After an earthquake devastated Iran on December 26, 2003, a medical team from the emergency department of Hualien Tzu Chi Hospital traveled to that country and treated victims in various camps for 12 days. They were completely shocked and touched by what they saw.

On December 26, 2003, a powerful earthquake measuring 6 on the Richter scale struck southeastern Iran and devastated the historic city of Bam ["old city" in Persian]. Within 24 hours Dr. Kuo Chien-chung and nurse Tu Ping-hsu, carrying heavy backpacks, departed for Iran along with members of a Tzu Chi inspection team. Seventeen hours later, they arrived at the airport in Kerman, 180 km [111 miles] from the disaster area. The airport was crowded and noisy; people from the Red Crescent Society were busy transferring patients from Bam to other nearby hospitals.

A woman was sent to a temporary medical station in the airport lobby, and some medical personnel immediately approached her, hoping to save her life. A few minutes later, the woman was carried out with a thin blanket covering her body. A volunteer checked her blanket and discovered that the woman was still breathing, although just barely, so he immediately yelled for a doctor to help.

Kuo and Tu heard the volunteer's call and rushed to the woman's side without a second thought. They introduced themselves and were admitted to treat the woman. The woman's heartbeat returned to normal. But because further medical treatment was unavailable, they were forced to helplessly watch the woman pass away in front of them.

Kuo and Tu were in Iran from December 28 until January 11. "That experience really shook me up!" After coming back to Taiwan, Tu still feels sorrow for the Iranian victims. "When it was discovered that the woman was still alive, everyone was so happy; but when she couldn't get follow-up ICU treatment, death still took her away." Kuo also feels sorry about the failures in the medical system. He said that at that moment when the woman died, he could only channel his sorrow into strength and do his best to save every other endangered life he encountered.

Serving from tent to tent

Since both attending physician Kuo and deputy chief nurse Tu serve in the hospital emergency department, they are good at dealing with patients who need urgent medical treatment. Both of them are often invited to instruct local residents on emergency treatment and skills. They are also asked to serve as the leaders of outdoor medical rescue systems. All in all, they have accumulated a lot of experience in emergency rescue.

Kuo is a very brave doctor. He participated in medical services in disaster areas in central Taiwan after the cataclysmic earthquake of September 21, 1999. In 2003, when the SARS epidemic was overwhelming Taiwan, he also volunteered to go to Taipei Sung Shan Hospital, where SARS patients were being treated.

Tu is one of the few male nurses in Taiwan. His hometown, Ta-hsing Village in Hualien County, was devastated by Typhoon Toraji and subsequent mudflows in August 2001. He was a victim but at the same time a nurse, so he wholeheartedly devoted himself to relief work. Now he is often seen caring for patients being transported in helicopters to Tzu Chi Hospital or carrying out emergency medical services in remote mountain areas.

Before their departure for Iran, Kuo and Tu knew clearly that they would be facing an unknown disaster scene in Iran. However, when they actually stepped into Bam, the most heavily damaged area, they found out that local hospitals had almost all completely collapsed. Fortunately, medical teams from other countries including France, Italy, and Jordan had entered the area to help victims. These medical teams were sending more seriously injured patients to nearby cities for further treatment.

Kuo says, "We served wherever relief distributions were held." In addition to storing relief materials, they also set up a medical compartment inside their chartered bus. Wherever they went to distribute relief materials to victims, volunteers also took victims requiring medical attention onto the bus for treatment.

During these 12 days, the relief bus served as a mobile clinic for more than 200 patients. Victims could wave at the bus from the roadside and get on to receive medication. Most patients were not seriously injured; some had digestive problems, respiratory infections, heart disease, and abrasions. They were mostly psychologically traumatized. Therefore, both Kuo and Tu would give special attention to the victims and talk with them. They believed that at that moment, psychological care would be more effective than medical treatment.

Limited medicine, unlimited function

A ten-year-old girl was hit by a falling rock in the earthquake. After Kuo and Tu had finished her treatment, they gave her a bottle of iodine and reminded her, "Remember, don't apply this on your face." But the little girl did not quite understand their meaning, so they further explained, "You are very pretty and adorable, but if you apply it to your face, you will not be so beautiful anymore because it will stain your face."

Through translation, the little girl understood that the doctors had praised her, and she shyly smiled.

Communication with the Iranians was carried out through interpreters or through body language. There was only one translator with the relief team, and he was too busy to cope with relief distributions and medical treatments at the same time. Thus, he wrote down a few frequently used Persian phrases such as "backache," "soar throat," and "three times a day, after each meal."

After several days, Kuo and Tu had learned a few Iranian phrases like tashakor (thank you). After only a few days had passed, they could speak quite clearly. Their efforts shortened the distance between doctors and victims, foreigners and natives.

"What the victims really needed was real concern. Even if you didn't provide any medical treatment, they would feel better if you just went into the tents to check on their condition." Tu said that many victims had post-traumatic stress disorder after the earthquake. He felt that what they really needed was to tell other people of their suffering so that they could release their stress. Even though he couldn't understand their language, leaning toward them and listening to them would comfort them a lot.

In addition to prescribing medicine, Kuo and Tu also distributed 100 medical kits from Taiwan. Since there were so few, deciding who would receive them became a real challenge. Their method was to first give the kits to suitable people whom they could instruct in correct usage, and then empower these people with the responsibility of taking care of other patients.

"To the victims, receiving medical kits is like receiving responsibility and duty. They can soon get over their own sorrow and turn to help other people." Kuo said that it was a great feeling to transform victims into helpers.

An example includes a young man who had a seven-centimeter-long [2.7-inch] wound on the sole of his foot. While Tu was cleaning the wound and putting a bandage over it, he asked another resident to watch and learn. Later he asked this resident to deal with an old man who had a knee injury. When the person finished the task, people around him all happily applauded. The resident shyly responded, "I've passed the exam, so I can take care of others from now on!"

Story Village and Brotherhood Village

Twelve days in Iran allowed Kuo and Tu to sense the brotherhood among people. Images of sincere encounters and treatments kept encouraging them spiritually.

"Story Village" and "Brotherhood Village" are among the most memorable villages they visited. Tu is a very attentive and creative person; whenever he sees a place without any name, he gives it a cute name.

When Tu found out that the people living in almost every tent of a severely damaged village had a moving story, he named it "Story Village." At another village, the residents were very supportive of each other during the disaster. Tu found them gathering together around a destroyed school to cook and distribute daily essentials for each other, so he named it "Brotherhood Village."

Tu mentions that when the team was holding a relief distribution in Brotherhood Village, team members fully sensed the warm feedback from the victims. "We conducted our distribution from the beginning of a street to the end of it, and residents in the village just kept giving us drinking water along the entire street. Some people even opened their tents and invited us to have dinner with them."

"We earned the most warmth in the process," Kuo said with an amused tone. He felt that they had only paid a short visit, but from that they could witness how the victims' grief was transformed into courage from going through the hardest parts of their lives in such a short time. And that was life! Now he understands why Tzu Chi people thank victims while distributing relief materials: the victims show them the impermanence of life, enrich their experience, and prompt them to ponder more deeply about the meaning of life.

He also observed that Tzu Chi volunteer Chen Chiu-hua from Jordan would offer supplies with both hands and bow 90 degrees while saying, "Tashakor!" to show his gratitude to the recipients who gave him a chance to help. That humble attitude affected him a lot.

"When I bowed as Chen did during a distribution, I suddenly realized that I was only a messenger who transmitted the love and care of all Tzu Chi people." Kuo regarded himself as being lucky to play such a role.

He shared his feelings toward his work: "Having long served in the emergency department, I always thought I had saved a lot of people and did a lot of good things. But this task has changed my perspective." He realized that, compared to other Tzu Chi volunteers, he actually did not do many things. Kuo continued, "It is really a blessing to have been trained as a medical professional who can save other people's lives. I should grab this opportunity."

Tu also reflected on his experience. He admitted that he often lost patience with complicated hospital medication procedures. But after this relief work, he decided to regain his initial dedication to practicing medicine. "Since I am able to treat Iranian people with such patience, why can't I apply such an amicable attitude to treat my own people in Taiwan?"

Together they wish

After the relief work in Iran, Kuo and Tu realized that compared to medical teams from other countries, their personal efforts were indeed limited. But they both hope to help establish an emergency medical coordination center to instruct victims in correct methods of transporting patients, including the coordination of ambulances, emergency treatment prior to arrival in hospitals, and transferal services.

Kuo says that if this kind of well-connected medical system had been in place, the woman they saw at the Kerman Airport would not have lost her life. Tu adds that in Baravat, they saw a car accident victim being moved into an ambulance without any prior emergency treatment; he worried that the heavily bleeding patient would not make it to the hospital.

Because charity groups and non-governmental organizations from various countries had expressed their willingness to help Bam establish basic health clinics and health centers where six major medical departments will be available, Kuo and Tu think that Tzu Chi can help the victims establish some fundamental emergency medical coordination centers.

"Once we have money, the buildings and all other tangible aspects involved can soon be completed, but the training of medical professionals as well as the establishment of a sound emergency transportation system are even more important," Kuo said. He hopes to have another chance to go to Iran to realize this dream.

Kuo and Tu still serve patients as usual in Tzu Chi Hospital, but they now feel more down-to-earth because they have a better understanding about the responsibilities and tasks of their careers. They hope to take the fleeting feeling of humility that they experienced while giving medicine and relief supplies to victims with both hands [to show respect for the recipients] and transform it into eternal service: to treat their patients with redoubled sincerity when practicing medicine every day.