MIRANDOLA, Italy (AFP) – The Dalai Lama visited emergency camps in north-east Italy housing thousands of people who were hit by two deadly earthquakes in May, Italian media reported on Sunday.
Visiting the town of Mirandola, in the hard-hit Emilia Romagna region, the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader told people not to lose hope.
‘You must be determined, that is the only thing that will help you build a new house and face the future,’ he said, calling the zone a ‘disaster’.
‘It is not fair to come to a catastrophe zone like this empty-handed and so I have decided to donate US$50,000 (S$64,000) to the population,’ he said.