The World Of Tzu Chi(Vol.115).

2019 • 10 08 I n the 1960s and 1970s, most of Taiwanese society lived in poverty. Hence, at the end of every year, government agencies and non- governmental organizations across the island would organize relief distribution sessions to provide aid to the destitute during the winter season, while appealing to the public to donate generously to help the needy. The Tzu Chi Foundation was founded in 1966 and started holding winter relief distributions for the needy in 1969. In the months leading to December every year, Tzu Chi commissioners would be busily engaged in compiling care recipient rosters, purchasing and packing relief supplies. In 1973, Master Cheng Yen and the commissioners began their work a month earlier than usual, but instead of preparing for the annual winter distributions, they were occupied with disaster relief efforts for the victims of Typhoon Nora. On October 8, 1973, Typhoon Nora tore across the sea southwest of Taiwan before eventually making landfall in China on October 9. Although Taiwan was not in the direct path of the typhoon, it brought torrential rains to the island for three consecutive days, causing devastating damage fromYuli in Hualien County to Dawu in Taitung County. Sixty-eight people lost their lives or were missing, while 85 people were injured.Atotal of 1,251 houses were completely destroyed, with another 433 partially damaged. More than 26,000 people were affected by the disaster in Taitung alone; the county had never been so badly battered by a natural disaster before. Reaching out to help the less fortunate Master Cheng Yen was very concerned upon learning about the devastation caused by the typhoon. Transportation to Taitung had been severely disrupted by the disaster. One had to cross more than ten wide rivers in order to travel to Taitung from the Tzu Chi headquarters in northern Hualien, connected by numerous bridges along the way which were shared by trains and cars. With the bridges damaged in the disaster, access to Taitung became virtually impossible. As a result, the Master and Tzu Chi volunteers were delayed in their journey to the disaster areas to assess the damage. At a Tzu Chi commissioners’ gathering ten days after the disaster, the Master, deeply worried, stated that a detailed report of the disaster was unavailable as communication lines were disrupted. Nevertheless, it was clear that the situation was worrying. Fortunately, Hualien had emerged largely unscathed. The Master called upon those who were more fortunate to sympathize with those who were less so, besides urging the commissioners to brace themselves for impending relief efforts, which would be set in motion as soon as the roads were made accessible. Two weeks after the typhoon, traffic toYuli, a hard-hit area in southern Hualien, was restored. On October 24, the Master and several Tzu Chi commissioners rushed to the town to assess the aftermath of the disaster. The team, accompanied by local volunteers, visited the disaster victims and learnt that many of them were survivors of a flood that had devastated western Taiwan in 1959. They had moved to eastern Taiwan to start life anew. Yet, they never expected to be hit by another disaster 14 years later. Some of them were so devastated that they even fell ill. The Master comforted the affected households one by one and enlisted the help of local community leaders to compile rosters of disaster victims. After the trip, the Master summoned all eature