TAIPEI: "Where are you? We're looking for you," a woman wails as she wanders around the sheet of mud that was once the picturesque village of Hsiaolin, Taiwan's Kaoshiung county.

A total of 491 villagers are believed to have been buried alive in the deadly mudslide caused by Typhoon Morakot on August 8. Not a single one of the 160 homes that made up the settlement in a lush valley is visible. Today's Hsiaolin is a sight of desolation: Incense smokes at the makeshift shrines, bedraggled dogs stubbornly try to find their vanished homes, whirring backhoes dig at possible locations where people were buried, while the smell of decomposition hangs heavily in the air.

People desperately try to find loved ones, but identifying dead bodies is often an unbearable task.

Guo Hsiuen-yi, a 35-year-old man with eight relatives in the village, told Taiwan Apple Daily reporters that he had lost the courage to go through the photos of dead bodies after leafing through dozens of them.

"It's really painful to look at the photos ... especially the photos of children scrunched into a fetal position. It's hard to imagine what kinds of horrors they suffered," he said.

Guo has left his DNA samples with authorities so he wouldn't have to look at the photos.

Liu Yan-lin, whose father is Liu Ren-he, the chief of Hsiaolin village, is one of those who think it better for the dead to stay buried.

Her parents were believed to be leading some 100 fellow villagers toward higher ground when the mudslide happened. They haven't been seen since.

Remembering her last phone call with her father on the night of August 8, Liu told CNA reporters that she didn't have time to say "Happy Father's Day" because her father was in a hurry to make emergency arrangements for villagers.

"I thought father was unable to lead the villagers to safety successfully. I didn't expect any of them make it," she said. "But I'm proud of him, for the sacrifice he made."

"If my parents have a next life, I hope they would reincarnate as my children. They have taken care of me for many years; I hope the heaven will give me a chance to take care of them," Liu said.

Although the wound of losing homes and family members is still fresh, the best therapy may be looking forward.

Already, villagers have organized a self-help group to build new lives.

Many young people have quit their jobs in cities to participate in the work of restoring the village because "they see hope", Cai Song-yu, who heads the group, told reporters of China Times.

The group hopes the survivors will be relocated with the nearby Wulipu Tribe, an aboriginal tribe with a close relationship to Hsiaolin. Once there, they hope to develop an agricultural tourism site focused on aboriginal cultures.

"We would forget our pain only if we build a better future," Cai said.

China Daily

(HK Edition 08/20/2009 page2)