Community, Communication, Compassion
The telephone rang in the dark: family calling to see if we could answer. "Better get dressed and go down." Coat. Passport. Sy-Chau, carrying 5-year-old Grace—whose legs had turned to jelly—led the way. Twelfth-floor neighbors, appreciative of the strong beam of Ring-Ru's lantern, followed.
In the dim light of the lobby, residents stood or sat quietly; others had gone through the open doors into the darkness of the street. Would there be an aftershock?
We waited, but not for long: the plate glass windows rattled, our chairs slid on the tile floor. The loosely-knit group scattered like raindrops on a pavement, and soon those with cars had abandoned our ship and were jockeying to line up systematically alongside an unbuilt-upon open area a few blocks away.
Were we or any of our family and friends hurt physically in the worst earthquake to hit Taiwan in over half a century?
Thankfully, the answer was "no."
Were those of us who were spared personal injury and loss affected otherwise?
Fear
Five-year-old Grace was so frightened that her legs would not support her... Weeks afterward, nightmares continue to break into her sleep...
Loss
At Sy-Chau's construction site, half-way between Taichung City and the earthquake epicenter in rural Nantou County, hillside townhouses built to contemporary Taiwanese building code standards weathered the impact. Interior furnishings, including television sets, microwaves, framed pictures, shelves of dishes, were a total loss. Far more tragically, older towns, rural dwellings and the roads leading to them were completely destroyed, with incredible family and community losses.
Communication
In the two weeks following the 7.6 reading, more than 5,000 aftershocks kept everyone wondering what next. Although six weeks later NPR reported a 6-point first in the waters to the south of Taiwan, CNN's omission of the event was labeled "not newsworthy" since "there was no threat to human life."
1990's technology certainly assisted in our ability to maintain crucial links with family and community. Even though the supplies of electricity and water were intermittent, the potential for telephone contact appeared almost uninterrupted: conferring, consulting, reassuring, changing plans, often by cellular phone between car, home, worksite, the street.
How do Cosmo members define the limits of family, friends, community? From what well-spring comes the outpouring of aid, the genuine concern of those of us leading charmed lives outside such boundaries of physical loss as these?
The University of Illinois Turkish Student Association has devoted hours on the quad and on-line to raise funds urgently needed for earthquake relief there.
Compassion
Many fund-raising groups have had flyers posted on university buildings soliciting donations for Taiwan. Who among us will support these efforts or be in touch with those in the path of Hurricane Floyd on the U.S. east coast or with the millions, yes millions, of homeless in Orissa?
Crises—planetary and human—draw us into community with one another. Communication channels have never been more abundant and accessible.
What are the boundaries of
OUR COSMO COMMUNITY?
Each of us has the answer.
Continue to the next article.
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