Relief news update from Japan - 29 Mar 2011  
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Supreme Master Ching Hai International Association relief news update from Japan.
On Monday morning, March 28, yet another quake struck the afflicted region in Japan, this one a 6.5-magnitude temblor that hit 80 kilometers east of Oshika Peninsula in Miyagi Prefecture.

A tsunami warning issued in coastal areas of the prefecture was later lifted. However, the Japanese Meteorological Agency urged people to remain on alert for aftershocks already numbering more than 60 over magnitude 6.0 that have hit following March 11’s catastrophic 9.0-magnitude quake
and massive tsunami.

With some 28,000 confirmed perished or still unaccounted for, more than 190,000 people remained in shelters as of Sunday. Conveying her love and sorrowful prayers, Supreme Master Ching Hai donated US$80,000 in aid since the initial calamities, requesting that our Association members,
including doctors and nurses, go to help and bring urgent materials such as medicine to the victims, particularly the young and elderly.

She also said that any extra expenses would be reimbursed by headquarters at Hsihu. Along with contributions from our international Association members, the combined donations total over US$110,000. Our Association’s relief teams from Japan and Formosa (Taiwan) have been conducting relief work in the worst-hit areas, with our Association members from South Korea helping to prepare emergency supplies for the victims.

In accordance with Supreme Master Ching Hai’s attentive requests for updates, the following is a report from our Association’s medical team. March 26, 2011

Re: Medical relief team
in Miyagi, Japan Most Compassionate Master,On March 23, our medical team, which included 1 doctor and 2 nurses, travelled to several hard-hit towns in Miyagi Prefecture.

We were happy that most of the victims were well cared for in the disaster relief centers and did not require our medical help. In the town of Motoyoshi-cho, the administrator recommended that we go up a hill to visit 21 female garment factory workers from China.

They were very worried because 2 of their 3 factories were destroyed by the tsunami, and several of them had only barely escaped alive themselves.

We had a long chat about their situation and suggested some stress relief techniques. They were very interested about Master and happy to receive Master’s picture as well as the SOS flyer.

By the time we parted, they seemed much more relieved and expressed their thankfulness that we had brought Master’s love to them.As there is a major shortage of gasoline, there was a limit to the amount we could refuel during the mission, and there was always a line at the gas station.

In the evening, temperatures dropped as low as minus 2 degrees Celsius, and there were intermittent snows. Whoever we encountered in those 3 days, we passed informative SOS flyers on the vegan solution to climate change.

We are also very thankful for Supreme Master Ching Hai’s deep love that touched all the people we met.
With all our love, Japan relief team

VOICE: Our gratefulness for Supreme Master Ching Hai’s allowing us to share this information, as we also thank our Association’s Foreign Group for providing this report.

Supreme Master Ching Hai conveyed the following in reply:

Thanks for your report.
I'm glad to know that things run better for the poor victims.
I was just "panicked" to hear of people dying for lack of medicine and staff before your arrival.
Thanks God they are faring better.

In the beginning I thought Japan is a wealthy and well equipped nation so I did not request more of your help.

It just shows that life is so unpredictable and we are anytime, anywhere vulnerable to disasters. Thanks anyway for your heart, love and time.
CH  



Meanwhile, officials and workers still struggle to control the crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. Emphasizing the need for people to stay out of the minimum 20-kilometer evacuation zone around the plant, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said, “It is very likely that
within 20 km of the plant is contaminated and there is a big risk (to human health) at the moment.”

This warning came after the Fukushima Prefectural government said that it appeared many evacuees were returning to their homes, including elderly residents suffering from exhaustion in shelter conditions as well as people coming for their belongings.

Although radiation levels in the air at observation points surroundingthe plant were reportedly decreasing on Monday, more contamination was found in nearby seawater. A sample collected 30 meters away on Sunday contained radioactive iodine 1,150 times higher than the permitted level.

Traces of plutonium have also been detected in Japanese soil in five locations at the power plant. Plutonium is more harmful than other radioactive substances such as iodine and cesium and is more likely to lead to long-term problems such as cancer. Officials also reported the first find of water contaminated with high radiation levels outside the Fukushima Daiichi power plant’s No. 2 reactor building.

The radiation, which was measured at 1,000 millisieverts an hour, can lead to temporary radiation sickness and far exceeds the 100 millisieverts per hour that already is a source of cancer risk. A first find of contaminated water outside Japan was also made as rainwater in the northeastern US
states of Massachusetts and Pennsylvania was discovered to contain traces of radiation from the Fukushima power plant.

However, officials said the levels were low enough thus far that they did not threaten drinking water supplies. California, Colorado, and other states have also reported trace amounts of atmospheric radiation.

A small amount of radioactive xenon believed to have traveled from the Japanese power plant was also detected in the air over northeastern South Korea on Monday.

At the plant itself, officials' efforts were directed toward removing highly radioactive water from the turbine buildings of reactors No. 1, 2, and 3 without sending workers too close.

The surface of the water in reactor No. 2 was found to have radiation levels of 1,000 millisieverts per hour, with radioactive substances detected in concentrations 100,000 times higher than usual. Exposure to such radiation for just 4 hours increases the risk of perishing in 30 days.

Removing the water is thus necessary before vital operations to restore the cooling systems of reactor Numbers 1, 2, 3, and 4 can resume.

Our appreciation to all governments and personnel assisting the Japanese people at this time. We are also thankful for Supreme Master Ching Hai’s wholehearted aid, as well as for the meticulous efforts of our Association’s relief team.

With our sincere sympathies for those who have lost loved ones, we pray for the smooth restoration of regular day-to-day lives in Japan, and that humanity’s kinder nature prevails for the restored stability of our ecosphere.

Supreme Master Ching Hai : If we want to know what we are killing, scientists discover more every day about the intelligence and sensitivity of the animal kingdom. Whales for exampleare able to identify different fellow cetacean’s calls through the ocean waters; similar to how we humans can identify our friend’s voice across a crowded room. Furthermore, they are very polite.

They wait for their turn to speak. Yet these same lovely sentient beings are hunted down with explosive harpoons that cause a slow, slow, slow and tortuously painful death.

I don’t know how we do this, but this is really not for our human dignity to continue. Imagine if it’s us, that’s being treated that way.

How horrible it would be for us to feel before our death, before the time that they put us into that boiling water. It really is time for this to stop.

We cannot call ourselves animal lovers if we only extend that love to certain animals.

So, please, everyone: switch to the wholesome, nutritious, and conscience-freeing vegan diet.

Right now we have to get the population going into vegetarian direction and then we shall see. Not just Japan, but everywhere the world will change into a heavenly abode. The ice will stop melting, the Earth will be cooled down, and all the things that have been damaged in the past will be repaired by nature itself, by our own merit of virtuous life.

Every action begets a reaction. If we do good, the reaction, the outcome will be good.