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A UMNS Report
By Linda Bloom*
3:00 P.M. EST March 8, 2010
Churches throughout the country were damaged in the earthquake. Several
cities are still without water and electricity. UMNS photos courtesy of
Creative Commons
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A week after the 8.8 magnitude earthquake that rocked Chile, Methodist
leaders are helping the country respond in pastoral and practical ways.
On March 7, Chile officially began three days of mourning for the
hundreds of people who died during the Feb. 27 earthquake. The Methodist
Church of Chile has received emergency grants of $10,000 from the
United Methodist Committee on Relief and $15,000 from Church World
Service.
Methodist Bishop Mario Martínez and Juan Salazar, president of Methodist
Social Ministry, were part of the InterChurch Emergency Committee Chile
2010 that left Santiago on March 4 for the region hardest hit by the
earthquake. The committee’s assessments will help guide the responses of
UMCOR, Church World Service and ecumenical partners in Action by
Churches Together.
The group was traveling through Talca, Parral and Concepción and
returning via Los Angeles, Chillán and Curicó, according to the Rev.
Pedro Correa Montecinos, superintendent of Santiago’s Metropolitan
District for the Methodist Church of Chile.
“I think that our Metropolitan District news is not as bad compared with
what is happening with the rest of the country, in other regions,
especially in the Concepción and William Taylor districts,” Correa said.
Chilean Methodist churches reported to have sustained substantial damage
include Camilo Olavarría, Angol, Second of Temuco, Chillán, Los Angeles
and First of Santiago. Those with moderate damage include Concepción,
Temuco, Temple and the agriculture boarding school of El Vergel. Church
officials had not yet obtained reports on all local congregations.
Before leaving Santiago, Martínez said in an e-mail message to United
Methodist Communications that he hoped to obtain additional information
about how Methodists in Chile were affected by the earthquake.
“We have an overview of the damage, according to information provided by
each church,” he said. “Most of these injuries that people have
received are related to the infrastructure.
“In several of the most affected cities still there is no potable water
supply and electricity,” the bishop added. “Also, there is violence,
robberies and outages. We pray for the moments we are going through
right now.“
Martínez said that faith in God has given church members “strength and
confidence to remind us that we are not alone in the extreme situations
in life.”
It is a message he intends to carry as relief efforts are put into
place. “At all times and in any situation, the Lord sustains us and
moves us to serve the need of human beings with love and in his name,”
he noted.
Donations to the relief efforts of UMCOR and the Methodist Church of
Chile can be made online to Chile Emergency Advance # 3021178.Donations also can be sent by
check to UMCOR and dropped in church offering plates or mailed to UMCOR,
P.O. Box 9068, New York, NY 10087. Please indicate in the memo line of
the check that it is for the Chile Emergency.
*Bloom is a United Methodist News Service news writer based in New
York. Humberto Casanova contributed to this report.
News media contact: Linda Bloom, New York, (646) 369-3759 or newsdesk@umcom.org.
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