# Guangfu Township  

A year after the Matai'an Creek barrier lake gave way and buried Guangfu Township in black silt, the mud is out of Hualien's homes and classrooms but not out of the township. It now sits beside Provincial Highway 9 in tarpaulin-covered mounds four and five stories high, drying into dust that blows back into the schools it was dug out of. The deeper problem is who paid for the recovery: companies, temples, alumni associations and strangers moved first, while budgeted public works are still moving through procedure.

When heavy rains overwhelmed a landslide dam above the Mataian Wetland in September 2025, the floodwaters that tore through Guangfu Township in Hualien County left a landscape that......