Supreme Master Ching Hai International Association relief news update from Sri Lanka.

Heavy rains since December claimed lives and affected 364,000 people across the country by early January. In particular, three weeks of intense rains battered the Eastern province district of Batticaloa, and in Manmunai West District, the dual effect of rising water levels and the deliberate release of water in an attempt to control/save a reservoir endangered the lives of thousands.

Brigadcer Weragama - Director of Emergency Operations, National Disaster Management Center (M): Due to the climate change, we are experiencing heavy rain, that intensity has gone up. Earlier the rainfall what we got within one week, now we are getting in one or two days.

N. Vilvaratnam – Divisional Secretary, Manmunai West District (M): There are 8,237 families affected by the flood. Actually, we are facing a lot of problems because there is no access from any other places from here.

Relief recipient (M): Supreme Master Ching Hai came to Batticola to support those who were affected by the floods. Really we’re happy. 

Conveying her sympathies and prayers, Supreme Master Ching Hai donated US$15,000, an amount that could purchase US$155,000 in urgent items if acquired in the United States, based on Sri Lanka’s cost of living. She also requested our Association members to go if possible to render aid to those most in need.

Covering their own travel and accommodation expenses of approximately US$2,500, our Association’s relief team from Formosa (Taiwan) arrived in Sri Lanka on January 6, where they assessed the situation with personnel from the country’s National Disaster Management Center. They then traveled eight hours to reach the flooded zones in Batticola province. Working with local officials and villagers, the relief team prepared food as well as non-food items to deliver by truck and boat.

When more flooding struck the area on January 8 and 9, the relief team responded by cooperating with the local church and the Batticaloa Chamber of Commerce and Industry to first obtain rice and dhal, and then cook hot vegan meals for the victims. In addition, the relief team brought food to a 101-year-old blind elderly gentleman lying alone in an open hut and arranged for a care package of food, water, towels, blankets, and clothes to be delivered to him through the local government. Throughout the relief efforts, aid recipients and officials, including the Sri Lankan Minister of Irrigation and Water Resource Management His Excellency Nimal Siripala De Silva, expressed their gratefulness for Supreme Master Ching Hai’s loving support from afar.

With appreciation to the government officials in Sri Lanka, we thank Supreme Master Ching Hai for her unconditional assistance, and our Association’s relief team for their diligent help. Our prayers for the comfort and resilience of the flood affected and that such severe weather events are lessened through our kinder care of the Earth and her co-inhabitants.