newsletter index

India Tsunami Relief Update

The AMURT team had grown to 50 people, including 35 acharyas (monks). This has caused quite a stir in Nagapattiman, as word goes around that so many monks have come to help the population. In India the presence of monks is seen as something auspicious.

Every day our team splits up into smaller groups and helps the local people clean and repair their damaged houses. For transportation we are using AMURT's jeep and several vehicles provided by the local government. As is characteristic of fishing towns in southern India, Nagapattinam (population: 200,000) is spread out into many small hamlets along 100 kilometers of coast line, so vehicles are essential. Every day we clean and repair over twenty houses. The task is laborious as most houses were inundated with up to 6
feet of water.

Counseling the survivors has become an important part of our work. Our acharyas spend time with the surviving families, reassuring them that it is safe to return home and encouraging them to continue with their regular daily routine to bring a sense of normalcy back to life.

Yesterday our team pulled another two corpses out of a destroyed building, bringing the total to 322 corpses that we have located and buried or cremated.

Also, On January 7 senior AMURT volunteers met with the authorities of Nagapattinam District, including the Director of Rural Administration. We have made a proposal to rebuild a small fishing village and await the government's response. We have already employed an engineer to design a house that can withstand future tidal waves.

Meditators Leap Into Action

Members of the Ananda Marga chapter in Chennai, India were conducting a group meditation when the tsunami hit the coast. They heard loud sounds and the voices of people screaming. Mohan and seven other meditators immediately leapt into action. They raised Rs. 50,000 (US $1130) from a supporter and assembled 150 relief packets consisting of: 1 towel, 1 blanket, 1 sari and 1 dhoti. The team set up a free kitchen on the coast and served 1500 people the very first day of the disaster. They also opened a disaster hotline for people seeking solace, information or help.

Indonesia Tsunami Relief Update

A second shipment loaded with relief supplies reached Banda Aceh safely on January 6th, after the twelve hour drive from Medan. The supplies were distributed to another 2,000 tsunami survivors, bringing the total to 4,000 benefited.

Our team is also helping the military remove decaying corpses that are still lying in the city and around it.

We visited a relief camp for Aceh refugees. We offered to accommodate some of the refugees ourselves, relieving the cramped conditions at the camp. Our volunteers in Medan are collecting money to support the refugee program and have found a suitable location in Medan.