Displaced by a typhoon, Taiwan’s Bunun people fear for the future of their culture
TENGJHIH HAMLET, Taiwan – Nestled high on a mountain slope in southern Taiwan, Tengjhih was a key settlement of the Bunun Indigenous people. Today, however, little remains but memories of the hamlet. Wild grass sprouts around abandoned houses. Stray dogs have made the empty streets their territory. The children’s toys and chairs scattered across the […]
In a remote mountainous area of southern Taiwan, the once-thriving Bunun Indigenous settlement of Tengjhih now stands as a somber reminder of the devastation wrought by Typhoon Morakot in 2009. The typhoon, which claimed 755 lives across the island and remains the deadliest storm in Taiwan's recorded history, wrought havoc on the Bunun community. Tengjhih, a key settlement within the Bunun people's domain, was largely destroyed, leaving behind only desolate landscapes and scattered remnants of a bygone era.
Dahu Ismahasan, president of the Bunun tribal council, stands in the abandoned village, his expression heavy with grief. He recalls the joyous days of his youth, when Tengjhih was a vibrant part of their lives. "When we were children, we played here. We were happy, innocent," he reminisces. Yet now, the village lies in ruins, a stark testament to the destructive power of nature.
The typhoon's impact was particularly devastating for the Bunun, who accounted for only 2.1% of Taiwan's total population at the time. Remarkably, 70% of areas deemed unsafe by the government were situated within Indigenous territories. As the only road leading to Tengjhih was obliterated by the storm, the 150 residents of the hamlet were compelled to abandon their ancestral homes and relocate to lower-lying areas, including Kaohsiung, Taiwan's third-largest city.
Written by urgent.news from Mongabay's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
