Gym bros, monks, retirees: thousands descend on Taiwan town to clean up after devastating flood

Tens of thousands of volunteers have swarmed the Taiwanese town of Guangfu to help after a mudslide sparked by typhoon rains on 23 September sent more than 15m tonnes of water, dirt and debris into its streets. Photograph: Helen Davidson/The Guardian

They arrived by train, car and motorbike, in boots and bucket hats and carrying shovels.

Students, monks, and retirees. Gym bros, migrant workers, mums and dads with their children, even tourists. As a crowd of hundreds disembarks from the train a crowd of people cheer “jiayou”, a chant of encouragement which translates to “add oil”.