It has been painful to watch TV recently and hear the terrible news of the effect of the killer tsunami in South East Asia. It is almost impossible to grasp the magnitude of this catastrophe. Now the number of dead people have reached more than 60.000. I can’t find words to describe what I feel when I watch the pictures of the dead bodies and the destroyed villages and towns. May God have mercy on the survivors! May we find effective ways of helping them!
To all of you praying for victims of the tsunami:
We’ve made a decision as a family to go to northern Sumatra as soon as we can in order to help the victims of the earthquake and tsunami there. I’m trying to get tickets to Medan (then on to Aceh by whatever means available) maybe as soon as tomorrow with my daughter Amy. Then Joan will come later. Joan and Amy will go too in order to help medically with a team of 8 docters from Jakarta. I’m wanting to see about setting up long term ministry there because people are going to need help to rebuild their lives for years to come. The devastation is immense (the gov’t is just today letting on that the death toll is more like 30,000 rather than the 5000 being reported on CNN). 60% of Banda Aceh city is gone! Assistance is almost nonexistant due to all infrastructure is gone. The ban on foreigners (which has been in effect a long time there due to the insurgency movement) was lifted yesterday. So we can get in now. They are predicting epidemics beginning as soon as tomorrow and that the same number that have already died from the tsunami will die now from disease. Recovery is going to be long term. So we need to ask what is God saying in all this. I believe it’s time for us all to focus ministry on this area like never before. People are incredibly open right now.
Blessings, JIM kay@ccn.org.hk
Within hours of a devastating undersea earthquake that struck near Indonesia December 26, indigenous missionary teams were delivering loads of emergency relief to tidal wave victims in coastal areas of seven countries. Traveling at speeds of up to 600 miles an hour in open seas, the wall of water reached as high as 50-feet as it surged ashore to swamp the lower coastal areas of India, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Thailand. Deaths were also reported in many other places, including the Andaman Islands, Bangladesh, Burma, and Malaysia. According to Sarla Mahara, India Director for Christian Aid, at least 62 indigenous missionary ministries are expected to be involved. Christian Aid staff are also assessing the damage in Thailand and Indonesia where many of the 32 ministries supported by Christian Aid there are already sending volunteers and aid to the most affected areas. Within 24 hours of the quake, the death toll had already reached 23,000. Long term, the death toll may reach ov! er 100,000 because many bodies will never be found and public health consequences are yet to appear. "Native missionaries need immediate help to purchase blankets, tents, bottled water, food and medicine," says Dr. Finley. "But that is only the start. Long term there will be a need to restore sanitation, dig new wells to replace those contaminated, and find homes for the orphans and widows that survive." (from Crosswalk)
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