Taiwanese call for souls to come home -CNN news

(原來外國人是這樣講啊!)

Weeping loved ones set up homemade shrines near devastated villages to calm the spirits of the dead and honor the belief that their souls will return home after seven days.

"Grandma, my big brother, when you hear my voice, follow me," one man cried out.

Following Taiwanese tradition, gifts were provided for the afterlife: paper money for security, food for sustenance and toys for the children. Women called out the names of dead relatives, urging them to comfort each other.

Mourning ceremonies on the seventh day after death are a part of Taiwanese folk tradition, according to Yeh Rong Nan, from the nearby town of Jia Shian. 

The "first seventh" is a day when families call out to the spirits of the dead to calm them and bring them home.

Taiwanese believe when a person dies, they are unaware of their death and their soul wanders. It is the responsibility of the living families to guide the departed and if the souls don't come home by the seventh day, they become ghosts.

Morakot hit the island last weekend, dropping 102 inches of rain. The storm roared on to mainland China on Sunday, killing at least six people and displacing 1.4 million, authorities said.

The toll was much higher in Taiwan, where the storm was blamed for killing 123 people, according to the latest figures from Taiwan's National Disaster Prevention and Protection Commission.

Mary Yu, spokeswoman for the commission's Central Emergency Operation Center, said 53 people were unaccounted for. 

At least 1,375 people awaited rescue in towns inaccessible to rescuers who have faced torrential downpours, dense fog, rugged terrain and raging rivers. Washed-out roads and bridges have made some rescue operations impossible, the disaster commission said.

Despite the obstacles, 2,518 people were rescued on Saturday, Yu said.

The U.S. will send food, portable shelters and other aid items to Taiwan in the coming days, U.S. Defense Department officials told CNN on Saturday. The USS Denver, which carries at least two CH-53 heavy-lift helicopters and has water-making capabilities on board, will head to Guam or Okinawa, Japan, in the coming days where it will pick up the aid and deliver it to the storm ravaged region.

Southern and central Taiwan were hardest hit by the storm.

Mudslides inundated some places in southern Taiwan, including the village of Shiao Lin, where 160 homes were lost. Authorities believe hundreds of people could be trapped under five stories of mud in the village.

On a road overlooking the former town, Tsai Sung Yu pointed to where his childhood home was.

"My school, my family, my house -- it's gone," the youth said.

A memorial service was being held under a tent where framed pictures of the dead were crowded on tables.

"He's gone, he's gone, that one's gone, all these grandchildren are gone," said a tearful Yu Chin Chih. She lost 10 members of her family.

"We went to Shiao Lin village for the first time yesterday to look for their bodies. But then I realized there's nothing you can do. We couldn't find them," she said

BBC

Taiwan leader in typhoon apology

Relatives gathered in Hsiaolin, where hundreds are buried feared dead President Ma Ying-jeou of Taiwan has apologised for the slow official response to Typhoon Morakot. "We could have done better and we could have been faster," he told reporters one week after the typhoon struck. Hundreds of people are still trapped by mudslides and floods. More than 120 have been confirmed dead. Families of nearly 400 people feared dead in the village of Hsiaolin returned there on Saturday to the site to grieve for their loved ones. See map of affected area   Relatives were seen calling out to the buried victims and burning incense, while TV pictures showed one man being restrained as he tried to bang his head against a wall. Some families have demanded to have the bodies of victims dug up, but many believe digging them out would harm them, a local official told the BBC. The official said the wishes of relatives would be respected and the site would be turned into a memorial park. Survivors would be housed elsewhere. 'Very sorry' "We could have done better and we could have been faster. But we weren't better and we weren't faster," President Ma told reporters in Nantou county, one of the areas hit by the typhoon, the AFP news agency reports.   In pictures: Taiwan devastation 'Devil' typhoon's impact "Of course we are very sorry." Thousands of troops have been sent to help rescue them and provide shelter. They have been struggling across shattered roads and collapsed bridges to reach stranded communities. Critics say the authorities were too slow to realise the magnitude of the emergency, while some of those stranded have said they have received no help for days and have been short of food and water. Many have been waiting for days at the rescue operation centre in Qishan for news of relatives missing since the typhoon struck. Officials says rescue teams have been hampered by sustained rains in the centre and south of the island and a badly damaged road network which means many villages can only be accessed by air. Many of the worst-affected villages are inhabited by aborigines, who farm the mountainous terrain. Thousands more people are believed to be stranded in remote settlements elsewhere in southern and central Taiwan. The government has requested from foreign countries prefabricated buildings to help house those left homeless by the flooding and supplies of disinfectant, to try to prevent the spread of disease. In China, which claims sovereignty over Taiwan, companies and charities have raised more than 100m yuan ($14.6m) in donations, the official Xinhua news agency has reported.