Taiwanese band Mayday (五月天) has announced plans to perform in Hualien County following an earthquake measuring 7.2 on the Richter scale that struck the county on April 3.
At the end of a charity concert in Quanzhou, China, on Saturday night, the band announced that its next show would be in Hualien, which has also had hundreds of aftershocks.
Many Hualien residents, left messages on Mayday’s Facebook page to express their gratitude.
Photo: Screen grab from Mayday’s Facebook page
“Thank you. Hualien needs this,” one message read.
“Willing to come to Hualien when we need it most. Thank you, Mayday,” another said.
Hualien Hotel Association President Chang Hsuan-han (張琄菡), a Mayday fan, yesterday said the announcement was exciting news among many recent frustrations, including five hotel buildings that have been listed as dangerous.
Hualien County Commissioner Hsu Chen-wei (徐榛蔚) extended a warm welcome to the band.
The Hualien Research and Administration Department said it has not received information about Mayday’s concert, but thanked everyone who has helped Hualien, adding that the county government would provide the band with the necessary assistance to hold a concert.
Mayday earlier this month donated NT$5 million (US$153,563) for disaster relief after the earthquake.
In 2015, the band also held a charity concert in the area most heavily hit by a gas explosion in Kaohsiung.
Separately, earthquake relief donations from the public had reached NT$1.4 billion as of 8am yesterday, the Taiwan Foundation for Disaster Relief said.
The money would be used to assist in the areas affected by the quake, with a focus on emergency medical care, shelter and reconstruction, said the foundation, which falls under the Ministry of Health and Welfare.
The donation drive is set to end at midnight on Friday, it said, adding that online fundraising platform WaBay would stop accepting donations at midnight tomorrow, while Line Pay would close its donation platform at midnight on Thursday.
Taiwan aims to open 18 representative offices and seven Taiwan Tourism Information Centers worldwide by next year to attract international visitors, the Tourism Administration said on Saturday. The agency has so far opened three representative offices abroad this year and would open two more before the end of the year, it said. It has also already opened information centers in Jakarta, Mumbai and Paris, and is to open one in Vancouver next month and in Manila in December, it said. Next year, it would also open offices in Amsterdam, Dubai and Sydney, it added. While the Cabinet did not mention international tourists in its
EYES AT SEA: Many marine enthusiasts have expressed interest in volunteering for coastal patrols, which would help identify stowaways and illegal fishing, the CGA said Six thousand coastal patrol volunteers are to be recruited for 159 inspection offices to enhance the nation’s response to “gray zone” conflicts, Coast Guard Administration (CGA) sources said yesterday. Volunteer teams would be established to increase the resilience of coastal defense systems in the wake of two unlawful entries attempted by Chinese over the past three months, Ocean Affairs Council Minister Kuan Bi-ling (管碧玲) said. A former Chinese navy captain drove a motorboat into the Tamsui River (淡水河) in Taipei on the eve of the Dragon Boat Festival in June, while another Chinese man sailed in a rubber boat into the Houkeng
NEXT LEVEL: The defense ministry confirmed that a video released last month featured personnel piloting new FPV drone systems being developed by the Armaments Bureau Taipei and Washington are pushing for their drone companies to work together to establish a China-free supply chain, the Financial Times reported on Friday. A delegation of high-level executives and US government officials were yesterday to arrive in Taipei to discuss with their Taiwanese counterparts collaboration on drone technology procurement and development, the report said. The executives represent 26 US manufacturers of drone and counter-drone systems, while the officials are from the US Department of Commerce and the US Department of Defense’s Defense Innovation Unit, along with Dev Shenoy, principal director for microelectronics in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense
‘ANONYMOUS 64’: A national security official said that it is an attempt by China to increase domestic anti-Taiwanese sentiment and inflame cross-strait tensions The Ministry of National Defense’s (MND) Information, Communications and Electronic Force Command (ICEFCOM) yesterday denied accusations by China that it had undermined regional security by carrying out cyberattacks against targets in China, adding instead that Beijing was responsible for raising tensions and undermining regional peace. The Chinese Ministry of State Security on WeChat accused a hacker group called “Anonymous 64” of targeting China, Hong Kong and Macau starting earlier this year through frequent cyberattacks. The group carried out cyberattacks to seize control of Web sites, outdoor electronic billboards and video-on-demand platforms in China, Hong Kong and Macau, it said, adding the hackers’