Supreme Master Ching Hai International Association relief news update from Indonesia.
The sudden eruption of Mount Merapi in Yogyakarta at the end of October 2010 caused more than 350 people to perish, with 390,000 others displaced.

Supreme Master Ching Hai had immediately donated US$15,000, conveying her love and prayers as she asked that our Association’s relief team go bring aid and comfort to the victims most in need.

Combined with donations from our Association members, the total US$18,600 contribution could acquire US$216,000 in goods purchased in the United States, based on the cost of living in Indonesia.

As per Supreme Master Ching Hai’s requests, our Association’s Indonesian relief team immediately went the day after the initial eruption to assist and bring comfort to the most desperate.

During their initial relief efforts, they learned that the volcanic activity had also taken a tragic toll on many animals. The relief team members visited with members of Sleman District’s Animal Friends Jogja, Jakarta Animal and Network, and the Center for Orangutan Protection.

These young advocates who are mostly vegan and vegetarian had courageously worked under the threat of the spewing hot volcanic clouds to find animal burn victims including cows, cats, dogs, chickens, ducks and rabbits, removing them from danger to provide medical treatment and give them food.

Our Association’s relief team donated some funds to support their caring efforts. Mr. Sukiman Mochtar Pratomo of Klaten District, who had spoken to Supreme Master Television prior to the disasters about his community’s environmental initiatives, also contacted our Association members to convey his concern for monkeys near the Mount Merapi slope who were starving after their forests had been burnt by the eruptions.

Our Association’s relief team joined him, bringing food such as papaya, guava, and corn to the grateful monkeys, as well as funds for his continued care of the primates.

Sukiman Mochtar Pratomo, villager and environmentalist, Yogyakarta, Indonesia (M): Earthquake activities and volcanoes are not separated from global warming.

Now that nature takes wrath as a result of our own behaviors, I hope it will be a reminder for all of us. The effect of global warming is because of meat consumption; we want and ask all the people in the world to stop consuming meat from now on.

VOICE: Mr. Sukiman also recounted a remarkable event that occurred during the massive eruption. While scorching black ashes covered the slopes of the mountain, burning forests to the right and left sides of the village, their area  miraculously remained unharmed.

According to the villagers, it was as if they were under God’s protection, which they thought may be due to their previous efforts that included planting thousands of fruit trees to protect the biodiversity there.

Sukiman Mochtar Pratomo, villager and environmentalist, Yogyakarta, Indonesia (M): There are fallen trees and then road blockages, and so on, but my house until now remains clean. It’s about 50 kilometers away from the peak of Merapi.

With conditions like this, we believe that nature in fact can interact with us; we don’t damage the environment, nature is also friendly to me. I protect the animals and I like the monkeys, we provide them food.

Maybe it is God’s help as well for what we’ve done, all people in my area. We really hope that everyone loves the animals, the environment, and whatever God has created.

VOICE: Our deep gratefulness Mr. Sukiman Mochtar Pratomo, Animal Friends Jogja, Jakarta Animal and Network, and Center for Orangutan Protection, for your compassionate
efforts.

We also thank Supreme Master Ching Hai for her unconditional care of those in need, as well as our Association’s relief team for their loving help.
May Heaven bless all humans and animals affected by the volcano with a smooth restoration of regular daily lives as we join in concerted efforts to restore
our planetary stability.