By Yogyakarta News Group, Indonesia

On May 27, 2006, an earthquake hit at 5:54 AM, measuring 6.3 on the Richter scale. Many thousands of people died and several hundred thousands became homeless. Most severely affected areas were Bantul, a regency in Yogyakarta, and Klaten. Local initiates immediately went to the disaster areas to investigate and help.

The first thing we noticed was that those areas in Central Java where our brothers and sisters distributed 80,000 Alternative Living flyers one week before the earthquake were all saved from any damage, thanks to God's grace!! And thanks to Master's love and protection, all Yogyakarta initiates were safe.

In the afternoon of May 27, several hours after the earthquake, we learned that some areas had been totally destroyed, and help was needed. We quickly bought tents, medicines, biscuits and milk and finished packing relief items that night by approximately 8 PM. Then we went to the disaster areas. After collecting information from local citizens, we traveled to the more remote areas of Bambanglipuro District and Pandak District in Bantul, where many houses had collapsed. There was also no electricity (so, it was really dark) and no relief team had yet arrived. We were the first group there.

Guided by local citizens to several villages to distribute the relief items, we found that some victims needed a medical check immediately, so we took some injured villagers to the nearest hospital. We found that all hospitals were full and blood was everywhere. It was really a sad situation. Before we left the people at the hospital, we contributed some money in case they needed to buy medicine, etc. They were really grateful. One even cried and hugged a sister initiate.

Love and care from our many Centers in Indonesia came in the form of teams sent to Yogyakarta Center. We divided the teams into three groups: Assessment Team, Logistic Team and Distribution Team. The first team assessed the situation and collected data about the areas most stricken. The second team, after getting information from the Assessment Team, purchased relief materials and packed them. And the last team distributed the relief items.

In the afternoon of May 28, with guidance from Red Cross personnel, we went to two districts, Pleret and Imogiri, where we found the houses 90-100% collapsed. We couldn't say anything when seeing these areas. The rain was falling heavily, yet the survivors didn’t have enough food, they had no electricity and lacked shelter or tents. We also smelled a bad odor in Bauran, a village in Pleret District, where 100% of the houses were collapsed. It seemed that there were a lot of corpses not yet evacuated. Despite heavy rain and the dark situation, we distributed relief items such as tents, ropes, biscuits, mineral water and medicines, which were happily received by local victims.

On May 30, initiate teams from Singapore and Formosa arrived to offer medical and other help. They joined teams from Yogyakarta, Jakarta, Surabaya, Malang, and Bali Centers. So we worked together hand in hand from May 27 up to June 6, starting early each morning till late at night, with devotion to Master and the victims.

During our relief work, we found a lot of touching situations. When we went to Dokaran and Glagah Lor sub-villages on June 3, young and old people together happily and loudly read text printed in the cover of Master’s flyers that were given to them along with Alternative Living flyers. They said, “Supreme Master Ching Hai, Bring Heaven to Earth Now, Direct Contact with God, Light and Sound Meditation Method!”

In another location, Master’s love in our visit perhaps could be sensed by some of the mothers, who cried when we asked permission to leave. In two other places, the local people even asked for Master’s big poster. When we distributed material relief, they thanked us many times, but we always said, “Thanks to Master.” Surprisingly, some of the local villagers bowed and gave thanks in front of Master’s picture to show their gratefulness.

Regarding Master’s picture that we also gave, many local people said that Master is beautiful. There was one old man who said Master was not an ordinary human. He could see Master’s greatness and then asked for the location of the Center in Yogyakarta.

As of this date, we have distributed many relief items such as tents, ropes, torch lights, daily necessities, hurricane lamps, biscuits, baby milk and food, instant noodles, mineral water, rice, cooking oil, blankets, and medicine to 17 affected districts (more than 60 locations) in Bantul, Yogyakarta. The Formosan medical team of fellow initiates also treated several hundreds of the wounded. Detailed reports will follow in the next issue of News.