MANILA (UCAN) — The president of Taiwan’s Chinese Regional Bishops’ Conference, Archbishop John Hung of Taipei, has left the Asian bishops’ plenary assembly to lead the Church’s response to deadly flooding back home.

Archbishop John Hung of Taipei — UCAN photo

“People have been texting me and calling to ask, ‘Where are you?'” Archbishop Hung told UCA News before leaving the Pius XII Catholic Center in Manila on Aug. 13, the third day of the 9th plenary assembly of the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences (FABC).

“I feel like a shepherd being called back to tend to his sheep,” Archbishop Hung said. The prelate added that he wants to find out for himself the extent of the damage and work out ways of getting Church aid quickly to those who need it.

“I heard the estimated extent of the damage is too big for the government to deal with by itself,” he explained.

Typhoon Morakot, the most powerful storm to hit Taiwan in the past 50 years, slammed into the eastern and southern parts of the island on Aug. 8. The government’s Central Emergency Operation Center (CEOC) said on Aug. 13 the storm had killed 108 people, injured 45, with 62 reportedly still missing. These figures are expected to rise as many villages are still cut off.

Bishop Philip Huang of Hualien, whose diocese is badly hit, is attending the FABC assembly with Bishop Martin Su Yao-Wen of Taichung and Bishop Baptist Lee of Hsinchu. In Bishop Huang’s absence, Auxiliary Bishop John Baptist Tseng King-zi of Hualien is directing Church relief work in eastern Taiwan.

Meanwhile, Kaohsiung diocese has stepped up its relief effort to victims in Kaohsiung and Pingtung counties, the two hardest hit counties in southern Taiwan.

In an update, the diocese said it has set up a central relief aid collection center in a Church school downtown. It has also set up a relief command center at St. Joseph Church in Chishan town of Kaohsiung, and two centers in Pingtung — at the Immaculate Conception Minor Basilica in Wenluan township and the Holy Cross Church in Chiatung township.

The “Daily Bread,” a charity group from Kaohsiung diocese, has called for donations of gasoline, rice, cooking oil, clothes, torches, candles, toiletries, canned food as well as other necessities.

Dominic Kao Hung-po, 60, a Daily Bread organizer, told UCA News that they are now in need of volunteers and vehicles to deliver the relief aid.

Though many indigenous laypeople live in the two counties, the Church is not yet able to get information on the number of Catholics dead and injured due to a breakdown in communication links, he added.

In the Wutai township of Pingtung, Father Dominic Tu Yung-hsiung, vicar general of Kaohsiung, told UCA News that four Catholics and one Protestant in his neighboring village had died in mudslides. All in his village were accounted for as they managed to evacuate in time. Almost all the Lukai indigenous people in the mountain township are Christians, according to Father Tu, the first Lukai priest in Taiwan.

In Manila, Archbishop Orlando Quevedo of Cotabato, the FABC secretary-general, conveyed an appeal by Archbishop Hung for help. Archbishop Quevedo said money and supplies are needed, especially drinking water. He advised participants of the plenary assembly to channel donations through Caritas Taiwan.