Volunteers flock to Hualien as holiday recovery efforts begin

Taipei, Oct. 4 (CNA) Volunteers returned in droves to Hualien County's Guangfu Township on Saturday, the first day of the Mid-Autumn Festival holiday, trading shovels for brooms, squeegees, and electrical tools as they helped residents clean homes and restore utilities.

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More than 1,800 households in Guangfu were affected by flooding after a barrier lake on Matai'an Creek overflowed on Sept. 23. Thanks to volunteer efforts to remove mud from homes, the first phase of the cleanup is nearly complete, and work has entered a new stage focused on detailed cleaning and utility repairs.

According to Taiwan Railway, more than 20,000 volunteers from around Taiwan had arrived at Guangfu Station as of noon Saturday, many wearing rainboots and carrying brooms, mops and hoses.

Lin (林), an electrician from Tainan, said replacing outlets and light switches should only take about half a day per household. However, he expressed concern that mud had seeped into the wiring and damaged protective casings, increasing the risk of future short circuits.

He therefore recommended that residents replace all wiring, which would take at least a full day.

A resident surnamed Hsieh (謝), who lives on Dunhou Road, stood at her doorway to thank passing volunteers. She said seeing the once-massive piles of mud reduced to empty space made her grateful for the support from people around the country.

Chi Lien-cheng (季連成), a chief coordinator at the Central Emergency Operation Center (CEOC), said untrained volunteers are still welcome and will be assigned separate tasks in Guangfu.

He cited the example of sandbag preparation: Many households had damaged doors and windows, and future typhoon preparedness will require 10,000 sandbags, which must be filled by hand. Volunteers can help prepare them for distribution.

Liang Ting-wei (梁庭蔚), an officer with the Army Huadong Defense Command responsible for volunteer coordination, said the military dispatched 2,413 troops to the disaster area on Saturday, noting that volunteer turnout was higher than usual on the first day of the three-day holiday.