A religious ritual of returning of soul on the 7th day after death held on Friday for those who have died in the Feb. 6 earthquake was attended by families of the dead and government officials.
According to the religion of Buddhism, the seventh day after death, which is also referred to as the "first seven", is the first important day during the whole mourning process. People generally believe that the soul of the dead will go back home to recall everything on this very day.
The atmosphere of the ritual was solemn and sad. Some family members of the dead cried loudly, some collapsed and needed to be supported to enter the memorial hall, and most had red eyes with no more tears to shed.
The ritual was held at a hall at Tainan City’s South District Funeral Parlor set up for remembering deceased earthquake victims and open to the public who wish to pay their respects to the dead.
After a small service of paying his respects to the dead, President Ma Ying-jeou, accompanied by Premier Simon Chang, held hands with bereaved family members one by one and stopped to listen to what they had to say, nodding his head at times.
President-elect Tsai Ing-wen also came to the services to pay her respect.
An earthquake measuring 6.4 on the Richter scale hit southern Taiwan at 3:57 a.m. on February 6, causing several buildings in Tainan City to collapse or tilt. The collapsed 17-story Weiguan Jinlong building accounts for most of casualties in the earthquake, with 93 dead and 29 missing as of 1 p.m. on Friday. Two other deaths from the earthquake are unrelated to the Weiguan building.