921

Origins
　On September 21st (921) 1999 an earthquake of 7.6 magnitude shook Central Taiwan. 2,488 persons lost their lives or went missing never to be seen again. More than 100,000 homes collapsed or were damaged. People lost jobs because factories closed. The effects of the disaster were physical, economic, social, psychological, and spiritual.
　
　 Church members island wide and around the world, and non-believers who trusted the integrity of the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan (PCT) have made generous donations through the PCT towards rescue, relief and rebuilding. Members of local churches all over Taiwan went to the quake zone as volunteers to rescue victims and comfort survivors. The General Assembly designed and established a mid-term "Temporary Housing Project" and a long-term "Community Recuperation and Care Center(921CRC) project" in order to exercise faithful stewardship of donations received.
　
　 The "Community Recuperation and Care Center Project" is an historic venture for the PCT. It has been included into the PCT's "21st Century New Taiwan Mission Movement Project" which was approved during the General Assembly meeting in April 1999. It is the immediate response of the PCT to the call of social and community needs generated by a natural disaster. It aims to express the partnership of the PCT with the community through the long and tough work of rebuilding.

Locations of CRCs
　　The first three of our current 18 centers, Tongshir, Shirkang/Shinshir and Kwohsing, were established in November of 1999, two month after the earthquake. They were followed by Wufong, Nantou, Chongliau, Chichi, Yuchir, Puli, Wuchie, Sejek, Luku, Chushan, Hsinyie, Tayan, Choulan, Race relation, and Gospel Supporting over the next 6 months.

Table 1. Dates of the establishment of the centers.

The Missions of the CRC's
　1) Visiting quake victims and their families
　2) Post trauma psychological counseling and rehabilitation
　3) Child day care and after school tutoring
　4) Youth growth
　5) Senior citizen home care
　6) Community service network building Documentation
　　 of community social and property line changes
　7) Community economic development

Multiple sources of staffs
Human resource shortages are common among most of the NGO's involved in post quake rebuilding. The PCT CRC's were blessed to have sufficient workers. Each center's professional workers are graduates of the theological seminaries of the PCT, University social work departments or the Garden of Hope Foundation. Each CRC also hired local people which brings advantages in community service. Some universities have asked CRC to provide internship training for their students. The central government's Ministry of Labor Affairs invitee the CRC to provide temporary community jobs subsidized by the Ministry. The CRC also cooperates with the Commission of Youth to provide summer jobs for local youth so they can serve their hometowns and earn money for their school expenses.

The CRC Office
In order to provide professional back up to centers for administrative efficiency, a central CRC office was established in February of 2000. It has 8 tasks.

1) On the job training for workers
2) Volunteer recruiting and training
3) On site supervision and assistance
4) Resource gathering and distribution
5) Media relations
6) Design and amendment of regulations
7) General administration
8) Provide regular reports to the General Assembly

Commitment, Rebuilding, and a New Century
The CRC project is a long-term commitment of the PCT in response Taiwan's largest natural disaster in the 20th century. Through the efforts of the PCT CRC we aim to encourage churches and church members towards similar commitment. We to testify that the Gospel is not just what we proclaim with our lips, but also what we do in our communities.
We believe that when we do our service step by step, the following things will come about in the future.
1) Fulfillment of the 21st Century New Taiwan Mission Movement Project.
2) Churches will learn new models and experiences in community service.
3) Professional skills and methods of social and community work will be developed for the PCT.
4) The network of NGO in central Taiwan will experience empowerment.
5) A new relationship between the PCT and Taiwan's society will develop as evidence of the fulfillment of the Kingdom of God may be fulfilled.