Tzu Chi Q&A

Tzu Chi's international relief has been carried out in four ways:

(1) Tzu Chi works independently to carry out disaster or poverty relief work.

Examples:
■ Eastern China flood, 1991
■ Mongolia winter relief, 1992
■ Nepal flood, 1993
■ Cambodia flood and drought, 1994
■ Aid to Chinese veterans in Northern Thailand, since 1995

After Nepal was hit by severe flooding in 1993, Tzu Chi built a total of 1,800 permanent houses in four villages for those affected. (Tzu Chi Foundation)

As Tzu Chi has expanded globally, most of its international relief work is now carried out in the following three ways:

(2) Tzu Chi and its overseas offices work together to carry out disaster relief.

Examples:
■ El Salvador earthquake, 2001
■ Bam earthquake in Iran, 2003
■ Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami, 2004
■ Kashmir earthquake in Pakistan, 2005
■ Cyclone Nargis in Myanmar, 2008
■ Sichuan earthquake in China, 2008
■ Chile earthquake, 2010
■ Haiti earthquake, 2010
■ Pakistan floods, 2010
■ 3/11 Earthquake in Japan, 2011
■ Typhoon Yolanda in the Philippines, 2013
■ Bosnia and Herzegovina floods, 2014
■ Nepal earthquake, 2015
■ Ecuador earthquake, 2016
■ Puebla earthquake in Mexico, 2017
■ Cyclone Idai, 2019

The people of Twante in Yangon, Myanmar receive rice from Tzu Chi after Cyclone Nargis caused widespread devastation in the country. (Zhou Qin-xian)

(3) Overseas Tzu Chi offices work independently to carry out relief work in their countries of residence.

Examples:
■ Charitable work in Africa since 1992, including South Africa, Mozambique, Eswatini, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Botswana, Namibia, Malawi, and Zambia
■ Angke River cleanup project in Indonesia, 2002
■ Malaysia flood, 2015
■ Alberta wildfire in Canada, 2016
■ California wildfires in the US, 2018

Tzu Chi volunteers in Canada raise funds to help those affected by the wildfire in Alberta that forced nearly 90,000 people from their homes. (Huang Ya-rong)

(4) Tzu Chi works together with other international charity organizations to help people in need of aid.

Relief International:
■ Flood victims of Azerbaijan, 1999

Examples:
MDM (Médecins du Monde, or Doctors of the World):
■ War victims of Ethiopia, 1993 and 1998
■ War victims of Rwanda, 1994
■ War victims of Chechnya, 1995
■ Homeless children in Ivory Coast, 1996
■  Kosovar refugees, 1999

Knightsbridge International:
■ Quake survivors in Afghanistan, 1998
■ Kosovar refugees, 1999
■ Afghan refugees, 2001

Red Cross:
■ Poverty and disaster relief in Vietnam, since 1998
■ Izmit earthquake in Turkey, 1999
■ Colombia earthquake, 1999
■ 9/11 attacks, 2001 (along with Salvation Army)
■ Hurricane Katrina, 2005 (along with FEMA)
■ Hurricane Sandy, 2012
■ California wildfires, 2016
■ Hurricane Harvey, 2017 (along with FEMA)

CARE (Cooperative for Assistance and Relief Everywhere):
■ Gujarat earthquake in India, 2001

Healey International Relief Foundation and Caritas Freetown Foundation:
■ Ebola epidemic in Sierra Leone, 2015-2016
■ Sierra Leone flood, 2017-2019

Volunteers from Tzu Chi, Caritas, and Healey International Relief Foundation give out clothing and shoes to children orphaned by the Ebola virus disease in Sierra Leone. (Huang You-bin)

Apart from providing emergency relief to people in the immediate aftermath of a disaster or building temporary or permanent housing for them, Tzu Chi will further look at ways to help disaster survivors living in poverty become self-reliant.

For example, after constructing a village for Typhoon Yolanda survivors in Palo of Leyte Province in the Philippines, Tzu Chi volunteers have been guiding the villagers to grow vegetables, bake bread, make vegetarian meal sets, and sew handbags to make a living. The volunteers also purchase used tricycles and loan them to the villagers interest-free so they can work as tricycle taxi drivers to support their families.

In Palo of Leyte Province in the Philippines, survivors of Typhoon Yolanda learn how to sew and make handbags to help support their families. (Li Xin-jun)

Tzu Chi volunteers purchase used motor tricycles for Typhoon Yolanda survivors in Palo, Leyte Province, Philippines so they can make a living as tricycle taxi drivers. (Cai Juan-hua)

TIHAA, or Tzu Chi International Humanitarian Aid Association, was founded in 2003 by a group of entrepreneurs from various industries in Taiwan to provide logistical support to Tzu Chi's disaster relief efforts and to develop goods for use in times of disaster.

For example, as disaster areas often lack electricity, TIHAA has worked with Tzu Chi's monastic practitioners to develop instant rice that can be prepared just by adding cold water. It has also developed technologies to process recycled plastic bottles into fiber, which is then made into blankets and clothing to be given out to the needy and disaster survivors.

Tzu Chi’s instant rice comes in many flavors and is a convenience food for Tzu Chi volunteers during their relief missions. (Wu Bi-hua)

These thermal blankets to be given out to students in need at a school in Thailand are made from recycled PET bottles. (Kang Ya-feng)

1. All-terrain vehicle

2. Mobile kitchen

3. Mobile water purification system

4. Gasifier stove and biomass fuel

5. Temporary housing and classroom

6. Solar street light

7. Portable bed