Supreme Master Ching Hai International Association relief news update from Colombia.
At the end of May, bouts of torrential rains bore down on southern Colombia, setting off severe floods and landslides that claimed at least 18 lives and injured 87 others. Thousands were displaced as 15,000 homes were damaged across 134 municipalities.

Relief recipient, Caquetá, Colombia (M): We’ve had to run at night, like 12 am or one o'clock in the morning.

Relief recipient, Caquetá, Colombia (F): We were on the platforms all night with the children, and a child already was like full of cramps because it was very cold.

VOICE: Conveying her love and sorrowful prayers, Supreme Master Ching Hai swiftly donated US$10,000, asking our nearby Association members to please go to help the worst affected regions. This amount could acquire US$50,000 in emergency supplies bought in the United States, based on Colombia’s cost of living. After assessing the situation, our Association members from Costa Rica and Colombia determined that the Caquetá Department was most in need.

As soon as the airport reopened in June, the relief team traveled to the department’s deluged capital Florencia, covering their own expenses of US$1,340.

Correspondent (F): We are in Florencia, Caquetá, Colombia, where flooding affected more than 5,000 families throughout the department. The floods were so extensive that many families lost their homes, others lost their belongings, food, everything they owned. The families were in need of food, mattresses, kitchen kits, and cleaning kits.

VOICE: Upon arrival, they bought vegan food items for 1,050 families, and,  after a meeting with the department’s Governor Germán Medina, arranged for the distribution of the supplies to the hardest-hit communities. The governor was very interested to learn about global warming and its vegan solution, saying that the floods were caused by climate change.

Sr. Germán Medina Governor Germán Medina, Caquetá, Colombia (M): As governor of Caquetá, I wish to express our gratitude to the Association and to the great Master Ching Hai for the contributions that she made in the immense tragedy which occurred in the Department of Caquetá.
Young relief recipients, Caquetá, Colombia: Thank you Master!

Caquetá, Colombia (M): Ms. Ching Hai, sending a cordial greeting and gratitude and appreciation for this gesture of love that you make for us in Florencia, Caquetá.
 
Correspondent (F): Reporting for Supreme Master Television from Florencia, Caquetá, Colombia.

VOICE: We join in appreciation for Supreme Master Ching Hai’s unconditional love and support to the flood victims, as well as for the diligent endeavors of our Association’s relief team.

May the Colombian people be graced with a swift recuperation of their fulfilling daily lives as humanity’s kinder ways help restore our planetary equilibrium. Please tune in to Supreme Master Television for the second part of this relief report on Noteworthy News.