Buddhist group helps quake victims in northern Italy

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Rome, Italy -- Members of Taiwan's Buddhist Compassion Relief Tzu Chi Foundation from Germany, France and the United Kingdom braved snow in northern Italy Saturday to distribute shopping vouchers to residents struck by an earthquake earlier this year.

The 37 volunteers distributed the shopping vouchers, worth 100 euros each, to about 400 residents of the Bondeno and Finale Emilia townships to help them through the winter.

Residents in the two areas, part of the Emilia Romagna region hit by a magnitude-5.9 quake May 20, are in desperate need of help, and the charity drive mainly targeted families with elderly members and children, or those struggling for money, Chen Shu-wei, a Taiwanese volunteer based in Germany, told CNA.

The foundation currently does not have a branch in Italy and the volunteers traveled across borders to the affected areas in tour buses, despite heavy snow that had begun days before.

Chen said the people coming in for the vouchers were quite shy or even cold at the start, but began to soften when they knew better what the group was doing.

"You could tell that some of them were brimming over with happiness by the looks on their faces, while others even hugged us or shook our hands," Chen said.

The volunteers also screened a video in which Tzu Chi founder Dharma Master Cheng Yen prayed for and encouraged the earthquake victims.

Angelo d'Aiello, an official of Finale Emilia, said the township authorities had to turn to charities for help, given limited government resources.

Claudio Sabatini, a local entrepreneur and coordinator of the charity drive, said the events marked a good start for cooperation with the Buddhist group.

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Sikkim quake: Early Sunday prayers saved monks of Ringjhim monastery

The monastery houses five senior monks and 55 students and as it was a Sunday, the monks had finished their prayer session half an hour earlier rather than the usual time of 6 pm on weekdays.

The earthquake struck at 6.10 pm ruining the holy prayer hall in a matter of minutes before the monks could run for shelter. Had the prayer meeting continued till 6 PM as on week days, the monks could have been trapped inside, the Principal of the Institution of Buddhist Learning of the monastery, Acharya Prema Dorjee told PTI.

"On weekdays the routine afternoon prayer session is from 4 pm to 6 pm but as it was Sunday we finished the prayer session at 5.30 pm in the evening and the earthquake hit this part of the region at 6.10 pm," Acharya Prema Dorjee told PTI.

"We saw part of our coveted institution crumbling down like a house of cards. Had it been a weekday we would all have been under the debris" Dorjee said.

"We would all have died but it was our good luck that we survived. Had it been a week day no one would have survived" a senior monk said.

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Sikkim quake: Landmark Rumtek monastery damaged

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GANGTOK, Sikkim (India) -- Buddhist prayer flags flutter serenely in the mountain breeze and senior monks in deep red robes, their faces creased with age and worry, shuffle around clutching their ubiquitous prayer beads.

Inside the half-century-old Rumtek monastery, about 24km from Sikkim's capital, the younger monks are talking animatedly, while some snooze on their beddings strewn on the verandah around the main courtyard. Their belongings are piled alongside.

There are deep cracks in the two buildings that house classrooms of the Karma Shri Nalanda Institute that's part of this monastery, forcing the young monks to abandon their rooms and shift to this verandah. "Our examinations are scheduled for November and we can't study in the open verandah. There's no knowing when our rooms will be repaired," said Chewang Norbu Bhutia, a student.

This young monk adds that while the February 2006 earthquake that struck Sikkim had caused many cracks in their rooms, this time the columns and beams that support the building have cracked. "It's totally unsafe. Even a mild tremor will bring the two buildings down," he said.

40 foreigners taken to safer places

The Centre has constituted an inter-ministerial team to visit Sikkim to take stock of the damage caused by Sunday's devastating earthquake, as hundreds of people, including 40 foreigners, were evacuated and taken to safer places. Union home minister P Chidambaram will visit Sikkim on Thursday to review the rescue ops.

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