20150502 惜水如金 賑災義診To Cherish Precious Water
Mother Nature is out of balance. Let’s first look at the water shortage in Taiwan. Water levels in the reservoirs keep going down. Watching the latest updates on reservoirs makes us very concerned. Many areas are short on water as drought persists. All citizen should discipline themselves to cut down on their water usage instead of just focusing on storing extra water.
If they don’t have a sense of water scarcity, they will keep on using water without discipline and can’t bring forth their vigilance to save water. I really look forward to and also call for everyone and also call for everyone to discipline themselves to save water.
Of course, I also truly hope to see sediments in the reservoirs be reduced to increase storage capacity for water. We need to address these two issues. People really need to heighten their vigilance in cherishing water as a resource and discipline themselves to save water. Turning to Nepal, after the magnitude 7.8 quake hit the country, the number of total deaths and injuries keeps on rising as days go by.
To date, about 27 countries have sent their emergency rescue teams and supplies to help quake devastated Nepal. There have been a few miracles. Another quake survivor was found after being buried for over 100 hours. Rescue teams quickly worked together. One group quickly cleared the rubbles around her while someone kept her talking. After four hours, she was finally pulled out and rescued.
Despite being through such a major disaster and trapped for more than 100 hours, she was rescued and pulled out alive.
It is truly miraculous. Indeed, survivors’ hope comes from rescuers who will commit themselves wholeheartedly with perseverance. Yesterday we saw Supt. Chien, Supt. Chao, Director Lee and Director Wang starting free clinics there. They are very mindful in listening to and providing medical care to calm patients’ minds. Tzu Chi’s medical relief mission has started there. So far this morning, we have served 120 patients.
Yesterday, we served about 30 to 40 patients. We will try our best to reach villages not too far away but with very urgent medical needs. Yesterday another team of physicians from Tzu Chi’s hospitals went there, departing from Taiwan on flight around 1 P.M. they transited in Hong Kong before reaching Kathmandu.
By the time they reached the hotel and met up with the team there, it was already past 2 A.M. Taiwan time this morning. Yet this morning they still plan to begin scheduled operations to help patients with fractured bones. This recent team has four orthopedic surgeons. One of them is Asst. Supt. Chien from Dalin Tzu Chi Hospital Dr. Chien is the leader for this team. He was very thoughtful in preparing the surgical equipment.
This orthopedic hand drill is what’s available now. Also, it does not require electricity. It can be used at any time. This is a surgical pliers. I can use it to hit, twist, or cut. It is multi-functional. So, in a disaster area where resources are on short supply with unstable supplies of water and electricity, an orthopedic hand drill and a pair of pliers can serve the most function when needed.
Also with him are Dr. Zeng from Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital, Supt. Poon from Kuanshan Tzu Chi Hospital and Dr. Liu from Hualien Tzu Chi Hospital. These doctors are the experts in the orthopedic field. They are also joined by Dr. Lin from Taichung Tzu Chi Hospital. He is the head of the department of anesthesiology and also a member of the most recent team. I am truly grateful to have such a strong medical relief team ready to save lives in Nepal today.
Also arriving in Nepal yesterday was George Chang, a Tzu Chi volunteer who has a lot of experience in international disaster relief, as well as staff from Tzu Chi Foundation. There were a total of over ten people in the second team. Volunteers in Taiwan also helped with preparing material supplies to be delivered by China Airlines’ cargo plane. They worked very hard, day and night, to ready the aid supplies.
Yesterday while driving taxi, I received a messages from a fellow volunteer saying that they need help with preparing blankets to be shipped to Nepal. So, I ended my work early to save my strength in order to come here to help. Volunteers in Taipei worked early in the morning before 8 A.M. to send the supplies to us in Taoyuan. In this relay of love, we will help clear customs for shipping. We hope to quickly send Nepal these aid supplies in this time of their most urgent need.
Besides the hard work from Taiwan to load such a large quantity of relief supplies onto China Airlines’ cargo plane, a large group of volunteers in Indonesia also worked from 10 P.M. to early the next morning to unload the shipments from the cargo plane, transport them to a military airport, and then load them onto a military aircraft to be shipped to Nepal.
We are very grateful that the military aircraft departed from Indonesia early morning yesterday, bringing also staff from Tzu Chi Indonesia and three physicians. They are military doctors who are leading this mission. This very encouraging and inspiring because they bring more forces to strengthen our medical mission. They bring huge tents to be used as a mobile hospital, which makes having surgeries possible.
Yesterday, I saw pictures of patients lying on the ground I hope Tzu Chi’s multi-functional beds on this military aircraft can help, so that patients don’t have to sleep on the ground. As it keeps raining there, with their injuries and sleeping on the wet ground, adds more suffering onto their existing hardship.
Therefore, this military aircraft that will arrive in Nepal soon brings much hope for the disaster survivors. This is something that we are very grateful for I cannot express all my gratitude. Our main goal is to quickly alleviate the suffering of the quake survivors. Therefore, I am truly grateful for the help from many countries to deliver aid as we work together with love. At this time, rescue teams and humanitarian groups from about 27 countries are already in Nepal.
Now, it will depend on whether the government of Nepal will give aid groups from all these countries a chance to help out in the relief effort. This requires step by step communication. I am very grateful that Tzu Chi has received a permit to carry out medical operations there. We have already begun our free clinic services. All in all, to help the quake survivors, we need to exert both wisdom and courage. Only then can we truly bring forth or potential to help Nepal.
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