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Hollywood actor Jackie Chan said here on Tuesday that Nepal can't be defeated by the devastating earthquake because Nepal is not alone and can rebuild itself better than before with the support of the international community.
In an exclusive interview with Xinhua at a hotel in Kathmandu, the Hollywood superstar made such remarks before his departure from Nepal where he spent less than 12 hours on June 9.
As a representative of donors who bought 5,000 disaster relief boxes worth 4 million RMB (about 650,000 U.S. dollars), Jackie Chan came to Nepal to distribute them to quake-hit families, along with colleagues from the Jackie Chan Charitable Foundation Beijing (JCCFB), the Chinese Red Cross Foundation and their local partner the Nepal Red Cross Society.
In spite of his tight schedule, Jackie Chan, the founder of JCCFB visited Nepal and met many differently-abled people taking shelter in makeshift settlements in Lalitpur, which has been set up by the Red Cross Society of China.
"I feel that my attendance in person matters more than a simple donation, my appearance here can give the people more confidence and show that the world is with Nepal," the 61-year-old martial artist said, adding that it was human nature and a desire to help his fellow man that drove him to visit this Himalayan nation.
The Hollywood superstar is so popular in this poor, landlocked country that people gathering around cheered and yelled out " Jackie!Jackie!" once he appeared in public places.
Many Nepalis were also waiting in the hotel lobby for hours just to take a glimpse of the star.
While frankly admitting that he has very little knowledge about Nepal and did not realize that Nepal is the birthplace of Buddha until the morning he arrived here, Jakie Chan said, "Nepal is also my country."
According to him, people should erase such ideas as "yours" and "mine," "east" and "west," because "we own the earth and we own the world as one."
As a self-proclaimed global citizen, the Hong Kong-born actor also explained what he had done for the victims of the great 2011 earthquake in Japan and Indonesia's tsunami in recent years.
Jakie Chan told Xinhua that as he grows older, he hopes for a more peaceful and harmonious world. One of the things making him most happy is to see so many sympathetic hearts including celebrities all over the world offering help in different ways after this catastrophe and other major disasters.
"I will also go to earthquake-affected Tibet this August to participate in the reconstruction there. I'm hoping more people will join us," he said.
Besides the 1 million RMB (160,000 U.S. dollars) that the Jackie Chan Charitable Foundation paid to buy the relief kits, Jackie Chan also donated 100,000 Singapore dollars (74,390 U.S. dollars) in May to the Nepalese victims.