Students' Roles in Reconstructing Lives

2013/03/08

FENG, WEN-HSING

Residents in Taiwan and Japan both live with the threat of active fault lines. Such fault lines cause large earthquakes that lead to the loss of lives and the destruction of communities. In Taiwan’s recent history, this was seen in the 921 Earthquake (1999); while in Japan, it was the 311 Earthquake Tsumani. While Taiwan is now close to full recovery, Japan – after almost two years of reconstruction - is still in the arduous process of recovering.

When faced with unforeseeable natural disasters, what are human beings to do? This question formed the basis of a recent forum held at the TKU Tamsui Campus. Participants to the forum included students from TKU and Ritsumeikan University (Japan), who together discussed a range of topics on students’ roles in the reconstruction of a post-disaster community. In addition, the visiting students and teachers held a separate photo exhibition that showed how Ritsumeikan students have helped to rebuild battered local communities over the last two years.

Second year TKU student Lin Tsu-Chieh described what he felt was the most touching photograph at the display. The picture what captured one month after the disaster. It depicts school children returning to their school to find personal belongings, but instead finding a shattered heap of mud and rubble.

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