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People wish to live happily without fear and sadness. Not only for us but it is natural for any country to undergo difficulties, privations and hardship. Buddhism teaches the doctrine of the Eightfold path and how we are to live by it. The occurrence of floods and landslides is nothing new to us. But this time it came with a vengeance burying entire villages. Not only floods, we have earthquakes, earth slips, Tsunami and Cyclones in this world.

The recent floods may have taken away your wealth, houses, vehicles, documents, books, electrical goods, industrial goods and even your business wealth. Some even lost their lives. It is no use to cry about all these and be miserable. What we need is the will to rise again, make extra efforts and go higher. This is an opportunity to face up to reality and live.

Recently there were several landslides. In some places these are warnings of more landslides. Even from my earlier letters I gave the reasons for the occurrence of landslides. One of the main reasons for landslides is the construction of toilet pits up on the hills. This loosens the soil on the hills and the danger of landslides then arises. The Government should take action and construct drainage systems or suitable pipelines for the discharge from these toilets to reach lower land, thus avoiding landslides. The Government should enact laws for this. Otherwise the waste water when it seeps into the ground will loosen the soil of the hills and destroy the villages when landslides occur.

We are happy that during the recent calamity, many people helped the helpless with no consideration about the status of those affected. That is good. One report advised that more than food those affected need medicine and water. Even though it was good to distribute packets of rice, some lost that benefit as the rice had got spoilt by the time it was delivered. Some packets even had a foul smell.

The main reason for this is when the rice is packed in polythene that is of poor quality. When rice is packed when it is hot with ingredients containing lime, chemicals get absorbed by the rice. This causes the rice to be spoilt fast. People tend to fall sick too.
Another problem that cropped up with the recent floods is that a lot of polythene material was washed away causing drains and waterways to be blocked. This prevented the flood waters from receding and also caused the water levels to rise. Since householders did not take preventive action and did not allow the water to recede the problem was aggravated.

The discharge of oil, grease and other chemicals from petrol sheds, garages to waterways can pollute the water and emanate bad odor causing illnesses. During the floods, those who were in the water if they did not wash themselves with Dettol or some sort of disinfectant when they came out were exposed to illnesses. The voluntary groups handling resettlement of people must remember this. Thousands of houses went under water. It is good if all voluntary groups, young people, employed persons, others and even schoolchildren to get involved in cleaning affected houses, wells and other places. This is an ideal way to earn extra merit during this time of Vesak.

Before the floods came, the Gangaramaya planned to rehabilitate the homeless and help build roofs for those who lacked proper housing. This we planned to do from this Vesak Poya to the next Vesak. In addition, we planned with the help of the Government to build toilets for those who lacked these facilities. The floods came in this backdrop. I have asked Ministers Sagala Rathnayake and Ruwan Wijewardene to help me complete these with the assistance of the armed services and Police. They have agreed.
We have a big stock of roofing sheets that we had bought. At the request of the devotees we are distributing financial help and goods. We have the strength and capacity to have these done. This is an ideal occasion to donate for a worthy cause useable roofing sheets and other building materials.

Another point is that those who were affected by the floods are not only the poor people. Some who were well off, doing good jobs and living good lives were also affected. But the floods have come and have troubled them. It is good to understand their immediate needs, and not ignore them but help them in whatever way possible. This will help them to get back on their feet.
I would like to make an appeal to all the Buddhist prelates and the priests of other religions to join hands with the societies and enterprises of each locality and help provide roofing sheets, pipe borne water and proper toilet facilities.

These days we have for exposition a statue of Lord Buddha embedded with diamonds, and gems and made out of a ‘Marakatha’ gem. A similar statue is there at the palace of the king of Thailand. During these Vesak days this statue is kept for public veneration at the Gangaramaya and will be taken from one district to another shortly.

Your suggestions on these could be addressed to:
Ven. Galboda Gnanissara Thera, Gangaramaya, 61, Sri Jinarathana Road, Colombo 02