Anniversary of the Hualien Ma Tai'an River Barrier Lake Disaster: Social welfare and religious groups are deeply involved in Guangfu Township to help rebuild

After the Ma Tai'an River barrier lake disaster in Hualien, 500,000 "Shovel Superman" from across Taiwan entered Guangfu Township to help clear the silt. The disaster not only left silt, but also caused psychological trauma, destroyed farmland and other impacts. Social welfare and religious groups have continued to help residents in the disaster area over the past year, ranging from daily care to psychological trauma counseling, and the introduction of vocational training. They also introduced agricultural land improvement and rehabilitation programs to fundamentally support the local community to get back on its feet.

Lu Fangchuan, director of the Tzu Chi Charity Foundation’s Tzu Chi Development Office, said that the barrier lake disaster severely affected more than 3,000 households in 6 villages in Guangfu Township. After the disaster, there was thick and hard soil everywhere. A large number of volunteers formed waves of "shovel supermen" to move in, and Tzu Chi provided command and response arrangements. It also planned a "post-disaster mental health plan" to provide trauma care for three months and track severe cases. It also set up a free clinic to use a combination of traditional Chinese and Western medicine to pay attention to the health of residents. People with mobility issues also actively visited homes, providing services to more than 1,800 people in 12 weeks.

Zhang Qianfang, director of the Food Bank of Christian Aid Association, said that the association implemented a "relay warehouse" project in the Taibalang tribe in Guangfu Township. It was a refrigerated storage station built to avoid the isolated island effect in remote villages. It prepared canned white rice, etc. The barrier lake was converted into a meal base after the disaster. There are also 12 cultural and health stations in Guangfu Township, which provide meals to the elderly in normal times and continue to provide food and care after the disaster. At the same time, many groups have also organized "disaster prevention worker" training courses in disaster areas. At least 20% of residents or social workers have certificates and have basic disaster prevention and relief concepts.

Guangfu Township is mainly engaged in agriculture, and silt has destroyed most of the fields. Social welfare groups have also carried out reconstruction of agricultural land this year. Lu Fangchuan pointed out that after the disaster, about 770 hectares of farmland were damaged, and Sun Huixin, a farmer who is friendly to agricultural methods, was asked to invest in "Dashengsu" to help local re-cultivation. Zhang Qianfang also said that through the cooperation of the Presbyterian Church, they promoted the conversion of discarded Wendan agricultural waste and black soldier flies into organic fertilizers to help improve soil quality, and contracted for direct purchase of small agricultural products.

The Christian Mustard Seed Association stated that it established the "Guangfu Helping Network Center" in October last year to provide medium and long-term "support" to accompany the disaster area towards stable development, including care for children and children, group activities, empowerment education and stress relief courses. It found that the elderly population in Guangfu Township is about four times that of children. It also launched "Caregiver Qualification Training" to introduce "work-based support", so that local residents can learn professional care skills, have skills and work flexibly, and balance family and self-reliance.