03.01.2005
Tsunami: LWF Member Churches, Partners in Asia Provide Relief Assistance
A challenge to assist beyond the emergency phase to full recovery, sustainabilityGENEVA, 3 January 2005 (LWI) - As the death toll of the devastating tsunami disaster rose above 150,000 today, the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) member churches in South East Asia continue to deliver most needed basic assistance to survivors, many of whom have sought shelter in community centers including church buildings.
From the worst affected country Indonesia with over 94,000 deaths reported mainly in the northern province of Aceh, Bishop Dr Bonar Napitupulu, head of the North Sumatra-based Protestant Christian Batak Church (HKBP) says there was overwhelming support from pastors and other church members to coordinate assistance in the worst hit areas. But the situation remains critical.
The western coastline of Sumatra island was the first to be hit by the violent tidal wave following the December 26 undersea earthquake that affected 11 other countries off the Indian Ocean including India, Sri Lanka and Thailand among the worst hit, and extending further to East Africa. Millions in South East Asia have been displaced and rendered homeless. Destruction of property and livelihoods is extensive.
Napitupulu extended a wider call to all HKBP members and the ecumenical community worldwide to help "our friends in [the worst hit areas] Aceh, Pantai, Cermin (Serdan Bedagei) and Nias" through a special offering on Sunday, 2 January 2005.
Indonesia: Church Complex Destroyed, Corpses in Mud-Flooded Church
Ms Ria Sidabutar-Pardede, reporting on Aceh from Jakarta says the HKBP Banda Aceh "church is flooded with mud up to a depth of 1.5 meters high with 50 corpses" that had not yet been removed for lack of equipment. Around 100 church members had died, 300 had been rendered homeless and 70 had to be evacuated to the HKBP hospital in Balige.
The church complex in Banda Aceh, including the pastor's home and synod building has been "wiped out" Pardede reports. Transportation by road was still impossible. Air transport was available at a nearby airport but an evacuation fee costing USD 55 per person made it unaffordable. Pardede stressed the need to evacuate 25 patients to the HKBP Balige hospital, and move another 100 homeless people to the region's capital, Medan.
The HKBP is "badly in need of medicine, food and clothes." Beyond current needs there would be a post-disaster phase that would include traumatic healing and the building of a new life, Pardede, a member of the Advisory Committee for Theological Education in Asia (ACTEAS), adds.
The 3 million-member HKPB, the largest of the 12 LWF member churches in Indonesia, has established three coordination posts, in Bedagei, Aceh and Nias Island. Assistance is being coordinated with support from the government and military, non-governmental organizations and other groups. The HKBP and Simalungun Protestant Christian Church are major churches in the areas south of Aceh in and around the city of Medan.
Napitupulu identifies main priorities as the search for and removal of dead bodies; provision of relief food, shelter, clothing and drinking water to survivors as well as emergency medication to the injured. The HKBP bishop says the time limit set for finding the dead is about ten days since December 28. The initial emergency assistance to survivors is expected to last three months in the posts that have been set up.
Coordination of emergency relief in Indonesia is carried out through Action by Churches Together (ACT) International, the Geneva-based global network of churches and related agencies responding to emergencies worldwide.
Thailand: Many Tourists Dead or Missing, Thousands of Fishing Boats Lost at Sea
From Bangkok, Thailand, where the official death toll is estimated at nearly 5,000 including many foreigners, Ms Sally Lim, LWF Department for Mission and Development regional coordinator for Asia reports that "the figures reported are a far-cry from the real situation since thousands are still missing and not reported and more than 4,000 fishing boats are still lost at sea." But the disaster "has created such an impact on the people here that it seems the whole kingdom of Thailand has plunged into this rescue and relief work in one way or another."
The churches, royal family, government and military, relief workers, schools, business and entertainment sectors and foreigners have all contributed in numerous ways to help survivors of the tsunami that hit the southern part of the country. Most of the hotels in the region, to which thousands of local and foreign tourists flock annually for their year-end holidays, especially the Phi Phi island and Khao Lak beach resorts, were fully booked and estimated to have had about 20,000 local and foreign tourists during the time of the disaster, Lim says referring to Thai official reports.
Due to the great number of unidentified bodies of foreigners, corpses have been ferried to Bangkok in refrigerated containers where, in most cases, identification can only be made through DNA testing, to which the Thai government has now resorted.
To prevent the outbreak of disease from the heavily decomposed bodies, other unclaimed bodies would be buried at a temporary burial ground prepared by the government in the provinces where the disaster struck.
India: Lutheran Churches, World Service Field Program Assist Victims Jointly
In India, the death toll is said to have reached 9,500 and hundreds of thousands are displaced in the coastal states of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, and the union territories of the Andaman and Nicobar islands. The United Evangelical Lutheran Church in India (UELCI), a body of 11 Lutheran churches, is jointly working with the LWF Department for World Service (DWS) field program in India to provide immediate relief support in the form of food and non-food items initially to 13,500 displaced families in Tamil Nadu, mainly comprising fishing communities. The five areas of operation include Tranquebar, Nagapattinam, Karaikal, Cuddalore and Nagercoil.
The UELCI, with the help of local resources, is providing cooked food until other alternatives can be found; cooking utensils; clothes and medical assistance; drinking water and assistance for water purification. Other priority areas include reconstruction of houses; availing communities with counseling and psychosocial support for trauma care; rehabilitating community resources like wells, schools and community centers; as well as providing catamarans (traditional fishing boats) and fishing nets.
While the crisis and post-crisis intervention will be the same for UELCI and DWS India the areas of operation and number of families to be covered by both partners will be different to facilitate effective implementation. Criteria for selection for relief assistance includes families who lost their land due to flooding; resource-poor families; female-headed households; family members with physical disability and those who are most vulnerable to future hazards. The teams will assess the situation in order to select the villages and families that will be included in the rehabilitation period.
Since several Lutheran churches are present in the tsunami-affected areas, four UELCI member churches will also directly participate in the implementation and rehabilitation process. They include the Arcot Lutheran Church, Andhra Evangelical Lutheran Church, India Evangelical Lutheran Church, and the Tamil Evangelical Lutheran Church.
The UELCI Executive Secretary, Rev. Dr Chandran Paul Martin describes the churches' and their partners' response to the crisis as "a faith struggle and a challenge too soon after celebrating Christmas. It puts the church in a very special position to bring relief and support to the affected."
He stresses the main emphasis of response should be the reduction of suffering and loss of the socially and economically marginalized people affected by the disaster. The DWS India and UELCI are working closely with another ACT member, Church's Auxiliary for Social Action.
From Sri Lanka, where the death toll is reported to have reached over 46,000 with 24,000 missing, Rev. Michael Sivalingam, president of the Lanka Lutheran Church (LLC) in his appeal for emergency assistance says "many of our members are affected in the capital Colombo." Assistance to the LLC will be coordinated through the ACT local member, the National Christian Council of Sri Lanka.
In Geneva, LWF General Secretary, Rev. Dr Ishmael Noko, commends churches for the support they have shown in material, financial and "prayer" support for the tsunami victims and survivors. He points out that the tragedy also affected many nations outside South East Asia and Africa, as indicated by the number of dead from several countries in Europe and North America. "We are grateful for this historic example of the outpouring of human compassion towards those in critical need. The challenge is to ensure that we maintain the assistance well beyond the emergency phase to full recovery and sustainability," Noko said.
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