Postcard from Cishan

AFP / Getty

Mudslide covered houses in Namasia in Kaohsiung County, southern Taiwan. Rescuers struggled on August 14 to save thousands trapped in villages across southern and central Taiwan.

Wu su-feng knows she was one of the lucky ones. "My husband thought we were washed away," says Wu, a pregnant preschool teacher, sitting in a shelter for typhoon victims in the small town of Cishan in southern Taiwan. When Typhoon Morakot struck the island on Aug. 8, bringing nearly 9 ft. (around 2.5 m) of rain and the island's worst floods in over 50 years, Wu grabbed her 1-year-old son and climbed three hours to higher ground. There, she and hundreds of people from her village waited three stormy days and nights before military helicopters rescued and delivered...

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