Disaster Response Taiwan Project #45003

Global Disaster Reduction and Relief

by The Mustard Seed Mission

Project Report | Jan 9, 2022
The First Sharing Refrigerator in Taitung

By Becca Wang | Project Leader

The covid-19 epidemic in the mid-2021 became intensified in Taiwan, where people were advised to maintain a social distance of 1.5 meters to reduce the risk of being infected. The protection measure also extends the distance between each other's hearts. Facing the fear of the epidemic, our daily lives and social circles have changed. People are becoming more divided and alienated from each other. As the epidemic gradually slows down, although life cannot fully return to the pre-epidemic period, what more can we do in the meantime for the interaction and relationship between people?

The "Community Sharing Refrigerator " promoted by the Mustard Seed Mission (MSM) in 2019 is precisely a refrigerator that distributes materials at a fixed point, so that families in the community who need to be helped can go out of their own house to interact with others and get basic food and clothing. The chief of Fengrong village in Taitung was connected with MSM. He agreed with the concept of mutual assistance and was very active in cooperating together to improve the sharing refrigerator service. Finally, the first Sharing refrigerator in Taitung was officially opened on October 17th. The establishment of the refrigerator also allowed the residents to come out again and interact with neighbors.

Distribution status of Sharing Refrigerator

The Fengrong community is a village with the widest area and the most residents in Taitung County. There are currently about 10,000 residents. The chief always shuttles and serves in the community, but the chief alone cannot serve effectively. All the residents, therefore, set up a community volunteer team, where the residents take care of the residents' spirit of mutual assistance and keep watch and help each other. From the trial operation of Sharing Refrigerator at the end of September to the official operation took more than a month. Through a refrigerator, the distance between people has been brought closer again, and it has become a connection point of love. There is a local caring store, willing stably provide fresh and healthy steamed buns and share them with the residents in need; residents who come to receive the supplies will also share the good news with neighbors who need them; volunteers also donate their time for free management, and give more caring and greetings to the residents who received it.

Receiving status of Sharing Refrigerator

On the day of the opening ceremony of the Sharing Refrigerator, a disabled resident in an electric four-wheeled vehicle came to collect the supplies. After being moved by the mutual assistance concept of the Sharing Refrigerator, he told the residents that he was willing to donate the half of the toast to Sharing Refrigerator he had just bought today to let love shared. This resident now often promotes the caring refrigerator in the community, telling families in need that he has become a beneficiary and a donor of the refrigerator, so that this love can continue. Although due to the epidemic, our lives have been changed, and the distance between people has been widened, but through a community refrigerator, it has connected each other with a bridge of warmth and love. When the concept of not wasting, we also care about families in need in the community, and let the spirit of mutual help and love continue to spread in the community.

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Sep 14, 2021
Disaster Prevention Awareness is Attitude to Life

By Mr. Ping-Han Wu | Project Leader

In 2020, we were facing global human casualties and economic losses caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition to the pandemic, global warming continues to affect the occurrence of extreme climates. In the spring of 2020, Siberia in the Arctic Circle, experienced a historically high temperature of 38 degrees of Celsius, and in Taiwan, we spent a year of no typhoon, which is rare. Changes in extreme climates have caused disasters and damages beyond our predictions and imaginations, but most of us are like frogs boiled in warm water—lack sensitivity of disaster alerts. Through the community links, the Mustard Seed Mission continues to conduct community disaster prevention advocacy and self-development courses in all corners of Taiwan to enhance the disaster prevention awareness of community residents.

Promoting residents to understand and learn to distinguish the warning zone of Debris flow through professional models.

In April this year, a course on community self-disaster prevention training was conducted in Taiyuan Village of Donghe Township and 8 communities of Guanshan Township of Taitung County in Taiwan. Taking the 1995 Hanshin Earthquake in Japan as an example, more than 70% of rescues had been completed before the official rescue units arrived. The ratio of self-help: mutual assistance: public assistance was "7:2:1". It can be seen that in facing large-scale disasters, in addition to self-help, mutual assistance between communities is even more important. Participants in the training courses are all cadres, village officials, directors of community associations, and patrol teams, the caring mother club, and the volunteers. They become the frontline community seeds for training through their knowledge of the community and their attention to community issues. In the course, it is necessary not only to establish correct disaster prevention knowledge, but also to gather community consensus through step-by-step group tasks, to check the stock of community resources, and to find potential disaster areas, emergency refuges, escaping routes, etc..

The community residents made community maps together, located their residences, and also checked the resources and potential dangerous areas of the community.

Residents discussed the community's response to disasters and the division of labor.

In the course, the participant residents were very enthusiastic in exchanging information and discussion. This helped to condense everyone's feelings and identification with the community. During a simulated disaster and the arrangement of disaster relief work, some people were willing to provide drones, and some who are professional attendants were willing to assist the elderly in resettlement, and some had an excavator license. Everyone was willing to use their expertise and resources to share mutual assistance with the community at this moment. Thus, the course not only arouses everyone's awareness of disaster prevention, but also affects the emotions of the community.

Giving questions to residents and using existing tools to build temporary beds suitable for the elderly.

Residents successfully used cardboard boxes to build strong temporary beds.

After class, a resident said: "In the future, when we gossip in the community, we must talk about disaster prevention, so that we can teach these precious concepts to everyone!" In fact, "disaster prevention is an attitude to life." The community's awareness of disasters helped the residents to realize the importance of disaster prevention by organizing their own teams, dividing labor, and practicing. Frequent disasters caused by extreme weather is an inevitable fact. The only thing that can be done is to reduce the impact. When facing a disaster, it is not to escape but to seek for survive. Mutual assistance between neighbors is an important key to disaster relief. Only by taking the environment and disasters can we be prepared, and we can reduce the threat of disasters with more preparedness for disaster prevention!

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May 19, 2021
Community Protection Network of All

By Benson Wu | Project Leader

"It turns out that disaster prevention can be so fun!"

"What a fun way of teaching! We look forward to participating in the next disaster prevention workshop."

After completing several community self-disaster prevention training courses, community attendees enthusiastically shared with us.

Through the process of community training and education, the Mustard Seed Mission (MSM) conveys the correct knowledge of disaster prevention and mutual assistance, and more importantly, it advocates that disaster prevention should begin with the whole group of people to jointly build a community protection network.

Regardless the difference in ages, ethnic groups, classes, cultures, ideas and experiences, community members play the key role in the resilience of the community to disasters.

The goal of the Disaster Prevention and Relief Service of MSM is to improve the resilience of the community. Therefore, connecting 4 characteristic communities, including Hu-nei community of Kaohsiung City, the Guang-fu community of Qi-shan District of Kaohsiung City, the Lin-sen Love community of Tainan City and the Hu-wei river community of Yunlin County. These four communities have different geographic environments, humanities, community organizations, and disaster risks. So, the training courses were tailor-made to meet the difference, and to establish independent disaster prevention concepts and capabilities, and build consensus to achieve community disaster resilience.

1. Hu-nei Community in Kaohsiung City: Because of the amazing rainfall entrained by Typhoon Morakot, the river soared and the dike broke, and 2/3 of the community was flooded. Participants of the training course are from community volunteers in Tai-ye village, Wen-xian village, Gong-guan village and Ye-cuo village. The volunteers have received self-protection and disaster prevention education propaganda courses, so the courses are more focused on potential disaster and disaster simulation exercises to allow the community to build a more complete disaster prevention and relief organization.

Community volunteers from different neighborhoods carefully studying disaster prevention and relief courses

2. Guang-fu Community in Kaohsiung City: The population in rural communities is aging. Therefore, most of the participants are the elderly. The vulnerable elderly people are those usually need to be taken care of; however, through family disaster prevention pack games, actual investigation of disaster potential and resettlement simulation exercises, these elderly people can actively participate in the disaster prevention.

Elders in Guang-fu community learn disaster prevention concepts through games and simulations

3. Hu-wei river Community College in Yunlin County: Volunteer mothers who usually tell stories in community life education courses, think about current disaster risks from the relationship between people and the environment, and further understand the potential of disasters in the community, and then discuss community disaster prevention and relief issues and organizations. Volunteer mothers have completed this training and become the seeds of disaster prevention in the community. They carry out disaster prevention education and promotion through games, so that the concept of disaster prevention can take root from the bottom and gradually spread throughout the community.

Volunteer mothers have completed this training course and become the seeds of community disaster prevention

4. Lin Sen Love in Tainan City: Covid-19 spreads all over the world. Epidemic prevention and disaster prevention are equally important. The community management committee calls on residents to discuss together, find community consensus and methods for epidemic prevention, and jointly protect community safety.

The community management committee called on residents to discuss consensus on epidemic prevention and jointly protect the safety of the community.

The "United Nations 2015-2030 Sendai Disaster Reduction Goals" mentions "stakeholders", which emphasizes that disaster prevention and relief work is not just the responsibility of the government, everyone should pay attention to and participate, and no one can be excluded. A mature concept of disaster prevention and relief is not about waiting passively for rescue. It should be active and initiative.

When the community faces the impact of a disaster, it is possible to quickly restore the original life after the disaster (community culture, industry, cohesion, reconstruction, etc.) because of precautionary preparations and mutual cooperation. There is no shortcut for autonomous disaster prevention in the community. Only through constant dialogue, discussion, and coordination to find a suitable way, and jointly implement the protection, can we establish a strong protection network.

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