Eye-witness report from Surmang earthquake
Apr 15th, 2010 by admin
Apr 15, 2010
Khenpo Tsering of the Surmang Monastery was able to call Lyndon Comstock of the Konchok Foundation to report on the devastation in the Surmang area. The
full report of their call is below.
Khenpo said that Jyekundo (the closest city to Surmang) is “completely destroyed.” He said that probably 95% of the buildings in the city have been destroyed. He said that, if anyone has seen the movie “2012,” it looks like that. Even some of the more recent larger buildings collapsed. He said that a six or seven story building collapsed “like the World Trade Center.”
Khenpo said that about eight hundred bodies that have been pulled out of the rubble so far but “there are thousands more bodies still buried in the collapsed buildings.”
Surmang Dutsi Til was not seriously affected by the earthquake. He has not been there in this first day since the earthquake but he was told that the earthquake was not so large there (Surmang is much further from the epicenter than Jyekundo is). He was told that no one was injured at Surmang Dutsi Til, and that several buildings have cracks in them from the earthquake, but none collapsed. He was told that there was no damage at all to the new shedra building complex at Surmang, which he described as very strongly built compared to how other buildings are constructed in the region.
Trungpa XII Rinpoche is at Derge right now, which was not affected by the earthquake. Damcho Tenphel Rinpoche was at Kyere and most of the family members of Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche are in that area, which was not affected by the earthquake. However, several of the Vidyadhara’s nieces or nephews have been living in Jyekundo and Khenpo has no news yet of what has happened to them.
Thrangu monastery was the monastery most severely damaged by the earthquake from the reports that Khenpo has received. He was told that it is “95% destroyed” and that many monks there are dead, but no one yet knows how many.
Khenpo asked Lyndon to tell the Shambhala sangha that, if we are able to send money, that would be very helpful, because everyone who was involved in this earthquake needs help. He is going to find the Surmang families first to see how he can help them but there are many people who need help. Everyone who was living in Jyekundo has lost their house and has had people close to them who was killed or injured.
Lee Weingrad, director of the Surmang Foundation was interviewed by BBC TV and Radio (BBC World Report) to speak for their foundation and the NGO community. He reports: “The tone was very open and dignified and I think we can say a lot by not pretending to have anything other than a broken heart as the basis for fearlessly helping the victims of the unspeakable tragedy. There might be another interview tonight Beijing time and if there is, I’ll be sure to give some advance warning.”
The Konchok Foundation has set up a disaster relief fund so that sangha members or others who wish to offer support can do so.
http://www.konchok.org Donations can be made from anywhere by credit card or from the U.S. or Canada by check. Donations will be forwarded to Khenpo Tsering of the Surmang monastery for distribution.
Please recall compassionately in your daily practice all those who have been killed, injured, or left homeless by the earthquake.
For further information:
Konchok Foundation http://www.konchok.org
Surmang Foundation http://www.surmang.org