台灣加油! Devastation of Typhoon Morakot

Being a Taiwanese, one can not ignore the landslide disaster caused by Typhoon Morakot on August 8, 2009 in southern Taiwan which obliterated many remote hillside villages. The death toll from Typhoon Morakot stands at 160, with at least 500 people missing, presumed dead. This was the worst weather disaster to hit Taiwan in recent history. The political blame game has started and all the rescue operations have ceased and it's now in the phases of recovery and rebuilding. The tasks at hand are daunting and no one has any idea how this aftermath will resolve.

I feel tremendous sadness for those who lived (and suffered) through this disaster. Listen to the first-hand account of 3 survivors in a town where more than 400 people had vanished. It is a testament of the human spirit at its best!

今天看到8/20 的國民大會(天災無情劫後餘生), 非常感動。 于美人邀請了在這次受災最嚴重的小林村裡面倖存的47個人裡面的三位村民來節目中描述災難當天發生的事。 聽了之後,真讓人動容! 讓我非常佩服台灣人純樸、刻苦、耐勞的精神! 台灣加油!

洛杉磯又地震了!!! Earthquake!!!

My husband and the kids had just finished working on the science project involving boiling some soda cans and were moving on to the next science project when we heard a huge rumble. I was sitting on the sofa getting ready to talk to my dad on Skype. Once I ascertained that it was earthquake, I screamed to the kids to go outside. But my son was so fast, he ran past me and hid under our kitchen table! My daughter had her shoes on, so she managed to get out the door. We heard a loud thump, like something fell. Then all of a sudden, it was quiet. Earthquake no more.

In hindsight, my son did the right thing going under the table. He is only in Grade 1 and he must had only 2 earthquake drills since he started elementary school. But I must say, all the training exercises helped. He knew exactly what to do. In a split second, disaster can strike and often times, there just wasn't enough time to react. Trying to get outside might be the thing to do, but often times, it's not possible to do, especially if you are in bed, on the second floor of a house. I have to work out a disaster plan with my husband so we all know where to go (i.e. the escape routes) if we are in different parts of the house.

Tonight's earthquake lasted maybe 10 seconds. According to U. S. Geological Survey (http://earthquake.usgs.gov/), it was a magnitude 4.7 earthquake, centered around Lennox, CA, which is less than 4 miles east of the LAX (Los Angeles International Airport). We are about 12 miles south of Lennox. We saw the local news and many people had china and glassware broken. We later found out that the loud thump in our house was the ladder falling down. Nothing got broken, thank goodness. Even though it wasn't a big earthquake, it still shook us up!

剛剛洛杉磯又地震了!!! 這一回的震央是在 Lennox市, 大概在洛杉磯國際機場往東走五公里的地區。我老公正在跟小孩做項科學實驗。他們才剛完成第一個實驗, 正在準備下一個實驗時, 聽到一陣陣的隆隆聲,好像大卡車要衝進來似的。我正坐在沙發上要跟我爸通 Skype。 我話都還沒開始講就大聲叫“地震了,趕快出去!〞兒子馬上跑到餐桌下面躲。女兒則跟我要開後門出去。就在這時候,地震就停了。根本就來不及反應! 還是兒子做得對, 只有他跑對地方, 躲到桌子底下去。平常學校就有辦災難演習, 這一回真的有用到, 派上用場了! 兒子才一年級就知道該怎麼做, 讓我們大人覺得很慚愧。我得和老公好好的想想我們自家的災難計劃。我們應該事就先想好逃生路線--人在一樓時要往哪走, 人在二樓時要往哪逃。這些都應該事先要跟小孩子講好, 出事時, 大家就會知道該怎麼做了。

這次地震的威力只有4.7, 不至於造成任何嚴重的傷害。但是小孩、大人都嚇了一跳。小孩子還真的是上了一堂重要的人生課程--如何逃難!