Around the World

Earthquake Relief Activities

The SGI and its constituent organizations worldwide responded quickly to the tragedies wrought by the major earthquakes in El Salvador and India during January. That response came in the form of monetary donations and practical relief efforts.

Destruction in El Salvador SGI members in EL Salvador distributing relief goods (Tepecoyo city)

Youth representatives from SGI-Mexico visited El Salvador immediately after the earthquake with donations of blankets, lanterns and instant food. Consulting with SGI members in San Salvador, they identified the areas in greatest need and worked out a plan of action. Together with local youth members, they went to the most heavily damaged areas. Survivors who received supplies expressed their gratitude for the direct distribution of relief goods, especially since no deliveries of goods had yet been received through official channels.

In India, the local SGI organization, Bharat Soka Gakkai (BSG), sprang into action immediately after the massive Gujarat earthquake. Donations of emergency supplies were collected at BSG centers in Mumbai (Bombay) and New Delhi, while the Youth Peace Committee quickly sent a team to the stricken area to assess the scale of the damage and the steps needed to provide relief. The Women's Peace Committee organized a detailed plan of items to be collected. Ten villages that had not yet been reached by relief workers were identified, and eight trucks transported 50 tons of relief supplies between February 8 and 14. The items collected included essential foodstuffs as well as tents, clothing, bed sheets and medicine. A 16-member main team including three doctors and several mountaineers braved extreme weather conditions to distribute 2,500 "family packages" to more than 15,000 villagers who had suffered the effects of the quake.

As well as local-level assistance, generous donations of humanitarian assistance were given to both the El Salvador and Indian governments by SGI in Taiwan, which suffered a major earthquake in 1999. Representatives of the Soka Gakkai in Japan, meanwhile, made donations to the respective embassies in Tokyo on behalf of SGI members around the world. The Singapore Soka Association (the SGI organization in Singapore) also donated over US$30,000 collected by its members to the Red Cross for relief assistance to India.

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