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.


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:


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.



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.