Baptists around the world raced time and weather conditions to respond to three major disasters that hit within days of each other.
The worst disaster was the magnitude 7.6 earthquake that hit the Kashmir region between Pakistan and India Oct. 8.
Central America was hit hard earlier that week, with the eruption of El Salvador’s largest volcano Oct. 1 and the Oct. 4 arrival of Hurricane Stan, a Category 1 hurricane that made landfall on Mexico’s Gulf Coast and caused massive mudslides in the surrounding countries.
In Pakistan, a relief team of 11 Southern Baptist aid workers armed with an initial $150,000 in Southern Baptist disaster relief funds is transporting truckloads of medical supplies, tents and food into mountain areas near the epicenter of the worst earthquake in modern Pakistani history.
“Our people are getting into areas that other organizations aren’t getting into because we know the local language,” the team’s coordinator said Oct. 11 from their temporary base in Islamabad, Pakistan’s capital. “We’re trying to get to places nobody will go.”
The Pakistani government’s earthquake death estimate remained at about 23,000 Oct. 12, but military officials in the quake region were placing the figure at more than 35,000. In addition to the dead, Pakistani officials estimate more than 43,000 people were injured — a figure that is sure to climb rapidly. More than 2.5 million people lost their homes in the quake and its immediate aftermath, according to United Nations relief coordinators in Islamabad.
The earthquake struck hardest along Pakistan’s northwest frontier and in the mountainous Kashmir region — fought over for decades by Pakistan and India. The quake claimed most of its victims in Pakistani-controlled Kashmir but reportedly killed more than 1,000 people on the Indian side. It shook buildings from central Afghanistan to western Bangladesh. The quake and resulting landslides buried thousands of Pakistani villagers in the rubble of their homes, schools and businesses.
No Southern Baptists serving in south Asia were hurt in the earthquake and its aftermath.
A Southern Baptist assessment team on the Indian side of the heavily militarized Pakistan-India border region in Kashmir is investigating urgent needs there and likely will request disaster relief funds in coming days.
Meanwhile a search-and-rescue team from Hungarian Baptist Aid, supported by Baptist World Aid (BWAid) of the Baptist World Alliance (BWA), is finding a gruesome scene in the (Gali) Bagh area of Pakistan, some 18 to 30 miles from the epicenter of the earthquake.
“The earthquake was so strong that it tore the mountain in two parts and dozens of houses fell into a cleft 50-to-100 meters (54 yards-to-109 yards) deep,” said Laszlo Pavelcze, commander of BWAid Rescue24.
Initially bad weather and destroyed roads delayed the 10 rescue specialists, 2 rescue dogs and 2 metric tons of equipment of BWAid Rescue24.
A medical and relief team left Hungary Oct. 12 for Pakistan. They will focus on medical care and assessing the needs.
The teams took $20,000 to purchase and provide aid and relief.
North Carolina Baptists sent two of their best rescue specialists to join BWAid Rescue24.
Cooperative Baptist Fellowship (CBF) has also helped with relief efforts, sending $10,000 through BWA.
Meanwhile a less-publicized disaster has also prompted Baptist relief attention in Central America, where Stan hit Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Nicaragua and Honduras.
The hurricane dumped a great deal of rain over the countries, causing severe flooding and triggering mudslides, mainly in Guatemala, covering entire villages and leaving thousands homeless.
As of press time, the number of the missing in Guatemala had risen to 828, while the confirmed death toll was holding steady at 654, according to The Associated Press. The total number of people dead or missing now stands at 1,482.
According to news reports, Guatemalan authorities have largely ended search and rescue missions and have turned to reconstruction.
Most rescue efforts had focused on the Guatemalan village of Panabaj, which was destroyed by a mudslidem which left a quagmire 40 feet deep in places, according to BWAid.
Reggie Quimby, director of global partnerships and volunteers in missions for the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions (SBOM), said the convention is working to send aid to Guatemala. Alabama will launch a partnership with Guatemala Baptists in 2006, he noted.
“We’ll be sending $10,000 to assist (the Guatemala Baptist Convention) because a number of their churches suffered a lot of damage,” Quimby said. He said SBOM is waiting on sending teams of volunteers to the region until the International Mission Board (IMB) completes initial assessments.
The IMB shipped 2,000 blankets to missionaries in Guatemala for distribution and is working to send water purification systems into the devastated areas.
It is also working with those in El Salvador who were affected by both Stan and the eruption of the Ilamatepec volcano Oct. 1.
Located north of the capital city of San Salvador, the volcano filled the air with ash and smoke. Landslides killed two farmers immediately, and more than 30,000 people were evacuated from around the volcano as lava and ash destroyed homes and villages.
Stan’s rains also caused landslides in the country. And the morning of Oct. 7, a magnitude 6.2 undersea earthquake hit 35 miles southeast of San Salvador, according to the National Earthquake Information Center.
Mobilizing Southern Baptist relief work in El Salvador, IMB missionaries have delivered hundreds of pounds of rice, beans, corn flour, sugar, coffee, salt and oil, reported Philip Johnson, IMB coordinator for missions work in El Salvador. They also have given out toothpaste, toothbrushes, toilet paper, soap and mattresses and provided hot meals at shelters.
Other Baptists are also helping in Central America. BWAid is working with local Baptists in Guatemala and El Salvador to provide relief, responding immediately to a request for help from the Baptist Association of El Salvador by sending $2,500. BWAid is still waiting to hear from the Baptist fellowship in El Salvador. The CBF sent $5,000 to help in Guatemala.
For information about volunteer opportunities and contributing to relief efforts visit www.alsbom.org or www.imb.org.
(Compiled from wire services)
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