Providing Assistance to Displaced Citizens in Asunción, Paraguay After December Floods

By Paraguay Relief Team (Originally in Spanish)

By the end of December 2015, floods in Paraguay, considered the worst flooding in 50 years, displaced 130,000 people. Water levels reached as high as 7.2 meters in the nation’s capital, Asunción, where approximately 90,000 have evacuated their homes. The government declared a state of emergency. Many citizens were staying in temporary shelters set up on government land, in public squares and streets across the city, waiting for the water to retreat so they could return to their homes.

In order to provide timely assistance to the people in need, Supreme Master Ching Hai sent US$17,000 in funds to our Paraguay Center, and instructed our local Association members to organize a relief effort. Our Association members also contributed an additional US$372 to the fund during the purchasing of relief supplies.

On January 7, 2016, a relief team formed by our Paraguayan Association members traveled to Asunción, and met with the Minister of Paraguay’s National Emergencies Secretariat (SEN), where we found out the needed supplies of the affected people. We immediately prepared and distributed 700 bags of vegan food, which included oil, rice, noodles, flour, beans, sugar and salt, and also gave the children candy and cookies. To those who were elderly or sick, we handed out financial assistance. In addition, 200 pairs of rubber boots were given to those who worked in maintaining the dike in the city of Alberdi, southwest of Asunción. The recipients were very grateful for Master’s loving concern, and some of them invited Her to visit Paraguay.

Expenditures by Supreme Master Ching Hai and Her International Association for Flood Relief Work in Paraguay