Media Reports
Typhoon Disaster Relief Crosses the Ocean
The Leader of an International
Meditation Association, Supreme Master Ching Hai,
Contributes US$ 50,000 for Korean typhoon relief
Ceremony to Present Relief Funds to Five Injured Firefighters at the Busan South Fire Station. The Association Provided Daily Necessities to Victims at Disaster Sites, and also contributed to Daegu Subway Disaster Relief.
The love that crossed the ocean in the form of relief for victims of the Typhoon Maemi disaster touched us all.
Reporter Jung Dae-Hyun
At 2:00 PM on September 22, 2003, a ceremony was held at the Busan South Fire Station for the delivery of relief funds to five injured firefighters by a meditation organization called The Supreme Master Ching Hai International Association. A total of 8 million Won (US$ 7,272) was donated to the firefighters.
Upon hearing about the serious typhoon damage recently inflicted on Korea, The Supreme Master Ching Hai sent US$50,000 to the Youngdong Center of The Supreme Master Ching Hai International Association on September 13, the day after the typhoon struck. With these funds, Korean members of the Association carried out both material and spiritual relief activities, such as delivering needed supplies and supporting recovery work in the areas affected by the typhoon.
"The Supreme Master Ching Hai immediately sent money to us on the day after the typhoon hit," the Association's representative Jung Chang-Ha explained. "At that time, no other organization was even accepting donations."
US$ 40,000 of the US$ 50,000 from Supreme Master Ching Hai was used to purchase daily necessities such as rice, noodles, bedclothes, clothing and emergency medical supplies. The Association sent the items to disaster-stricken areas including Sancheong-gun, Changnyung-gun and Euiryung-gun of Kyungsangnam-do Province, Gadukdo Island of Busan City, Samcheok City, and Taebaek City, among others.
"Our members informed us that the temperature was decreasing and that the flood victims were suffering from the cold in Cheolam of Taebaek so we urgently purchased clothes and sent them to the area," an Association member explained.
Besides delivering relief materials, approximately 120 Association members from all parts of Korea also supported recovery efforts on Gadukdo Island on September 20, and in the Woopo area of Changnyung-gun on September 21. Before their relief activities for Typhoon Maemi, the Association gave support and donations to victims of the Sampoong Department Store collapse in 1995 and the Daegu subway disaster earlier this year.
Over the past several years, on Supreme Master Ching Hai's instructions, disaster response teams have been established by the Association's centers in various countries, and have played major roles in similar relief work worldwide in response to natural and man-made disasters. Jung Chang-Ha said that in Formosa, where the Association's headquarters is located, the disaster response team is even equipped with amphibious vehicles.
During Her youth, The Supreme Master Ching Hai, a native of Au Lac, did volunteer service for the Red Cross in Germany. Later, She renounced the world, traveled through Tibet and India and became fully enlightened in the Himalayas. Now meditation centers to spread Her teachings exist in approximately 67 countries worldwide.
Note: The title “The Supreme Master” refers to a fully enlightened Master. Reporter Park Gi-Beom
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