A magnitude 7.8 earthquake occurred in Turkey and Syria, leaving many people dead or seriously injured. To provide emergency aid and help them reconstruct their cities, the Asia University Board has donated NT$1.48 million dollars in the name of its staff and faculty. Meanwhile, the university's teachers and students are carrying out an activity known as “Praying for Turkey and Giving Warmth to the Needy.” The university's president Jeffrey J. P. Tsai issued a call for more donations of money and goods to Turkey through an attitude of kindness and generosity.  

   A stele that was moved from the “14th Village of Shin Park” is erected by Taiji Lake within the campus. Once placed at the entrance of a village in Nantou County  where some prefab homes were built to accommodate people who lost their homes in the 1999 Jiji earthquake, this stele bears testimony to Taiwanese people's perseverance in adversity. Founded after the 1999 Jiji earthquake, Asia University sought to move this stele back to its campus at the 6th university with an aim of sharing its testimony about how earthquake victims have shown courage amidst a disaster, which reminds us to live in the moment and appreciate what we have. The university even received letters from people who helped to reconstruct the destroyed village, expressing their gratitude to Asia University for keeping this giant stone for them to remember the historic incident.

   This explains why we at Asia University can relate to how Turkish people might feel in the face of a natural disaster and are eager to donate a day's wages to help them out of the crisis. Learning that teachers and students were eager to provide support to Turkish people, the board of trustees decided to donate NT$1.48 million dollars (the total amount of all faculty and staff's wages) to provide relief to earthquake victims in Turkey. Seeing this, the university's teachers and students set up “donation boxes” on campus, requesting more people to show kindness toward the needy. 

   Tsai, Chang-Hai, founder and chairman of Asia University, said with feeling that he was deeply moved by the faculty and staff's kind generosity and would like to give monetary donations on behalf of the university's employees.  

   As pointed out by Jeffrey J. P. Tsai, not only does post-disaster reconstruction take a long time, but it requires more attention and support from across the world. As Turkey and Syria have been snowing over the last weeks, people are in dire need of daily necessities. The USR Office of the university has launched a campaign to inspire more people to do good deeds through monetary donations. Asia University hopes to help the earthquake victims to start living a normal life again.

Jeffrey J. P. Tsai, president of Asia University (the third from the left), joined the university’s campaign, calling for kind assistance for Turkish people and showing our support to them: “Hang in there!”