Master Cheng Yen hopes everyone will
continue to show their love
(Translated by Mie-Jane Hsieh)
The disaster relief work after Typhoon Toraji
is now temporarily finished. Based on its principle of being
"the first to arrive and the last to leave," the
Tzu Chi Foundation still continues to care for typhoon victims.
In a follow-up meeting on August 8, Master Cheng Yen clearly
indicated that Tzu Chi would keep on doing relief work. They
will do their best to offer refugees what they need according
to individual cases, until they have all been completely resettled.
Furthermore, Tzu Chi will continue to evaluate the damage
to local schools and houses.
In the meeting, Master Cheng Yen thanked
all Tzu Chi people for promptly giving of their Great Love
to help in the disaster relief work. She stressed that the
Buddhist sutras speak of the four epochs of formation, existence,
destruction and annihilation. In recent years there have been
disasters all over the globe, just as the Buddha said would
happen in the epoch of destruction. Because of the common
karma of all people, if a disaster happens anywhere in the
world, then none of us living together on the same planet
can escape its effects. Only with the love of all people can
bad karma be changed to good and a peaceful, blessed world
be created.
After Typhoon Toraji invaded Taiwan, 2,934
Tzu Chi people were involved in disaster relief efforts, providing
food and water to 13,000 people, medical services to 436 people,
and cleanup help to 78 households which had been buried under
three to six feet of mud and gravel. Volunteers also promptly
distributed emergency money to 508 households. To aid typhoon
survivors, six service centers were set up in disaster areas
to provide localized service.
In Chienching Village, Wanjung, foundations
have been poured for six Great Love houses, including twelve
family units. Many refugees have voluntarily joined in the
construction work, thus placing their hope in these houses.
Materials for the prefabricated Great Love houses have already
arrived at the construction site. The foundation reported
that volunteers will be mobilized next week to assemble the
houses. It is estimated that the buildings will be completed
by the end of August, and that the typhoon survivors in Chienching
will have a safe place to live.
Especially worth mentioning is that many
kindhearted people were involved in the disaster relief activities.
Beginning at 9 in the morning of August 10, the Maxtor Bakery
in Hualien held a bake sale at the corner of Minkuo Road and
Hsinkang Street, with proceeds going to the Typhoon Toraji
reconstruction fund. We hope to see more people helping out
like this.
