Kunga Tashi (left), Program Director of Seva Tibet, is rushing to Yushu with aid for the earthquake victims. Here he is, in happier days, being thanked by Tibetans at a Seva eye camp in the area
We learned late yesterday that Kunga Tashi, Program Director of Seva Tibet, was leaving Lhasa to make the long and difficult journey to Yushu. It will take him 30 hours to reach Yushu. He has a half a truckload of donations from the Tibet Red Cross and other Tibetans to provide food and blankets to the earthquake victims. Kunga has not been able to contact Dr. Sona Yangzom and nurse Dolma, both of whom were trained by Seva at our partner hospital in Nepal, the Lumbini Eye Institute. Kunga will keep the Seva family updated about their conditions when he reaches Yushu. When the earthquake happened, a team of Seva-sponsored ophthalmologists and field staff had just completed a nearby eye camp and they are already on their way to the devastated region to help in rescue efforts. Reports are that hospitals and several schools collapsed, the old section of Yashu in the Quinghai province has been completely flattened and hundreds are buried beneath the rubble of homes and buildings. Many medical staff were lost in the collapse of a hospital. At Seva we are following the situation closely and applaud emergency relief organizations that are already on their way to help with the immense challenges to provide health care, food, water, blankets, clothes and other urgent life saving measures for a traumatized region. With three decades of on-the-ground experience in Tibet, we know how to get help to those who need it.
Dr. Dorjee, far left, is an ophthalmologist. He and his Seva-supported team were in the earthquake region conducting eye camps when the earthquakes near Yushu struck. He and his teams have rushed to the disaster zone to offer medical assistance. Here he is in better days with hundreds of eye patients after a cataract surgical camp.
Seva is committed to helping by doing what we do best. We will focus our efforts to assist those who have sustained eye injuries, help rebuild eye care services and replace lost equipment destroyed in the quake. You can donate to Seva Canada to help rebuild the eye care programs in the earthquake area where we have worked since 1995 and which has one of the world's highest rates of blindness. Your donation today will go toward rebuilding eye care services in Tibet.
