The World Of Tzu Chi(Vol.115).

TZU CHI 115 29 Volunteers set up a relief centre at the site of the Dongxing Building collapse to provide support to the victims and rescue personnel. [Photograph by Lin Feng-qi] Rescue personnel persisted in their efforts to locate survivors trapped under the remains of three buildings in Xinzhuang District, northern Taiwan. More than 100,000 buildings across Taiwan were damaged in the earthquake. [Photograph by Guo Yi-de] vibrations increased in force and sent objects around her house crashing to the floor. Lin Shen’s daughter hurried home from her current residence in Ailiao and reported seeing many deaths along the way. Both mother and daughter teamed up with a relative and set off for the streets on a motorcycle, surveying the aftermath of the disaster with only the motorcycle headlight guiding their way through the town plunged into pitch- black darkness as the electricity supply had been disrupted. Lin Shen received news that a family member had been found dead among the rubble, but the severity of the post-disaster chaos compelled her to suppress her sorrow and fear and seek assistance. Communication lines were down, so she borrowed a phone from a water processing factory and made a distress call to the Jing Si Abode in Hualien. Lin Shen’s call reached the Jing SiAbode at about 5 a.m. Meanwhile, a disaster relief control centre had already been established at the Tzu Chi Hualien Headquarters several hours earlier. Tzu Chi volunteers and staff from all over Taiwan wasted no time in mobilizing disaster relief efforts, resolving to rescue not only their neighbours who were trapped under buildings, but also members of the public. Furthermore, Tzu Chi had set up thirty 24-hour relief centres in Jiji as well as various locations across Taichung and Nantou Counties, supplying basic necessities such as hot meals, tents, sleeping bags, blankets, torchlights and food rations to evacuees and rescue personnel. Master Cheng Yen directed the volunteers to raise funds to be distributed to the disaster victims, but the amount collected was insufficient even after the volunteers pooled together all their personal Revisiting the 1999 Jiji Earthquake