[Southern Thailand Floods] Monk Responds to Rescue Team's Request, Mobilizes Followers to Donate Emergency Lifeboat

Floods have been raging for days in Hat Yai, southern Thailand. With transportation in some areas cut off and rescuers feeling the pressure from a shortage of lifeboats, a Malaysian monk, Venerable Jack Loke, responded immediately after receiving a call for help. He quickly called on followers from Malaysia and abroad to raise 100,000 baht (over RM12,000) in a short time to purchase a lifeboat and donate it to the Hat Yai rescue team.

Venerable Jack Loke revealed that on Thursday, while riding in a friend's passenger van from Songkhla northward back to Wat Ban Rai temple in Nakhon Ratchasima, he received a message from a friend on the rescue team stating that the disaster area was in urgent need of a lifeboat and asking if he could help. Upon learning of the situation, the monk agreed without hesitation to lend a hand.

However, he was heading in the opposite direction of the disaster zone and was unsure where to buy a lifeboat, facing some difficulties for a while. Later, the other party sent him the address of a boat factory in Phutthamonthon District, Nakhon Pathom Province. He then contacted the manufacturer to get more details.

"I told him: 'I'm on the road, I might only arrive after dark. Please wait for me, I will definitely get there.'"

When the van arrived at the boat factory in the evening, the first thing he said to the factory manager was to ask if they could deliver the lifeboat to Hat Yai the next morning. Although the factory was about 900 kilometers from Hat Yai, the monk insisted on racing against time, aiming to get the lifeboat into the disaster area as soon as possible for rescue efforts.

The factory manager promised to do everything possible to deliver the lifeboat to Hat Yai by the next evening; if there were any delays, it would arrive latest by Friday morning. The monk then made payment of 100,000 baht on the spot and repeatedly reminded the factory to speed things up.

He also requested that the factory send back photos when they set off, and again when the lifeboat arrived in Hat Yai and was handed over, just to ensure the boat could be put to use immediately.

Venerable Jack Loke stated that with the mounting pressure of the floods, many rescue workers had been on the front lines for days, making every piece of rescue equipment extremely valuable - disaster relief waits for no one.

He also expressed gratitude for the swift and united response from his followers, which made this cross-border good deed possible, bringing a warm force to the disaster area and embodying the compassionate and charitable spirit of Buddhists.

Prior to this, while on his way back, Venerable Jack Loke also performed random acts of charity by distributing hundreds of food packs to disaster victims in the severely affected areas of Songkhla.