Faith coalition helps Sri Lankans in struggle to recovery

A UMNS photo by Paul Jeffrey, ACT International The tsunami left devastation behind in Moratuwa, south of Colombo, Sri Lanka.

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (UMNS) — Homeless and hungry, survivors of the tsunami that struck Sri Lanka on Dec. 26 are struggling to carry on with life in almost a thousand temporary shelters around the island nation, accompanied by faith communities providing food, clothing, shelter and other support.

Among those providing critical care for the 900,000 people who lost their homes to the huge waves is the National Christian Council of Sri Lanka, a member of Action by Churches Together International. ACT is a global alliance of churches and church-based agencies, including the United Methodist Committee on Relief.

Within hours of the disaster, the National Christian Council began purchasing emergency supplies, and by the following day had dispatched a truck with food to the hard-hit eastern coastline, where local Anglican, Methodist and Church of South India congregations took charge of distribution to affected families.

Assisted by an initial emergency grant of $50,000 from ACT International, the National Christian Council sent out 11 trucks with emergency supplies in the first week, all to communities on the eastern and southern coasts. Volunteers sorted and packed the supplies in a distribution center established in Colombo’s City Mission. In addition to food and clothing, the trucks carried water, water tanks, medicines and cooking pots.

The council sent an additional truck to the east coast carrying medicine donated by an ACT member, where a team of five council-sponsored physicians spent several days attending the sick in refugee shelters.

Because of logistical difficulties in reaching the far north of the country, the council sent funds to the Christian Union in Jaffna, enabling that regional church coalition to provide emergency assistance to shelters in the remote lagoon area. The council also provided funding to purchase baby bottles, rubber sandals and food in an area of the country controlled by the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.

The council spent $130,000 on relief supplies during the first six days, according to S.K. Xavier, coordinator of the agency’s relief and rehabilitation efforts.

A UMNS photo by Paul Jeffrey, ACT International Two girls care for their sleeping younger sister in a Buddhist temple in Galle, Sri Lanka.

At the same time, the council is organizing training in post-trauma counseling. The executive secretary of the organization’s women’s commission, the Rev. Sumithra Fernando, spent most of the first week after the tsunami providing pastoral support for caregivers on the country’s eastern coast.

Fernando, a Methodist pastor, said the experience that the council and other organizations have in responding to the country’s civil war isn’t easily transferable to the tsunami.

"When refugees run away from armed conflict, they usually do so with something in their hands," Fernando said. "But this is an unexpected disaster, and they’ve escaped only with their lives. In war, people can go back home in a few days, but this is different. They don’t have houses to go home to."

Xavier praised the local churches that have opened their sanctuaries as shelters, as well as the rapid response of the international community.

"We weren’t ready for this big a calamity, but we’re getting organized and things are falling into place, thanks to the help of our partners both here and outside the country. We’ve had good cooperation from all," he said.

The first week of emergency work was taking a toll, he said. "We’re all exhausted, but it’s a pleasurable exhaustion because it comes from serving our people. And there’s so much more we can do. (But) we’re organizing ourselves rapidly."

A UMNS photo by Paul Jeffrey, ACT International In Uyana Methodist Church in Sri Lanka, Jayangany Silva and other volunteers sort through clothes donated for tsunami victims.

"The government is still getting organized, and we’re hoping its response accelerates in order to better meet the demands of the people," Xavier said.

According to the Rev. Lokendra Abhayaratne, the Anglican archdeacon of Galle in the devastated south of Sri Lanka, the government’s slow response is due in part to the death and displacement of so many government officials in that region. He said he expects the government to improve its response in the coming week.

Abhayaratne said that most assistance to victims in the south has been provided by faith communities, and that a good spirit of cooperation exists.

"I sent two trucks of food from the Christian Council over to a Buddhist temple," he said. "The temples are doing a wonderful job of responding to this crisis, and we’re working well together."

Sri Lanka faces tremendous challenges in the wake of the tsunami’s giant waves. The death toll is officially almost 30,000, but many observers expect it to rise to about 46,000 as more complete information arrives from isolated areas. Another 5,000 people are officially missing, and more than 12,000 are injured. Seventy thousand houses are gone.

Thousands of land mines have reportedly washed loose. With more than 1,000 kilometers of coastline laid waste, employment in the tourist and fishing sectors will take years to recover. The country’s economy and morale were already debilitated by a lengthy civil war, despite a cease-fire that began in 2003. Fear of the future compounds the anguished memory of the giant waves for many of the victims.

Yet the Rev. Jayasiri Peiris, who took over as general secretary of the National Christian Council Jan. 1, said the tragedy may bring some positive changes.

A UMNS photo by Paul Jeffrey, ACT International Volunteers unload relief supplies at a Methodist church in Trincomalee, Sri Lanka.

"It’s a great opportunity for all Sri Lankans to come together, to mobilize around rebuilding our nation and our people," Peiris continued. "We’ve got to do more than just rebuild buildings. We’ve got to rebuild a people that has been left traumatized by this disaster. But that’s a process that’s going to take years and years."

Donations to ACT’s United Methodist partner, the United Methodist Committee on Relief, can be made out to "South Asia Emergency" and placed in local church offering plates or sent directly to UMCOR, 475 Riverside Drive, Room 330, New York, NY 10115. Designate checks for UMCOR Advance #274305 and "South Asia Emergency." Credit-card donations can be made by calling (800) 554-8583.

*Jeffrey is a United Methodist Board of Global Ministries missionary working for Action by Churches Together in Sri Lanka. This story was distributed by ACT, a global alliance of churches and related agencies working to save lives and support communities in emergencies worldwide.

News media contact: Tim Tanton, UMNS, Nashville, Tenn., (615) 742-5470 or newsdesk@umcom.org.

Suggested Resources United Methodist Committee on Relief Action by Churches Together General Board of Global Ministries Methodist Church of Sri Lanka Country Profile: Sri Lanka

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