Baptists are working to respond to needs in Asia following tsunamis, typhoons and tropical storms, earthquakes and flooding.
Traumatized residents of the Philippines and Indonesia face more difficulty as another strong earthquake rocked Sumatra and a new — even stronger — typhoon was, at press time, bearing down on the Philippines. The Philippines already experienced its “worst flood in 40 years” when Tropical Storm Ketsana blew through Sept. 26. Typhoon Parma was to dump more heavy rainfall and inflict major property damage Oct. 3, meteorologists predicted.
Southern Baptists had, at press time, initially released $40,000 to help with the early response in the Philippines, said Jim Brown, U.S. director for Baptist Global Response (BGR). Those funds will be used primarily for water, food, clothing and other critical short-term needs and additional funds are expected to be released once an assessment is complete and long-term needs are identified.
The four volunteer teams headed overseas from Texas, Kentucky and Oklahoma were to join teams composed of Filipino Baptists and Southern Baptist field partners that already are on the ground.
A BWAid (Baptist World Aid) Rescue 24 international team is also now in the Philippines, working with local Baptists.
Ketsana killed at least 246 people and 38 are still missing, according to the country’s National Disaster Coordinating Council. The storm, which brought the country’s the heaviest rainfall in 40 years, forced the evacuation of 567,000 and affected 2 million people altogether.
Ketsana also killed at least 74 people in Vietnam and nine in Cambodia, according to news reports.
BGR is also working to provide resources for relief teams on the ground in Indonesia. An earthquake measuring 6.8 on the Richter scale — the area’s second one in two days — rocked western Indonesia on Oct. 1 even as rescue teams tried to reach survivors of the previous day’s quake. More than 500 people died in that tremor and thousands remain trapped under collapsed buildings.
Indonesian Baptists’ human needs ministry, called Rebana, is partnering with Southern Baptist field partners to address relief needs, Brown said.
Reports from the field indicate relief efforts initially are focusing on basic food and water, and volunteer teams already headed to Indonesia have agreed to help with response, Brown said. Southern Baptists have released an initial $10,000 in disaster relief funds to help with the early stages of the project. A national assessment team is headed into the Padang area to evaluate what other needs can be addressed. Brown said BGR is prepared to release more funds once an assessment is complete and long-term needs are identified.
Hungarian Baptists have flown from Budapest to Padang, joining a group of German rescue workers who chartered a plane. A BWAid Rescue 24 team was also en route to the area at press time.
In related news, a Baptist-sponsored Seafarers’ Center in American Samoa’s Pago Pago Harbor has been lost in the destruction by a deadly tsunami that struck several islands in the South Pacific on Sept. 29. The center has been an outreach primarily to fishermen by the North American Mission Board (NAMB) and the Hawaii Pacific Baptist Convention.
NAMB is taking early steps to help in American Samoa, working closely with the Hawaii convention. A Hawaii feeding kitchen was set to be flown to Pago Pago. Alabama Baptists’ airlift kitchen has also been alerted and was on standby at press time. As many as 15 trained relief volunteers in Hawaii, including two chaplains, also will be deployed. (BGR, BP, BWA)
Share with others: