Amid the depressing clouds after the disaster,
You open your big, dark eyes,
Staring with innocence as you arrive,
Bringing to everyone exceptional joy and smiles.
You, the earthquake baby, whose survival itself is a miracle...

--Ho Mei-yi

Lan Hsing-hsi was called the "earthquake baby" even before he was born. When the most destructive earthquake to hit Taiwan in over a century occurred on September 21, 1999, Lan Chi-ting, Hsing-hsi's mother, was among the lucky few who survived in the rubble of the collapsed Tunghsing building in Taipei. Hsing-hsi was born to the world on October 18, less than one month after the catastrophe. On that day, Tzu Chi commissioner Ho Mei-yi brought a birthday cake to the mother and baby in the hospital.

For Mei-yi, the birth of Hsing-hsi was very special. His birthday falls on the same day as hers, and his birth embodied a ray of hope in the aftermath of the earthquake. Mei-yi wrote the above poem as a blessing to the earthquake baby.

"A visit to the baby was the best present I could give myself," said Mei-yi with a smile.

On the night before the great tremor, Mrs. Lan could not sleep. Already eight months pregnant, she was kept awake by the sickness due to her pregnancy. She remembered her mother had told her to chant the Mantra of Great Compassion whenever she felt uncomfortable. She did so and gradually fell asleep. When the earthquake struck at 1:47 in the morning, the twelve-story Tunghsing building was reduced to rubble in a matter of seconds. Mrs. Lan and her husband lived on the eighth floor. Some of the apartments on the eighth story were completely buried under the rubble and not many residents survived. Mrs. Lan thought it must have been due to her chanting that the Great Compassion Bodhisattva saved her family. It so happened that when the building collapsed, their apartment fell beside a temple, which shielded their apartment from the crumbling structure of the higher stories.

She and her husband were only slightly injured when the rescue team found them. They even went to the hospital on foot, taking the doctors and nurses by great surprise. Mrs. Lan broke a few ribs when she was thrown to the ground by the quake. Doctors advised against a natural delivery, and she underwent cesarean delivery on October 18.

After the earthquake, Mrs. Lan saw the relief efforts of Tzu Chi members at the disaster scene and in the hospital. Moved by their great compassion, she decided that in the future she would register the "earthquake baby" as a Tzu Chi member.

Ho Mei-yi helped in the relief operations after the earthquake, and she saw the loss of many lives. She recognized that care for quake survivors must be a long-term effort, especially in terms of moral support. When she learned from the news that the "earthquake baby" was going to arrive on her own birthday, she immediately felt a special relationship to the baby. She visited the Lans and brought the couple some books and tapes by Master Cheng Yen, so that they could learn more about Tzu Chi. She and the Lans immediately became good friends.

Mei-yi's memories of the great earthquake trace back to the days just before it struck Taiwan. On September 19, she and other Tzu Chi volunteers went on the streets to raise funds for earthquake victims in Turkey. Such a great catastrophe seemed so distant then. Many people showed only indifference as they walked past their donation boxes. Mei-yi remembers what the Master said at that time: "Don't think that this kind of natural disaster will never fall on us." But at that moment, it was hard to think that such a great calamity would soon fall on the island.

Then, when the great earthquake really struck Taiwan, the words of the Master immediately came to Mei-yi's mind. She thought to herself, "How true! We thought it was only a distant possibility, and now it is happening right in front of our eyes!"

On the day after the tremor, Mei-yi and other Tzu Chi volunteers traveled down south to the badly devastated regions in Nantou to help in relief efforts. The disaster scene was a nightmare. Many people were buried under the debris of collapsed buildings, and many died before they could be pulled out. When night fell, it was total darkness everywhere since there was no electricity, and quake survivors slept out in the open, fearing that aftershocks might topple more buildings. Every heart grieved and everyone was eager to help. It was both an instinctive reaction and a strong emotional need to care for the quake survivors.

It was then that Mei-yi suddenly realized how lucky she was to be a Tzu Chi volunteer: she was able to make herself useful in such a crisis. She knew that there were many people who wished to help but did not know how or had no means of doing so. She also realized that because of the experience Tzu Chi volunteers had accumulated through their international relief efforts, they were able to provide fast, efficient relief when their own land and countrymen were hit by a disaster. Despite the chaos in the aftermath of the earthquake, the Tzu Chi volunteers acted with steadiness and swiftness in their relief actions.

The loss of life and the destruction of the land made everyone gloomy and depressed. In spite of this, the Tzu Chi volunteers did not rest even when the emergency relief operations had ended. They began building prefabricated houses for quake survivors. When the first batch of houses were inaugurated, Mei-yi observed that the bleakness in the air evaporated. For the first time after the earthquake, there were smiles on the faces of the survivors as well as the volunteers. She saw the same kind of resilience in the eyes of the newly-born "earthquake baby," Lan Hsing-hsi. Hsing-hsi stared curiously and innocently into a world he had yet to explore, without the faintest inkling of the great disaster and his narrow escape just a month before. Mei-yi was touched, and she knew Hsing-hsi would be a very special child to her.

After a great catastrophe, life goes on, and the birth of new life brings new hope. "We were lucky to have survived," Mei-yi believes. "The mission to rebuild our land and help the living is in our hands."