended Beaufort wind scale), Taitung was a devastating sight with fallen trees, collapsed homes and billboards strewn all across the roads.

Many roofs were torn off by the wind and the rain poured directly into the homes. The newly made roof for the county stadium bleachers was also blown off. On the busiest street of Zhonghua Road, store signs and telephone wires were strewn across the roads, numerous roll up doors were ruined, the water towers on the rooftops were blown away, and the cars on Minghang Road were also blown onto the median strip.

On the night of July 7, the power went out for one thousand five hundred and ninety two residents across Lanyu Island and 30 to 40 residential tin roofs were blown off. There were fallen rocks on the freeway and the roof of the Lan-en Museum was blown away, leaving the artifacts soaked in water. More than ten students and professors of National Taitung University were urgently relocated to the gymnasium for shelter.

On the night of the 7th in Green Island, numerous power lines had snapped, resulting in a power outage across the island. Three fishing boats were swept away by the big waves, and around 40 to 50 residential tin roofs were blown away. Numerous cars were blown over and houses were severely damaged.

The western and southern parts of Taiwan suffered severe damages. According to the reports made by Central Emergency Operation Center, there have been two deaths and 72 people wounded thus far. Additionally, the 1,836 damage incidents of fallen trees and collapsed billboards have been attended by various governmental sectors.

Taitung County Governor, Justin Huang, expressed that the total cost of damage was estimated to be over two thousand million NT dollars.

Once aware of the disaster, Christian Gospel Mission (CGM) encouraged their members to pray together for Taitung, to pray for the safety of the rescue workers,  and to pray for the restoration work to go smoothly in the aftermath of the disaster.