New earthquake off Indonesia prolongs need for assistance
|
A UMNS photo by Mike DuBose
The Rev. R. Randy Day surveys damage from the Dec. 26 tsunami in Banda Aceh, Indonesia. |
| The
Rev. R. Randy Day, top staff executive of the United Methodist Board of
Global Ministries, surveys destroyed homes along the beach in Banda
Aceh, Indonesia. A delegation of church mission and communications
leaders visited areas of Sumatra, Indonesia, near the center of the
earthquake that triggered the waves. A UMNS photo by Mike DuBose. Photo
#05-263. Accompanies UMNS story #182, 3/29/05 |
March 29, 2005 By Linda Bloom* NEW
YORK (UMNS)—The effects of the March 28 earthquake off the Indonesian
island of Sumatra will increase the need for assistance in the
tsunami-ravaged region. United
Methodists already had been working with Methodist church partners in
the Aceh Province of northern Sumatra, the area hardest hit by the
Dec.26 earthquake and tsunami. “Some
of the same areas damaged only three months ago now have enlarged needs
for assistance,” said the Rev. R. Randy Day, chief executive of the
United Methodist Board of Global Ministries. Day
and Bishop Joel Martinez, the board’s president, led a delegation to
Indonesia in mid-January to meet with church leaders and assess the
needs there. United Methodists have donated more than $15 million to the
United Methodist Committee on Relief for tsunami relief efforts. Although
the powerful March 28 earthquake—it had a Richter scale magnitude of
8.7—did not create a tsunami like the one that killed hundreds of
thousands in late December, it is believed to have caused major
destruction and death on Nias Island, west of Sumatra. Simeuleu Island
also was hit.
|
A UMNS photo by Mike DuBose
A
man salvages electrical wire from an area of former beachfront homes
that were flattened by the tsunami in Banda Aceh, Indonesia. |
| A
man salvages electrical wire from an area of former beachfront homes
that were flattened by the Dec. 26 tsunami in Banda Aceh, Indonesia. A
delegation of United Methodist mission and communications leaders
visited areas of Sumatra, Indonesia, near the epicenter of the
earthquake that triggered the waves. A UMNS photo by Mike DuBose. Photo
#05-264. Accompanies UMNS story #182, 3/29/05 |
One Sumatran Methodist pastor, the Rev. Rusmin Purba, wrote in an e-mail
to UMCOR about reports of more than 1,000 dead on Nias Island. “The day
after tomorrow, our crisis center is going to Nias Island to bring food
and medicine and paramedics to South Nias,” the pastor added.Aid
workers from Oxfam who had reached Gunungsitoli, the main town on Nias,
reported that roads have collapsed and water supplies have failed,
according to the BBC. Up to 80 percent of the buildings may have been
damaged, and Action by Churches Together reported that four churches
were said to have collapsed. The
city of Banda Aceh—devastated by the Dec. 26 earthquake and
tsunami—suffered tremors and power outages. Many residents headed for
higher ground in fear of another tsunami. “We
are grateful that staff members of the United Methodist Committee on
Relief (UMCOR), as well as our church partners in the affected areas,
are safe following the most recent earthquake,” Day said. “UMCOR
representatives work closely with local Methodists in Indonesia and Sri
Lanka in the long process of recovery and rehabilitation. We assist
ecumenical relief partners in India, Somalia and other areas struck by
the December tidal wave.”
|
A UMNS photo by Mike DuBose
Relief supplies from around the world pour into the airport at Banda Aceh, Indonesia, after the tsunami. |
Relief
supplies from around the world pour into the airport at Banda Aceh,
Indonesia, following the Dec. 26 tsunami. A delegation of mission and
communications leaders of the United Methodist Church visited areas of
Sumatra, Indonesia, near the epicenter of the earthquake that triggered
the waves. A UMNS photo by Mike DuBose.
Photo #05-265. Accompanies UMNS story #182, 3/29/05 |
U.N. Under-Secretary-General Jan Egeland noted in a news briefing that
more than 1,000 international relief workers and 300 international
relief agencies already are in Sumatra, allowing for a faster response
to the new earthquake.
“The new tragedy intensifies the
need for relief efforts and prolongs the process of social and economic
restoration,” Day said. “It means that UMCOR needs a steady flow of
support from across our global church.”Donations
for UMCOR’s tsunami relief efforts can be placed in local church
offering plates or sent directly to UMCOR at 475 Riverside Dr., Room
330, New York, NY 10115. Designate checks for UMCOR Advance No. 274305
and “South Asia Emergency.” Credit-card donations can be made online at www.methodistrelief.org or by calling (800) 554-8583. *Bloom is a United Methodist News Service news writer based in New York. News media contact: Linda Bloom, New York, (646) 369-3759 or newsdesk@umcom.org.
|
Korean News
