By Tzu Chi documenting volunteers
Edited and translated by Wu Hsiao-ting
Typhoon Gaemi’s relentless downpour wreaked havoc on southern Taiwan, but Tzu Chi’s swift and compassionate response provided essential aid and hope amidst the devastation.
Volunteers clean a flood victim’s home after Typhoon Gaemi in Fenjihu, a low-lying area in Baihe District, Tainan. Huang Xiao-zhe
Typhoon Gaemi, the first to hit Taiwan this year, made landfall in Yilan County at midnight on July 25 and exited the island through Taoyuan City just 4 hours and 20 minutes later. Despite weakening after landfall, the typhoon’s outer edges, combined with southwesterly winds, brought torrential rain to southern Taiwan. Chiayi, Tainan, Kaohsiung, and Pingtung saw rainfall nearly matching the peak daily totals recorded during Typhoon Morakot in 2009. Severe flooding was reported across the southern regions.
The Bazhang River in Chiayi overflowed early on July 25, flooding homes up to the first floor. Liuxin Village in Shuishang Township, located near the riverbank, was particularly affected. Village Chief Chen Huang-ru (陳皇如) said that when the typhoon warning was issued, he, as usual, went into alert mode, monitoring the water levels at the floodgates day and night. However, despite such vigilance, flooding still occurred.
Mr. Li, a resident of Liuxin Village, recounted that village officers broadcasted warnings just before the river overflowed, urging residents to evacuate to the township shelter. However, living alone and severely disabled, his only option was to take refuge at his sister’s home in the city. “Two days later, when the water receded, I returned home to a scene of devastation,” he said. “I was overwhelmed and didn’t know what to do, so I sought help from the village chief. I’m deeply grateful to the Tzu Chi volunteers who came to assist!”
On July 28, over a hundred Tzu Chi volunteers gathered at the Shuishang Township Office, equipped with brooms, basins, buckets, hoses, shovels, and other tools. They divided into groups and headed into the community to help residents clean up. Along the way, they saw piles of water-damaged furniture and debris, while grapple trucks and bulldozers operated alongside garbage trucks collecting the debris. Residents expressed their gratitude upon seeing the volunteers, putting their palms together and saying, “Oh! Such a large group! Thank you, Tzu Chi brothers and sisters. We’re so fortunate to have you!”
A Tzu Chi team had earlier conducted home visits in Shuishang Township and discovered that some families lacked the resources to clean up on their own. In response, they asked village chiefs to compile a list of homes needing cleaning assistance. Initially, only a few households were reported, but as volunteers arrived on-site on July 28, more residents requested help. The volunteers worked together to clean up the mud and remove debris. They also assisted villagers in disposing of or returning large items of furniture to their original positions, accelerating the recovery process.
Village Chief Chen Huang-ru remarked that the flood had left his village in disarray, with an unbearable stench. “Tzu Chi not only provided us with material assistance but also made us feel genuinely cared for and supported. This has been a tremendous encouragement as we work to restore our lives.”
Volunteers returned to Chen’s village on August 3. That morning, the community broadcast echoed with Chen’s reminders to the villagers: “Today, Tzu Chi volunteers will visit affected households to offer support. Please stay home and wait for them. Doctors from Dalin Tzu Chi Hospital will also be providing free medical services at Liu’an Temple. If you need medical attention, don’t hesitate to drop by.”
Volunteers use rescue boats to deliver hot meals to flooded areas in Madou, Tainan, on July 26. Typhoon Gaemi had already passed by that time, but heavy rain continued in the region. Chen He-sheng
Meal service
Tzu Chi offices in over a dozen counties and cities across Taiwan swiftly established disaster response centers after the land warning for Typhoon Gaemi was issued at 11:30 a.m. on July 23. Volunteers took inventory and organized emergency supplies, ready to support the government’s shelter and relief efforts. Later, due to the typhoon, people living in southern counties and cities had three consecutive days off. For those trapped by floodwaters or busy restoring their homes, a hot meal became a precious comfort. Volunteers ultimately distributed over 26,000 boxed meals in the aftermath of the storm.
Though the Liucuo and Baimi neighborhoods in Gangshan District, Kaohsiung, hadn’t experienced flooding in years, they were not spared this time. Floodwaters rose to waist height on the morning of July 25. The heads of both neighborhoods sought assistance from Tzu Chi. Volunteers immediately delivered supplies and boxed meals.
The following morning, volunteers braved intermittent strong winds and heavy rain to deliver additional aid to Liucuo, including over 800 loaves of bread, 600 packs of cookies, and 25 boxes of bottled water. Volunteer Ou Jin-ye (歐金葉), who leads a culinary team, received a notification about flood victims’ need for boxed lunches and quickly sprang into action. She organized a team to purchase ingredients, cook, and pack the meals. Within just a few hours, 370 packed lunches were delivered to the activity center in Baimi.
Around the same time, Tzu Chi volunteers in other areas of Kaohsiung fully mobilized, splitting into groups to support flood-affected communities. While distributing bread, they also checked if residents needed boxed meals for lunch that day. Yao Hao-zhe (姚皓哲), a resident of Xiaoshun Street in Sanmin District, gratefully accepted the bread and said, “This will be my first meal of the day.” He recalled going downstairs at around 5 a.m. on July 25 to check the water level of Baozhu Ditch, a tributary of the Love River, in front of his home. The water level was still low at the time, but just two hours later, it surged over the concrete embankment, flooding the area nearly half a story high.
Amid torrential rain, volunteers returned to Xiaoshun Street with 120 boxed lunches at 11 a.m. Residents said they had been busy cleaning up after the half-story-high floodwaters receded and had no time to cook, relying only on dry food to stave off their hunger. These hot meals were truly a blessing.
Earlier that day, before 7 a.m., Tzu Chi’s Kaohsiung Jing Si Hall was bustling with activity. A team in the basement received bread from a chain bakery, while volunteers in another area prepared gift packs for flood survivors. Culinary volunteers washed, chopped, and cooked ingredients in large woks and pots in the kitchen. Everyone was busy, yet focused and organized.
“We had purchased and prepared ingredients over the past two days in anticipation of this need,” said volunteer Wu Xiu-xia (吳秀霞). She led a team of 50 volunteers in cooking and packing the food. Yan Yue-tao (顏月桃), another volunteer, added, “We received the task last night around 6 p.m., so I reached out to my contacts to gather more ingredients. We can easily make 1,600 boxed lunches!” By 11 a.m., the boxed lunches were ready and delivered along four routes to Qiaotou, Ziguan, and other locations in Kaohsiung.
With military assistance, volunteers deliver hot meals to Shuishang Township, Chiayi (photo 1 by Zhang Ju-fen).
In Kaohsiung, volunteers bring hot meals to a flooded community near a tributary of the Love River (photo 2 by Cai Xiang-ling).
A resident expresses gratitude with a note when returning his meal box; part of the note reads: “This is the best boxed meal I’ve ever had!” (photo 3 courtesy of the Chiayi County Government).
More demand for food
Although the typhoon had passed Taiwan by the morning of July 26, areas in Yunlin and Chiayi had accumulated over a thousand millimeters of rain. Low-lying regions in Dalin, Xikou, and Xingang Townships were flooded, leaving many homes isolated like islands. With food hard to obtain and many restaurants closed, local governments urgently requested boxed meals from Tzu Chi. The demand was high, but severe weather and the fact that many volunteers’ homes were affected by the disaster made manpower scarce. Zeng Ya-wen (曾雅雯), a Tzu Chi volunteer who works at Dalin Tzu Chi Hospital, reached out to the hospital’s Department of Nutritional Therapy for assistance. They readily agreed and asked Zeng to gather help for packing the meals.
Zeng quickly rallied her colleagues. The first batch of stir-fried noodles was ready within 15 minutes, but the number of requested meals quickly increased from 1,000 to 1,500. The nutritionists emptied the refrigerators and contacted suppliers for more ingredients.
While the kitchen buzzed with activity, volunteers prepared vehicles for meal delivery. More volunteers gathered in various townships, ready to collaborate with local government personnel to distribute the meals in the disaster areas. Later, as they ventured into heavily flooded zones, they were joined by military, police, and firefighters who came to assist.
Volunteers received another request for food assistance in Pingtung County, Taiwan’s southernmost area. On the afternoon of July 24, 86 residents of Taiwu Township were urgently evacuated to a shelter. With no time to prepare food, the township head, Pan Ming-fu (潘明福), contacted Tzu Chi volunteer Dai Ming-an (戴明安) for help.
The fierce winds and rain had caused many stores to close. Volunteer Wu Pei-ru (吳佩儒) visited two supermarkets that were still open but found the bread shelves empty. Several other volunteers searched for open bakeries and managed to purchase over a hundred loaves of bread.
The volunteers gathered at Tzu Chi’s Chaozhou office, loaded the bread and other supplies into vehicles, and set off in the dark for the shelter. The wind and rain blurred their vision, and falling branches along the way were alarming, but they finally arrived at 8 p.m. The evacuees were overjoyed. The children were especially thrilled to see the cookies, temporarily forgetting the challenges caused by the typhoon.
At the shelter, the volunteers noticed elderly residents sleeping on the floor. They reported this to Zhang Zhi-xiang (張智翔), a social worker at Tzu Chi’s Pingtung office. He responded by delivering folding beds, arriving just before 10 p.m. Volunteer Wu Pei-ru also noticed the lack of water dispensers in the shelter, which meant that the instant noodles they had brought couldn’t be served. She and the other volunteers decided on the spot to provide hot meals for lunch the next day.
The next morning, with food ingredients still hard to obtain, Wu contacted Ms. Su, a Tzu Chi donating member who ran a grocery business, for help. Ms. Su immediately went to her warehouse, gathered supplies, and personally delivered them to the Tzu Chi Chaozhou office.
However, after checking the supplies, Wu found there still wasn’t enough food. She made a trip to the local wholesale market, only to find it flooded and closed. Standing in the water, she called Ms. Su again, who generously said, “Come and take whatever you need! I won’t charge you a penny.”
Later that day, 18 volunteers braved the rain to gather at the Tzu Chi office. Within two hours, they had prepared 130 boxed meals. The journey to deliver them was again fraught with wind and rain, but the volunteers took comfort in knowing that the evacuees would receive freshly cooked meals to warm their stomachs and hearts.
Helping the elderly and disabled clean up
Typhoon Gaemi’s devastating floods left countless homes in need of cleaning. Tzu Chi volunteers across various regions assessed their manpower and decided to focus on helping the elderly, disabled, and fellow volunteers.
On August 1, Chiayi volunteers arrived in Yixing Village, Shuishang Township, to carry out a cleanup mission for Ms. Zhang, a Tzu Chi care recipient. Although a week had passed since the typhoon, some roads remained flooded.
The volunteers quickly set to work upon arriving at Ms. Zhang’s home. The ground and floors were slippery, causing frequent slips and falls. They shoveled mud out of the house and carried damaged items outside for disposal, finding that nearly everything inside was ruined. When asked how high the water had risen, Zhang pointed to the roof, saying, “It filled the entire house.”
Zhang, who lived alone and was in poor health, had been under Tzu Chi’s care since last year. Because her house is located in a low-lying area, she was the first to evacuate to the shelter set up at the township office when the typhoon hit. Volunteer Ye Xiu-rong (葉秀榮) shared that Zhang was so apprehensive about returning home afterwards that she stayed on at the shelter even after all the other evacuees had left.
While Zhang was still at the shelter, Lin Ming-nan (林名男), deputy superintendent of Dalin Tzu Chi Hospital, arrived to provide free medical care to flood survivors. Zhang, feeling both stressed and grateful, said, “Thank Tzu Chi for providing us at the shelter with beds, care packages, and hot food, and thank the medical professionals from Dalin Tzu Chi Hospital for their healthcare. However, despite this good care, I still worry about whether my house was swept away.”
This prompted a visit to her home by volunteers on July 31. The house was still standing but in a state of disarray. Volunteers organized a cleanup effort for the following day, planning for 15 people. It was a pleasant surprise when 25 showed up. The house smelled foul, and some volunteers even vomited while they worked, but they pressed on. After a few hours, the rooms and kitchen were spotless. Zhang hugged Ye Xiu-rong, tearfully saying, “Now I have a place to sleep. I’m so happy!”
Land subsidence in Yunlin’s coastal areas had left many homes in Dagou, Shuilin Township, situated lower than the roads. The combination of high tides and heavy rain from Typhoon Gaemi caused flooding that took a long time to recede. Mr. Chen, a 68-year-old with mobility issues who lives alone, was evacuated to a shelter during the typhoon. With no time to move his belongings to higher ground, all his furniture and appliances were submerged. On August 4, over 20 volunteers arrived at his home to help him clean up.
Volunteers moved everything outside to clean or discard. Cai Qing-sen (蔡清森) used a high-pressure washer to clean the walls and floors. Since the house lacked drains, Cai Jin-ding (蔡進丁) and Tang Shi-xian (湯士賢) scooped up the dirty water, while Xia Ying-qi (夏縈棋) carried the buckets outside to empty into the gutter. The volunteers returned what furniture they could salvage after cleaning, restoring Mr. Chen’s home as best they could.
Mr. Su and his wife, in their 70s and childless, live in a brick house with a metal roof in Xinjia, Houbi District, Tainan. The typhoon left their home in a mess. Due to their age, they requested Tzu Chi’s assistance. Around 30 volunteers helped move out soaked furniture and clean out the mud inside. Mr. Su was deeply grateful.
Volunteers returned to visit the couple a week later. Mr. Su, touched by their support, said. “It’s wonderful to have Tzu Chi. I can’t express my gratitude to you enough. Seeing you all again makes me want to cry.” Everything usable inside the house had been elevated, but it was otherwise empty—no bed or furniture, just the lingering smell of disinfectant. The couple was staying in a friend’s vacant house, but they returned each morning to continue putting their home back together.
Mr. Su shared, “The flooding wasn’t this bad 15 years ago with Typhoon Morakot, nor 6 years ago during that August rainstorm! This time, the water came so fast. I had to drive my wife to safety. It was like a vast ocean, just like the end of the world.” Overcome with emotion, he began to cry, so a volunteer stepped forward to comfort him.
Once he had calmed down, he added, “After Typhoon Morakot, we managed on our own without asking for help. My wife and I quietly cleaned up. But now that we’re older, I told her we shouldn’t push ourselves too hard. We felt so helpless. Fortunately, you came. I’m truly grateful.”
After the floodwaters receded, volunteers helped vulnerable and elderly residents, as well as affected volunteers, clean their homes. In photo 1, volunteers clear debris from a traditional courtyard house in Beigang, Yunlin (photo by Cai Yi-da).
Photo 2 shows volunteers removing waterlogged items from the flooded basement of a store in Zuoying, Kaohsiung (photo by Wang Zhong-yi).
Home visits
In addition to providing meals and cleanup services, volunteers mobilized in late July and early August to visit residents in the hardest-hit areas, delivering gift packs and offering solace. Each gift pack contained a letter of comfort from Dharma Master Cheng Yen, multigrain powder, rice crackers, soy milk powder, and more. Ye Ya-ling (葉雅玲), a social worker at Tzu Chi’s Tainan office, explained the purpose of these visits: “First, to deliver Master Cheng Yen’s words of comfort and Tzu Chi’s blessings; second, to identify families that may need further assistance.”
Ms. Xu, a resident of Xinjia, Houbi District, raises ducks for a living. She lost all the ducks in one of her two duck houses to the flood, with only a few surviving in the other. Overcome with sadness and frustration, she was moved to tears by Master Cheng Yen’s concern and the blessings from Tzu Chi volunteers worldwide. Seeing her tears, volunteer Zhuang Jin-zhi (莊錦治) quickly embraced her in a comforting hug.
Xie He Mei-mei (謝何美梅) from Madou District, Tainan, smiled brightly when she saw the Tzu Chi volunteers at her door. “It’s a real comfort to know that people continue to care about us,” she said. She was waiting for someone to repair her household appliances and still needed to put her large furniture back in place. She recounted the helplessness she and her 86-year-old husband felt when the floodwaters came. When the volunteers asked if she had been eating well, she smiled and replied, “When there weren’t Tzu Chi meals, I just ate instant noodles.”
Though Typhoon Gaemi brought destruction and misery, the presence of Tzu Chi volunteers, who offered a listening ear and support, provided much-needed consolation. The volunteers hoped that Master Cheng Yen’s blessings and the care and love from all Tzu Chi volunteers would bring peace to the hearts of those affected.
Volunteers visit a household in Annei, Yanshui, Tainan, where they deliver a gift pack and offer support. Huang Xiao-zhe
