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.
The International Industrial Talents Education Special (INTENSE) Program to attract foreigners to study and work in Taiwan will provide scholarships and a living allowance of up to NT$440,000 per person for two years beginning in August, Minister of Education Pan Wen-chung (潘文忠) told a meeting of the legislature’s Education and Culture Committee yesterday. Pan was giving an update on the program’s implementation, a review of universities’ efforts to recruit international students and promotion of the Taiwan Huayu Bilingual Exchanges of Selected Talent (BEST) program. Each INTENSE Program student would be awarded a scholarship of up to NT$100,000 per year for up to
‘MONEY PIT’: The KMT’s more than NT$2 trillion infrastructure project proposals for eastern Taiwan lack professional input and financial transparency, the DPP said The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus yesterday said it would ask the Executive Yuan to raise a motion to oppose the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus’ infrastructure proposals and prepare to file for a constitutional interpretation if the KMT-dominated legislature forces their passage. The DPP caucus described the three infrastructure plans for transportation links to eastern Taiwan proposed by the KMT as “three money pit projects” that would cost more than NT$2 trillion (US$61.72 billion). It would ask the Executive Yuan to oppose public projects that would drain state financial resources, DPP caucus secretary-general Rosalia Wu (吳思瑤) said. It would also file for
BASIC OPERATIONS: About half a dozen navy ships from both countries took part in the days-long exercise based on the Code for Unplanned Encounters at Sea An unpublicized joint military exercise between Taiwan and the US in the Pacific Ocean last month was carried out in accordance with an international code, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said yesterday. According to a Reuters report citing four unnamed sources, the two nations’ navies last month conducted joint drills in the Western Pacific. The drills were not made public at the time, but “about half-a-dozen navy ships from both sides, including frigates and supply and support vessels, participated in the days-long exercises,” Reuters reported, citing the sources. The drills were designed to practice “basic” operations such as communications, refueling and resupplies,
SELF-SUFFICIENCY: The project would only be the beginning, as Taiwan needs at least 120 satellites to ensure uninterrupted communication, Wu Tsung-tsong said The Taiwan Space Agency (TASA) yesterday said it plans to launch six low Earth orbit satellites starting in 2026 as part of the government’s plan to boost the resilience of the nation’s communications. The development of the technology gained attention after Ukrainians were able to access the Internet through Space Exploration Technologies Corp (SpaceX) CEO Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite service, despite their infrastructure being severely damaged in the war with Russia. Two of the satellites would be built by the government, while four would involve cooperation between TASA and private contractors. “Over the past 30 years, the satellite technology in Taiwan has