🔗 Share this article

Volunteers showed up using different vehicles, wearing protective gear and bringing equipment.

Young learners, religious figures, and elderly citizens. Gym bros, migrant workers, mums and dads with their children, plus travelers. As a crowd numbering in the hundreds leaves the railway transport, other individuals cheer “jiayou”, a chant for support which means “add oil”.

Called the “shovel supermen”, they traveled to this town in massive numbers, as volunteers eager to support after a distant typhoon burst a natural dam and displaced massive quantities of water, mud and silt crashing through this settlement.

Just days before, calamity occurred the locality in the region, a picturesque county on Taiwan’s east coast traditionally a magnet for tourists. Peripheral areas of 2025’s strongest typhoon, the typhoon, poured heavy precipitation across the area, and on Tuesday afternoon it destroyed a risky dam along the river. This body of water, created by earth movement in July, was being watched closely and leaders had expected breaching was likely, but the result surpassed predictions. Over 15 million tons of water came down, propelling a wave of thick sludge through the town. No fewer than 18 individuals lost their lives.

Mud and wreckage stacks up in the streets, as locals empty out lower-level residences. Damaged automobiles stack together, and the high school sportsfield sits below layers of soil. The devastation intensifies near the waterway, where properties on rural land are buried completely. Most of the deaths happened in this area.

‘They just want to assist and support’

A week on, and the search and rescue operation has dwindled, weather cleared. Debris on pathways stays viscous, pulling off footwear, and it smells, heating under sunlight. Some of the mud hardened to powder, which fills the air near the railway stop. People shout over the crowds, guiding individuals to supply sorting groups or into teams to help individual homes nearby.

But people are laughing and cheering each other on. Almost everyone came from outside. During that weekend – the initial day over break days – over thirty thousand helpers arrived by train, quadrupling standard community size. Supplemental trips got implemented, within days traffic controls were in place to handle the influx.

Many officials and soldiers are on site, as well as relief workers from Tzu Chi, overseeing about 10,000 helpers. Certain helpers responded to online requests from residents, or arrived specifically to the homes of acquaintances. People move holding equipment looking for someone who needs help removing debris.

“A lot of volunteers, they only desire to come and help,” states Tzu Chi’s deputy CEO Scott Liu.

The intention is good and mostly helpful, though unstructured. Throughout the town, numerous participants travel along avenues blocked by sludge and remains, as vehicles, motorcycles and small excavators veer around them.

“Lacking coordination, it could impact individuals attempting to perform emergency tasks, delaying progress,” a firefighter says, yet notes the situation remained manageable.

‘No government people arrived locally’

Throughout the community helpers received warm reception with open arms by residents.

Wang Wei-chang is removing final debris from the property. Wang lives out of town, and says his parents survived after retreating to higher stories. A water mark sits quite elevated on the walls, not quite reaching the paper calendar remaining unchanged from that date. Interiors became clear at present, but the street outside accumulates debris, needing specialists to remove it again. He says lacking support, everyone would remain amid sludge.

“Three days after the flooding, no officials visited whatsoever,” says Wang. “Yet supporters appeared, during early hours. They mentioned their location [on Taiwan’s west coast].”

He’s not the only resident who is unsatisfied regarding official reaction. While disasters typically strain capabilities, this situation caused blame games regarding responsibility among local leaders and the central government, who are from rival parties. The largest ever safety instruction in Taiwan became active from national authorities a day before the disaster, yet exist concerns regarding execution.

County officials said the expansion of the evacuation zone – shortly before – came belatedly, and citizens should have been told to depart, not just move upstairs. The central government responded they provided multiple warnings though regional administration was legally in charge for execution. Taiwan’s premier this person announced administration planned to review the reasons failed to occur certain locations.

From the victims who died, the majority were elderly people choosing to remain at their properties, various succumbing on the first floor, according to regional sources.

Multiple emergency warnings released, including the day prior, based on information. However evaluations varied often, and various citizens claim inadequate emergency awareness, and that the mostly elderly population needed personal visits in case they didn’t hear loudspeaker broadcasts or receive texts.

“Local shops, {our PXMart|supermarkets|groc