With tonnes of donated goods and loads of money pouring in after Typhoon Morakot hit southern Taiwan, a group of students launched an online campaign to “collect” emotional support for victims of the disaster.
Organizers of the campaign Beating Heart asked people who would like to show emotional support for the victims to send a picture of them forming a heart shape with their hands and a few lines of encouragement to one of the organizers’ e-mail accounts (twinklinglittlestar.33@gmail.com).
Participants can also choose to film a 30-second video clip of them, saying a few words to encourage the victims while forming a heart shape with their hands, the organizers said.
The organizers said they would produce a music video with the pictures and the video clips dedicated to the victims and broadcast the music video on TV and the Internet.
The chief organizer of the campaign, who went by the name Xiaopo (小波), told the Taipei Times during a telephone interview that the campaign was meant to serve as a channel for people who had been unable to make major donations or get involved in volunteer work to show how much they care about the victims.
“Typhoon Morakot is like a double-edged sword. It affected not only the victims, but also those who watched footage of the disaster on TV and felt they were unable to do much to help,” said Xiaopo, a student at the Fu Jen Catholic University.
“I’m a college student. I don’t have a lot of money to donate [to the victims] or have the power to call on [people to help with relief efforts], but I can pick up a camera [to show my concern] ... and a beating heart,” Xiaopo wrote on his Web blog.
The campaign had attracted 1,268 participants since it was launched on Wednesday. The organizers have extended the deadline of the campaign to Friday.
“We were surprised by the warmhearted support of so many people,” Xiaopo said.
Xiaopo said the organizers also hoped to put together a team to help students affected by the disaster with their schoolwork after the fall semester begins.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy
RESPONSE: The government would investigate incidents of Taiwanese entertainers in China promoting CCP propaganda online in contravention of the law, the source said Taiwanese entertainers living in China who are found to have contravened cross-strait regulations or collaborated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) could be subject to fines, a source said on Sunday. Several Taiwanese entertainers have posted on the social media platform Sina Weibo saying that Taiwan “must be returned” to China, and sharing news articles from Chinese state media. In response, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has asked the Ministry of Culture to investigate whether the entertainers had contravened any laws, and asked for them to be questioned upon their return to Taiwan, an official familiar with the matter said. To curb repeated
Myanmar has turned down an offer of assistance from Taiwanese search-and-rescue teams after a magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck the nation on Friday last week, saying other international aid is sufficient, the National Fire Agency said yesterday. More than 1,700 have been killed and 3,400 injured in the quake that struck near the central Myanmar city of Mandalay early on Friday afternoon, followed minutes later by a magnitude 6.7 aftershock. Worldwide, 13 international search-and-rescue teams have been deployed, with another 13 teams mobilizing, the agency said. Taiwan’s search-and-rescue teams were on standby, but have since been told to stand down, as
RSS