A famous tourist site in Taiwan, Kaohsiung's Liugui Township has suffered its worst year of business in the time since the 8/8 floods. Next, we return to areas badly damaged by Typhoon Morakot, and ask the question: can business owners ever bring back the once booming days of this picturesque land?
Zhongxing Village Head, Guo Mingcong:
"There were two houses here before; both are gone. I had to tell the owners that their houses were swept away."
Earthquakes, typhoons, and landslides - each year they are striking with increasing vengeance. The little village of Liugui Township, located by the Laonong River, experienced this truth first-hand.
Zhongxing Village Head, Guo Mingcong:
"This area was somewhat affected by Typhoons Kalmaegi and Longwang."
But it was not until Typhoon Morakot, last year, that this place felt such oblique devastation: 16 houses, instantly engulfed by mudslides.
Zhongxing Village Head, Guo Mingcong:
"The villagers were evacuated on August 7. Then, from the night of August 8 through dawn, the whole area collapsed. Fortunately, none of my residents were injured, but all the houses here were covered under the landslides."
The excavators are worked nonstop amid the post-disaster relief work. The Caodi Tribe, of Zhongxing Village, was among the most severely hit, during the 8/8 floods; but one is still startled to see that after one year, there is still at least three storys of gravel and mud yet to be cleared.
Zhongxing Village Head, Guo Mingcong:
"Transportation, that's the major issue. For Liugui Township, the road to the outside has not been taken care of. The big bridge is still not cleared, so doing the rest is redundant. The main road has to be done first in order for us to manage it as a whole."
As this year's rainy season has already begun, repairs on many bridges in Liugui Township are being urgently rushed. It is a race against time, and though these roads may one day be cleared, the 8/8 panic and dread has been deeply imprinted, forever, in the minds of these villagers.
Zhongxing Villager, Fan A-wang:
"At the time I was trapped because of the water, I couldn't run. So I stayed on the roof for three or four nights. There were no ways out. I just wore a raincoat, and squatted there."
85-year-old Fan A-wang has been living in the Caodi Village for decades. Though he was able to escape the flood with his wife, his paddy was completely ravaged.
Zhongxing Villager, Fan A-wang:
"It was so serious. Our fields up there were instantly wiped away. We need to do this step by step, see where we can go with it. When we lack the capital, we stop, and when we get it, we continue. My children are all working temporary 8/8 disaster jobs."
Properties may one day be gleaned back, but the price nature demands is not so easy to pay.
Here at the Dazhi Falls of Zhongxing Village, this once famous and picturesque waterfall has been completely broken by the 8/8 mudslides.
Travelling to the north of the village, we arrive at Sanhe River, a major fish preserve. But here, there are no protected species to greet the eye, only rocks and debris.
Zhongxing Village Head, Guo Mingcong:
"Taiwan's endemic species, we had them all here. But now, they've all disappeared. All are gone, all destroyed."
The Sanhe Bridge also suffered a similar fate; with the path broken, Caodi villagers can only rely on a temporary bridge to get around.
The once bustling streets seem desolate without their businesses, and the tourists who used to flock to this major attraction.
Liugui Township Tourism Assoc. CEO, Lin Shuhui:
"All of the driftwood got stuck by this bridge. So at that time the piers were blocked and the water came up. That's why the bridge was damaged. The water kept washing over, eroding it."
In the wake of the 8/8 destruction, there was no escape for any business.
Liugui Township Tourism Assoc. CEO, Lin Shuhui:
"Including the hot spring resorts and private B&Bs, there are about 45 individual businesses that were severely hit and are beyond repair. Some were engulfed in the 8/8 flood. Honestly, until the end of June, we've only recovered 10 percent of it."
Though now the mountains are barren and the rivers debris-filled, what's most important is that no villagers or travelers suffered physical pain. Setting aside their emotional trauma, no-one is waiting to get back on their feet.
Liugui Township Tourism Assoc. CEO, Lin Shuhui:
"For our tourism industry, we have a routine schedule. We hope the roads can be fixed quickly, because we have a bamboo forest site here, which is great for sightseeing. We've included these scenic areas in our tour packages for the affected zones; this way, we can bring about another new business."
With a vision to bring Liugui Township back to its prime, residents here are starting anew, arming themselves with creativity and diligence.
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