Relief news update from Japan - 23 Mar 2011  
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Supreme Master Ching Hai International Association relief news update from Japan.
As of Tuesday, March 22, the number of confirmed number of fatalities and those still unaccounted from the record-setting 9.0-magnitude earthquake and massive tsunami exceeded 21,000.

More than 350,000 people remain in evacuation centers in northeastern Japan, many still short in urgent supplies such as food, water, medicine, and the fuel and electricity needed to guard against frigid temperatures.

Meanwhile, rescue personnel have been removing rubble by hand in remote areas where heavy machinery cannot be brought in due to destroyed roads, with many people lingering at the site their of previous homes in hope of connecting with lost relatives or finding meaningful belongings.

Their trauma is further rocked by ongoing strong aftershocks more than 10 days after the devastating quake. On Tuesday, northeastern Japan was rocked by four powerful temblors of magnitudes over 6.0 on the Richter scale, occurring within two and a half hours of each other. 

Japan's Meteorological Agency cautioned the public to be alert for more aftershocks which could collapse already-damaged buildings or even cause another tsunami.

As international efforts to aid the nation continue, the Provincial Red Cross Chapter of Ayutthaya in Thailand organized a parade on a busy Bangkok street featuring six delightful elephants from a local elephant shelter and colorful Thai folk dancers accepting donations for Japan.

With her sorrowful prayers and love, Supreme Master Ching Hai has donated US$80,000 to assist Japan, requesting that our Association members, including doctors and nurses, go to render emergency aid, bringing urgent supplies such as medicine to the victims, particularly the vulnerable elderly and young. Combined with contributions from our international Association members, the donation amounts to over US$110,000. Since the initial disaster, our Association members from Japan and Formosa (Taiwan) have been conducting relief work in several teams.

As per Supreme Master Ching Hai’s concerned request for updates, the following is a report from our Association’s relief team in Japan on their work after having delivering essential supplies to Miyagi Prefecture.

March 21, 2011 Most Compassionate Master,
We came back from a trip to Kesennuma city of Miyagi prefecture early this morning, taking a longer route to avoid going near nuclear plants. The place was one of the most severely damaged by the tsunami.

Everything was turned to ruins like a garbage field, and it is very difficult to imagine that people ever lived there. We went through rough, narrow roads among the messy debris, visiting Hashikami in the outskirts of Kesennuma city, where people had only one rice ball to eat per day.

Many people's eyes were still red from crying over the loss of loved ones.

We brought them medicine, noodles, soup, instant curry, toppings for rice, chocolate biscuits, baby diapers, sanitary stuffs, toothbrushes, towels, baby wipes, warm coats and pants, socks, gloves, scarves, hot packs, undergarments, etc., as well as informative flyers on the vegan solutionto catastrophic climate change. We brought 3 oil heaters to the refugee place in a school hall.

They were so happy and cried with appreciation.
The children were especially delighted to receive Supreme Master Ching Hai’s #1 international bestseller, “The Dogs in My Life.”

Their eyes were sparkling with happiness and they showed us very special smiles. We are so grateful to be able to bring Master's love and blessings to them.
Thank you so much, Master.
Now, if we can get a truck, we plan to go to Iwate prefecture next. We will keep you informed. Again, thank you very, very much, Master, for your generosity.

With all our love,
Gunma Center, Japan

VOICE: Our thankfulness for Supreme Master Ching Hai’s permission to share these details with our global viewers, as well as our Association’s Foreign Group for providing this report.

In reply, Supreme Master Ching Hai sent the following message:

God bless you!  
I'm also very grateful to u and your dedication in the front line works,
fearless loving heroes.  
I'm proud of u no end.
With all my love to your team and the people of Japan.
If u need more $ for travel expenses for u + doctors + nurses,
please inform Hsihu.
I'll instruct them to supply.
♥♥ CH

In an update on the nuclear crisis at the coastal Fukushima Daichii nuclear power plant, sparked by the effects of the quake combined with a 14-meter-high tsunami wave, all six reactors were successfully connected to an external power source on Tuesday, with the hope of restoring the plant’s cooling infrastructure to prevent a meltdown and catastrophic radiation leakage.

With radioactivity-containing smoke from reactors No. 2 and No. 3 diminishing on Tuesday, work was also resumed on those reactors. On Monday, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reported radiation levels in the town of Namie, 20 kilometers from the plant, that was 1,600 times higher than normal.

Also that day, the government found water contaminated with radioactive iodine in nine prefectures, up from seven prefectures on Friday. Among them are Tokyo, Kanagawa, Ibaraki, Tochigi, Gunma, Saitama, Chiba, Niigata, and Yamanashi. Radiation levels 400 times higher than normal were also found 5 centimeters below the surface of the soil at roadsides 40 kilometers away from the plant.

With a ban on the sale of raw milk from Fukushima Prefecture still in place, the government has also banned the shipment of leafy vegetables from Ibaraki, Tochigi, Gunma, and Fukushima Prefectures, where produce has been found to contain radiation levels higher than legally safe limits.

Due to its build-up in fish tissue, monitoring of seafood is also expected to continue indefinitely after excessive concentrations of radioactive iodine and cesium were found in seawater 100 meters south of the plant’s water outlet.

In the United States, the Washington State Department of Health also reported trace levels of radiation from the Fukushima plant were detected in the city of Seattle. Similarly,Health Canada has also detected “negligible” amounts of radiation over recent days.

With many fishing and trawling ships left badly damaged or completely gone in the wake of the tsunami, a spokesman for Tokyo's Tsukiji fish market commented on the scope of loss, saying,“The entire fishing industry has disappeared.”

Seafood facilities have also been destroyed, such as the coastal whaling base in Ishinomaki city of Miyagi Prefecture, where the whale-processing facility was washed away.

Supreme Master Ching Hai : Actually, there is also very strong motivation for people to be vegan when they see the animal cruelty that occurs with their own eyes. The horrors that take place behind the factory farm, behind the door of those massacre houses, there are horrifying actions going on.

Or if they go on the massacring fishing boat or the bloody whaling boat to witness it for themselves, I wonder how anybody could ever do this for a living?

If you ever wondered if hell exists, just go into those massacre houses or the boats that kill the whales and go to the seal-massacring areas. Go there to find hell, then you’ll believe that hell exist.

This is not the way God intended for us to live with our co-inhabitants. This is not the way we should behave as children of God.

The animals are our helpers, our friends, and Heaven’s beloved.



In terms of cost to the nation, the World Bank estimates a financial toll of up to US$235 billion for this disaster, making it one of the most expensive
in modern history. Our deep appreciation for the help extended from around the world to Japan during this time.

We are also grateful for Supreme Master Ching Hai’s wholehearted support of the Japanese people, as well as for the tireless endeavors of our Association’s relief teams. With our condolences for
all lives and other losses, we pray for the smooth recuperation of the Japanese people as humanity strives to stabilize the ecosphere through kinder,
more uplifting lifestyles.