I received a message from my Taiwanese friend.
I'm very sad to read his story.
A powerful earthquake struck in the early hours of Feb. 6 in Kaoshiong (高雄).
As this day was the Lunar New Year’s Eve many Taiwanese had returned to their hometowns to celebrate the holiday with the customary family dinner.
Though the epicenter of the quake was in Kaoshiong, the worst affected city was Tainan, most likely due to soil liquefaction.
Many buildings tilted and were damaged, and one building collapsed causing the death of 116 people.
One of my customers in Tainan, Mr. Liu , lived in this building.
The day of the quake I contacted his colleagues but nobody had heard from him. On the 7th day after the quake he and his wife and two children were found dead.
A student from my daughter’s school who had returned to her grandmother’s home in Tainan from Taipei was also found killed alongside her grandmother and cousin.
This Lunar New Year was a sad one for Taiwan.
After the earthquake we received help from the Japanese government in the form of monetary and material donations.
Japanese Search and rescue teams arrived in Tainan the day after the quake.
Thank you, Mr. Isa and all of your friends would like to help but because the disaster was not widespread we can manage on our own.
Thank you very much.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lM4tUjPilVI