As death toll mounts, Christian relief agencies, churches respond

With a South Asian death toll at 117,000 and climbing virtually every hour, hundreds of church and Christian relief agencies are responding to the region, helping to bring comfort to injured survivors and a newly homeless population estimated in access of five million people.

The chaos created by the Dec. 26 magnitude 9.0 earthquake and its subsequent tsunamis have strapped even the most experienced relief agencies.

A great number—by some estimates as much as one-third—of the dead are children who were too small or weak to outrun the crashing waves or to cling to trees and other debris.

“Bodies of small children and adults litter the shoreline,” Jayanth Vincent, a World Vision relief worker based in Chennai (formerly Madras), India, said in a Dec. 27 news release. “They're being buried in mass graves—often before they have been identified by loved ones.”

World Vision, which already had offices in some of the dozen or so affected countries, is continuing with its outreach even while its own staff deals with its own loss. According to Christianity Today a Sri Lankan staff driver for World Vision survived, but watched helplessly as his wife, infant daughter and mother were washed out to sea after unsuccessfully trying to drive faster than the thunderous waves.

Still, World Vision workers remain focused on the colossal task at hand, raising more than $1 million in unsolicited donations during the first two days after the disaster.

The group is also seeking individual donations to help provide food and Survival Kits to Asian countries.

Each kit, costing $100, provides such things as blankets, tarps for temporary shelter, water purification tablets and cooking supplies. The group also provide other critically needed relief response, such as food or medicine, where needs arise.

Gospel for Asia
Like World Vision, Gospel for Asia has a strong presence in the region, with native missionaries working in 10 Asian countries. In the hours after the quake, Gospel for Asia has moved in 500 workers to help with relief and show God’s love.

K.P. Yohannan, president of Gospel for Asia, was enroute to the United States from India when the disaster struck. Before returning to the region a week later, he helped to coordinate a $6 million effort to bring clean water, food, clothing, medicine–and eventually housing–to some of the estimated five million people now made homeless throughout the region.

One agency leader reported from Tamil Nadu, the hardest-hit state in India, that government refugee camps there are already overflowing with people who have lost all their possessions and almost all of their family members.

“When we visited the villages, we could see only heaps of broken walls where there were houses only a few days ago,” the pastor told Yohannan. “Then we saw rotting bodies lying unattended. There are too many corpses and too few volunteers. Even after three days, most of the dead had not been buried.”

Widespread disease from the decaying corpses and contaminated water helped to fuel the frantic pace of the relief effort.

In response, Gospel for Asia leaders have created a Tsunami Relief Fund and are shifting some of their 14,000 native missionaries to help.

“Because our workers are already in place, we do not have to wait to fly people in from Europe or America,” Yohannan said. “And because we work at the grass roots, we do not have to rely as much on hi-tech solutions for distribution. We have an infrastructure already in place supported by 1.5 million believers in South Asia, and they are able to minister effectively to the shattered survivors of such tragedies.”

Despite the devastation there have been reports of great provision.

In the Andaman Islands, for instance, where a reported 6,000 people were killed, all 26 Gospel for Asia missionaries serving on the low-lying island chain are reported safe.

“We thank God for these miracles and pray that He will use these believers to share His love and compassion with the millions who are suffering so terribly,” Yohannan said.

World Relief
Baltimore-based World Relief will be providing support to indigenous partners, focusing on India, Sri Lanka and Indonesia. The effort will be made in conjunction with Operation Mobilization India, an inter-denominational Christian movement committed to partnership with Indian churches, and the National Christian Alliance of Sri Lanka.

Northwest Medical Teams
To help buffer the enormous medical needs, the first of several volunteer teams from Northwest Medical Teams arrived in Thailand Dec. 29, to treat victims.

The group, based in Seattle and Portland, Ore, is vowing to send at least three more teams to Sri Lanka and Indonesia, as well as supporting relief efforts in India.

Northwest Medical Teams also plans to send more than $5 million of supplies by airlift to Sri Lanka. In addition, Northwest Medical Teams has donated $10,000 to its India-based partner, Emanuel Hospital Association. Funds will provide medical teams and supplies.

“The people of Thailand, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and India have suffered horrendous losses in this disaster,” Bas Vanderzalm, president of Northwest Medical Teams, said in a news release. “Helping India through our partner and sending our own teams to the other countries gives our volunteers and donors an opportunity to help all countries in most need.”

The organization is putting together volunteer teams and medical supplies as fast as possible in order to save lives.

“Northwest Medical Teams volunteers are trying to avert a second disaster—lives lost because of the outbreak of disease,” Vanderzalm said.

Cases of measles and diarrhea have already surfaced. Medical teams will work to prevent and treat current cases of measles and diarrhea as well as guard against outbreaks of cholera, typhoid and hepatitis A.

Compassion International
Compassion International, which sponsors children in the region, is providing food and clean water in India even as it searches to find its own Compassion-assisted children. At least one is known to have died in the catastrophe, according the organization’s Web site.

“Since several of the Compassion projects were located on the eastern coast of India, many families lost their fishing boats, whichare their livelihood for income,” the Web report said. “Other families have lost all their belongings, including their homes and only have the clothes that they were wearing the day the tsunami came ashore.”

Like other relief organizations, Compassion has established a Tsunami Disaster Relief Fund, and it plans to coordinate with other evangelical agencies at work in the region.

EQUIP ministries
Although local churches are connected to the communities in ways that outsiders cannot, the breadth of the need is strapping local resources.

"We are overwhelmed with grief by this great tragedy," David Mohan, pastor of the largest evangelical Christian church in India, said in a news release. "All the local churches here are exploring ways to serve the hurting, but our resources are limited. Working together gives us the best opportunity to serve those now suffering."

In the meantime, local churches are working diligently to assess the greatest needs in their communities. Plans have already been made to distribute food, water, blankets, tents, candles, medicine, body bags, face masks, and other items to people in need.

"The earthquake and tsunamis came upon millions without warning and now hundreds of thousands have been left injured and homeless," said Tommy Smith, national director of Indonesia for EQUIP, an international leadership development organization founded by John C. Maxwell.

EQUIP is partnering with the churches in Indonesia and India to provide resources to those in greatest need.

"Now it is our responsibility as the church to provide relief and encouragement to those devastated by this horrific natural disaster."

Southern Baptists
The Southern Baptist Convention’s International Mission Board, which also has churches and missions in the region, said early on in the disaster that its initial efforts would focus on delivering food, water, blankets and other essentials to coastal villages in southern Thailand—some of which were nearly wiped out by towering waves—and the heavily damaged resort area of Krabi.

"These little villages have been devastated. It's hard to describe how bad it is," said a Southern Baptist international relief coordinator in Asia. "The basic needs are going to be food, clean water, blankets, shelter and basic medical supplies."

Southern Baptist workers were to meet with Thai government officials in the affected area Dec. 28. They also hope to work through Baptist churches in the region. The churches were spared destruction, but many church members who work on outlying islands were injured in the flooding. Results from that meeting were not available at press time.

Assemblies of God
The Assemblies of God’s Convoy of Hope is working with AG World Missions to ship emergency supplies to affected regions. Relief funds are also being sent immediately so missionaries and national churches can quickly begin meeting needs.

AG missionaries are working with a government office in Indonesia to send a cargo plane full of supplies to Sumatra, where many villages lay in ruins. A government official reported that in one of the large villages, which had a population of 30,000, 80 percent of the people are missing and presumed dead, AG News Service reported.

"Never before have we had to respond to a disaster of this magnitude,” Ramdu Hurst, World Missions Director of Advancement told AG News Service. “We deeply appreciate emergency relief offerings in any amount."

"Times of emergency like this offer incredible opportunities to reach out in the love of Christ (to those who are resistant and even hostile to the message of Christ)," he said. "When we can transfer funds immediately to missionaries and national churches on the ground in the most heavily affected areas, we can make an impact for the kingdom of God."

For information about donations or the ongoing relief efforts, log on to the following Web sites.
• World Vision: worldvision.org
• EQUIP Ministries: iequip.org or (678) 225-3300
• Gospel for Asia: gfa.org/urgent
• SBC’s International Mission Board: imb.org
• World Relief: wr.org
• Northwest Medical Teams: nwmedicalteams.org
• Compassion International: compassion.com

BP News and AG News Service contributed to this article.
Published by Keener Communications Group, January 2005

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