AMURT relief work in India and Indonesia re tsunami
Dharmadeva
Just to let you know how our efforts are going as well. Straight after
we plan to rebuild housing for people as well.
For updates to Tsunami relief operations done by AMURT in India and
Indonesia, go to www.amurt.net website. Updates are being made to the
website daily. Photos of work being carried out is on:
http://www.amurt.net/tsunami/gallery/index.html
Read below for a summary of the work being carried out.
AMURT and AMURTEL are active in responding to the devastation caused by
the tsunami tidal waves. We have teams working in India and Indonesia,
ie on the ground n Banda Aceh, Indonesia and Nagapatiinam in Tamil
Nadu.
You can now subscribe to regular AMURT and AMURTEL news from the
following website: www.amurt.net/newsletters.
About US20,000 has been raised in the US and about US12,000 from Taiwan
and Singapore. Canada AMURT has also collected substantial funds.
Donations are also, of course, coming from India and Indonesia.
Simple ways to raise funds include the examples of Didi Sanandaji who
will hold a street kiirtan to raise funds
to help the victims of the earthquake in South Asia. Taipei supporters
will hold a vegetarian fundraising activity --
NT$2,000 per ticket.
Taiwanese margiis have been particularly helpful in donating for relief
work in Aceh for the tsunami victims.
The Chinese supporters of Indonesia are many and generous in sending
relief goods.
Much of the Ananda Marga world has been mobilised to collect funds for
this disaster. Fundraising news is as follows of totals received so
far:
USA - US $ 11,000
Taiwan - US $ 6,000
Singapore - Sing $ 7,000
Indonesia - US $ 5,000
We raised over $5,000 through the web site in four days after the
disaster (included in the US total above). It is
encouraging that many people are seeking us out and feeling inspired to
help the tsunami survivors through AMURT and AMURTEL.
WORK BEING CARRIED OUT
1. Aceh in Indonesia
The work is as follows. A truck left Medan for Aceh on the night of 30
Dec 2004. The truck was loaded with biscuits, water, medicine, noodles,
etc. Two Dadas (meditation teachers): Dada Ratnesh and Dada Dinakar
(both Indonesian); are handling the matter.
Ananda Marga has a strong base in Medan, where Dada Caetanyanandaji
runs an extremely popular Ananda Marga school for 1,500 students.
Immediately after the disaster hit Dada met with the local margiis and
together they decided to respond.
Since 27 December 2004, AMURT and AMURTEL volunteers in Medan have been
collecting, buying and packing food, water and medicine. An advanced
reconnaissance team arrived in Banda Aceh, Indonesia to prepare for a
larger team that arrived a few days later with relief supplies from our
regional headquarter in Medan. The Indonesian government is providing
free transportation to anyone travelling to the disaster sites to
provide assistance. So on 30 December 2004 the first shipment left
Medan over land for the hard hit town of Banda Aceh. Relief convoys
like these are afforded military protection as looting is common in the
area.
A second Indonesian AMURT Team is now distributing these relief
supplies in downtown Banda Aceh. So far 2,160 parcels of food, water
and medicine and water have been distributed to 1,500 desperate, hungry
residents. The distribution is protected by the army. Without them
rioting would ensue.
Here is a brief report from Dada Dinakar, the AMURT team member: "We
came in a big truck loaded with 2160 boxes of noodles, biscuits,
mineral water and milk. An Acehnese businessman who owns the biggest
supermarket in Banda Aceh got it entirely destroyed to the ground. He
is the one helping us. We stay in his house. He uses his workers to
help us distribute. The masses here are really wild. Fortunately we are
protected by the military. The people here really need help. They have
no water to cook; not even kitchen utensils. There is also no water to
take bath. We have not taken bath for 2 days. I feel there is here a
hidden force which guides me to face all the difficulties. A funny
thing is that some people ask for cigarettes instead of food! We need
money so that we can buy the necessary supplies for the affected
people. Another AMURT relief truck also left Medan on Wednesday 5
January 2005."
2. Tamil Nadu, India
AMURT also has relief activities in Tamil Nadu, India. Tamil Nadu was
the third-worst affected area, with 6,500 deaths and 100,000 people
made homeless. Most of the dead were women who were buying fish from
the market place or cooking at home when the tsunami hit. Many
fishermen have lost both their homes and their boats. Over 250,000
people, who depended on fishing for their livelihood, are now facing a
bleak future.
The worst-affected area in Tamil Nadu is Nagapattinam district.
Nagapattinam harbour was washed into the town, and the beaches
themselves were washed away. Almost all the sea-from homes were
destroyed.
An AMURT team started working in Nagapattinam District in the Indian
state of Tamil Nadu on December 28. AMURT has established its base in
the small town of Keerakolaichal, about 6 kilometres from Nagapattinam
town. Our 15-person team is working in coordination with the Indian
military to locate and bury the dead. This is important work as the
corpses rot and spread disease. During their first day of action, our
team buried 78 bodies of those drowned by the floods in the coastal
town of Keerakolaichal. We have been disposing of up to 60 dead bodies
on a daily basis. Now we are focusing on burying bodies found in
destroyed buildings. Family members contact us and ask us to remove
their dead loved ones. It is a difficult task, but one that we have
expertise in. AMURT is generally called upon to do this work in times
of disaster in India. A spiritualist has no fear in doing this work.
An estimated 40,000 people are still missing in the area, and it is
expected that many more people will be found dead.
We have established excellent relations with the local government. They
have provided two jeeps, pick-axes, spades, etc. Our presence is
strongly felt. Murthuji, one of the AMURT team members, had this to
say:
"I have never seen anything like this in my entire life, and I have
almost reached 70. All the houses on the sea front have been destroyed,
and the local people are in a state of shock. They do not know what to
do. Everyone is suffering. Yesterday I heard about a twelve year old
boy who was found carrying his four-year old brother over his shoulder.
The boy was seeking medical assistance for his brother and had walked
32 kilometres. When the younger boy was examined it was found that he
was already dead."
AMURT also needs money to support its work in India. Soon, we will
expand our efforts, most likely into providing food for people. The
District Collector has asked us to take up a program of building homes
for those made homeless. We want to do this, so must raise a lot of
money, at least in the range of $100,000. All AMURT workers are
volunteers and live in the barest conditions will doing relief work.
This is the news for the moment. There are photos of our Indonesian
relief work on the web site. Photos are there also for India.
So many people have suffered in this calamity. Let us show them that we
care. Let us translate our ideology into practice. Let us open our
hearts.
Donations can me made online at www.amurt.net. See particularly
http://www.amurt.net/about/donate.html
http://www.amurt.net/tsunami/index.html
Nagapattinam, India
322 corpses buried or cremated
Over 10 houses cleaned and repaired daily
Counseling provided for women and children survivors
Team expanded to 50 volunteers
Many survivors are traumatized by the disaster and counseling has
become an important part of our work. Our counselors reassure the
survivors that it is safe to return home, and encourage them to
continue with their regular daily routine to bring a sense of normalcy
back to life.
Two Portuguese child counselors have joined our team and organize
games, music and yoga for the children. Rui Guimards reported by phone,
"The children are scared and need to play. They need to express
themselves in a natural way."
Other AMURT team members travel by jeep throughout Nagapattinam
district to help tsunami survivors, especially the elderly, clean and
repair their damaged houses. Every day we clean and repair over ten
houses. The task is laborious as most houses were inundated with up to
6 feet of water and are full of mud.
It is still unknown how many people have died from the tsunami in
Nagapattinam district, and many are feared buried under the mud. We
were able to dig out some bodies that were buried as much as 3 feet
deep. In fact, the local police called us "relief robbers" as we
seemed to know where to go to find bodies, just as a thief knows where
to go to find money! We disposed of 322 bodies from December 28 to
January 2.
Banda Aceh, Indonesia
AMURT works with the military in searching for dead bodies More than
4,000 parcels of food, water and medicines have been distributed AMURT
established a branch headquarter in Banda Aceh as more volunteers
arrive from around the world.
The Banda Aceh team continues to distribute parcels of food, medicine
and water to desperate, hungry residents. So far the team has
distributed more than 4,000 parcels of food, water and medicines.
At the same time AMURT volunteers in coordination with the army
continues the search for decaying corpses that still lie buried in the
mud.
Our Medan based AMURT and AMURTEL volunteers are preparing to care for
a group of refugees as the camps are overflowing.