Taiwan's Earth God The devastating 21 September earthquake of 1999 left Taiwan's landscape covered in scars, but researchers discovered that the places least damaged by the quake were areas of natural forest. In mountain regions where the rainfall is most abundant, the geology most fragile and erosive forces most powerful, the false cypresses, with their massive trunks and mighty root systems, cling tightly to the frail earth.
九二一地震後，大地滿目瘡痍，學界發現，大地怒吼下破壞最小的地區是天然林地，檜木林以其寬闊的胸圍、壯碩的根系，在雨量最豐沛、地質最零碎，承受最劇烈沖刷崩蝕的山區，緊緊抓住脆弱的土地。