The Earthquake Disaster Relief Mission is our most urgent need at this time. No donation is too small. Lama Tashi Topgyal will leave for Tibet on May 1, 2010 to go to the Jyekundo area to provide as much assistance as possible. Lama Tatop, as well as other members of the Ratkrul Foundation are very familiar with this area, and are able to asses the needs, and provide practical as well as spiritual assistance at this critical time. Below is an excerpt from th tricycle editor's blog to help give you a better idea of the devastation done

"We are very sad to report that hundreds have died and an estimated 10,000 mostly ethnic Tibetans were injured and left homeless in near-freezing temperatures in the aftermath of the earthquake that struck a sparsely populated region of Tibet in the early hours of April 14. More than 85 percent of the houses in Jiegu, a town of 100,000 people nearest the epicenter, were destroyed.

Because solid information is still emerging from officials working in the area, it is difficult to know how many remain buried in the rubble. Most of the people in the region are Tibetan herders and farmers who are in immediate need of shelter, medicine, clothing and other necessities"

As we now know, children, the elderly as well as monastics were injured or killed in this massive quake. Please subscribe to our newsletter. We will post upates on our progress as we are able.