BLIA and Fo Guang Shan Tsunami Relief Efforts Report

The South Asian tsunami tragedy is already into its forth week.  General President of Buddha Light International Association World Headquarters, Venerable Master Hsing Yun, directed General Secretary, Most Venerable Tsu Jung, to inform the Administration Office News Bureau that ‘after tomorrow, there is always hope’.  This was to inform of the planned action of providing support for five hundred orphans by calling on local BLIA members to build schools in the disaster area, and start orphanages to let young orphans who have lost their families have a peaceful and stable future and give them the right to education.

Venerable Master Hsing Yun indicated that according to reports from BLIA members who have gone to the scene of the tragedy, in addition to the sorrows experienced by the victims at present, there is also the issue of how they can reconstruct their homes, and raise, support and care for the large numbers of orphans in the disasters wake.  Venerable Master Hsing Yun said that from the call for BLIA members to go to the scene to help, there are already plans to raise five million US dollars in funds for support.  BLIA Headquarters ROC will take on the responsibility to care for five hundred orphans, with each orphan requiring one thousand NT per month, over a three year period.  Those giving contributions would also be assigned to individual children, so that regular correspondence could be maintained, and the caring family could keep in contact and personally meet with the children.  Most Venerable Tsu Jung said that not only will BLIA offering monetary support, but will provide continual assistance for these children in the years to come.

On January 9, 2005, General Secretary of BLIA ROC Headquarters, Venerable Jue Pei, had already given the first eighteen million NT of the total donation to the News Bureau.  BLIA Chapters in Thailand, India, Indonesia and elsewhere, were each given five hundred thousand US dollars for the construction of orphanages, for a total amount of two million US dollars in charitable donations.

As the Buddha Light International Association is a registered United Nations NGO, it is very actively involved in combined and unified efforts in many areas of the south Asian disaster relief program.

BLIA ROC Headquarters General President, Most Venerable Hsin Ting, also described how Fo Guang Shan monastery and BLIA had donated one hundred thousand US dollars to the cause.  They have been working with chapters in India, Indonesia, and elsewhere, to provide continual support in the aftermath of the tragedy.  On the tenth day, monastic representatives from FGS were sent to the scene in Banda-Aceh to hold an ‘Amitabha Recitation for Tsunami Victims’ religious service.  Chanting and prayers were held for the survivors and victims, and representatives passed out one thousand Indonesian lingji to each of twenty three households affected by the tsunami, to help with basic education and living costs for the children thereof.  On the eleventh day, they proceeded to Indonesia, were another Buddhist religious service was held for the deceased.

BLIA Young Adult Division chapters in the USA, Australia, and elsewhere, as well as BLIA scout troupes, were not to be left out.  They conducted car washes, and other fund raising activities in small groups, doing all that they could for the sake of those involved in the disaster.

According to Venerable Hui Seng, who, with the Bangkok Buddhist Temple, has been deeply involved in relief efforts, the nearly two hundred students at Kaoyun Primary School on Thailand’s Puji island, have been unable to attend classes because their school has been devastated.  BLIA World Headquarters has already promised to donate five million in order to aid in reconstruction, and supplying the children with their educational needs.

Another item certainly worth mentioning, is that BLIA has invited international media agencies to go and report on the situation at the disaster scene, and also provide assistance for the local people.  President of the Fo Guang Shan Education Committee, Most Venerable Tsu Hui, has also gathered the various educational institutes within the Fo Guang Shan system to join in establishing an education relief foundation.  Monks and nuns from Fo Guang Shan monastery, staff and students from Nan Hua University and Fo Guang University, students of the Tsung Lin Buddhist University, as well as members of BLIA, will also initiate a fund raising campaign based on the traditional monastic alms begging procession.

At present, BLIA has already sent to affected areas via Hong Kong: one hundred and fifteen tents, one hundred crates of milk powder and two hundred crates of medical supplies, as well as necessities such as hygiene masks, blankets, and clothing, to a total of some eight million NT.  On the sixth day, BLIA had already sent one thousand crates of supplies to the disaster scene, via the Foreign Affairs Department.

※   Further information for Donation to Tsunami Relief Aid, please call: 281-495 3100.