Conveying Master’s Love to Those Affected by Flooding in India

By Indian Relief Team (Originally in English)

In early July 2016, due to days of heavy rainfall, the Chamoli and Pithoragarh Districts in Uttarakhand State, India, sustained severe damage from the flood, with at least 21 lives lost and 11 missing, large crop fields inundated, and many houses and bridges washed away. The Indian army and medical teams were deployed to carry out relief operations. In the state of Madhya Pradesh, at least 35 lives were lost and more than 300,000 people in were adversely affected. Temporary relief camps were set up by the state government.

To provide aid as instructed by Supreme Master Ching Hai, our local Association members organized a relief effort funded with US$24,557 from Master.

Uttarakhand

On July 13, two of our Mumbai Association members traveled to Kathgodam in Uttarakhand State to meet with one of our local friend for assistance.

The next day, we drove together to the mountain area of Pithoragarh District. We met with District Magistrate Mr. Harish Chandra Semwal, who expressed his appreciation for Master’s deep concern. After making inquiries about the situation, he advised us to go to the most severely hit area in the villages of Thal and Nachni and requested his friend, Mr. Shamsher Singh Satyal, to help us to procure and distribute the required relief materials.

The next morning, we traveled to Thal and purchased supplies such as rice, flour, oil, flashlights and blankets. Mr. Shamsher Sing Satyal kindly contributed INR 13,750 to the INR 350,000 we entrusted him and helped procure more materials, which he distributed later to those who had returned home from the shelters in August. In addition, we provided INR 21,000 to each of the seven families who needed to repair their collapsed homes.

Madhya Pradesh

On July 22, we had a meeting with Mr. Mukul Gupta at Bhopal, who was in charge of Disaster Management for Madhya Pradesh, and learned that the government had already taken care to have food and supplies distributed to the affected people. He advised us to help the children from the disadvantaged families by giving them school supplies. After talking to the officials from the Education Department, we purchased 4,000 sets of stationery, as well as some shawls, candy and wheat flour from the wholesale market in Bhopal. The shop owner kindly contributed more stationery sets in appreciation of Master’s loving kindness. Each school kit included a school bag, five notebooks, 10 pencils, an eraser, a sharpener and 10 sketch pens. In the next few days, accompanied by officers of the education department of various districts, we distributed all the sets in various municipal schools in Bhopal, Sagar and in neighboring areas. We were deeply touched by the overwhelming response from all the government officials who helped us to complete our mission smoothly and successfully.

May all those affected by this disastrous flood be blessed with much comfort and a quick recovery. We pray people in all corners of the world adopt the vegan diet to protect the Earth and prevent catastrophic weather events.

Expenditures by The Supreme Master Ching Hai for Flood Relief Work in India

Relief Work in Uttarakhand

Relief Work in Madhya Pradesh