Taiwan typhoon damage update

Fr. Pat O’Beirne provided the following update regarding the damage sustained from typhoon Morakot.

Greetings to all,

A couple of people have emailed me inquiring about the typhoon damage in Taiwan, so I thought I should send a short update. Moving slowly, typhoon Morakot brought torrential amounts of rainfall in its tail. The south of the island, especially Kaohsiung county, was most severely hit. All 15 Columbans currently assigned to Taiwan live and work in the north western part of the island, so we are all safe and sound, thank God.

However, the devastation and loss of life in the south has still not been finally tallied. So far, 103 people are dead and 61 people are missing. There was $300,000,000 U.S. worth of damage done to agriculture and aquaculture and $100,000,000 U.S. worth of damage to roads and bridges. Loss to personal property is still unknown. Rescue efforts are still being hampered by bad weather.

In the mountain parish where Fr. Larry Barnett, lay missionaries Tabitha Bark and Vida Hequilan and I live, we were without electricity for almost two days. The roads in the area have been severely damaged by landslides. One main road to our parish has been temporarily repaired. Speaking from past experience, many of the the aborigine survivors who are trapped in the mountain villages are elderly and require regular access to medical clinics. The situation with the roads is an added stress for them.

The government of Taiwan is getting severe criticism nationally and internationally for its slow response to the crisis and for initially refusing offers of help in the rescue effort, except for financial donations which came in from 50 nations. Many thanks for your concern for our safety. Please continue to keep the people in your prayers,

Fr. Pat O’Beirne