ACT News Update

South/South East Asia 0204

ACT International launches US$ 8,217 million appeal

Geneva, December 29, 2004--Still struggling to come to grips with a regional death toll that has risen to more than 60,000*, members of the global alliance Action by Churches Together (ACT) International based in south and south east Asia have mobilized humanitarian relief operations in India, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Thailand, hours after the tragedy struck.

Around the world, ACT members are also rallying financial support to assist those who survived the catastrophic onslaught of the ocean, by launching appeals in their own countries and providing financial assistance to members of the global alliance of churches and related agencies in the affected countries.

Still, the death toll keeps rising. People are paralyzed with grief and trauma. Grim scenes of apocalyptic destruction are everywhere. These are some of the descriptions of the devastating aftermath of Sunday's massive 9.0 magnitude undersea earthquake that unleashed the deadly tsunamis that swept across south and south east Asia, wreaking havoc as far away as the east coast of Africa.

In Sri Lanka, where more than 18,000 people are now feared dead, ACT members from Europe and North America have airlifted supplies in, which include basic medicines, family shelter kits containing family tents and plastic sheeting, as well as blankets in support of the local ACT member in the country. The National Christian Council of Sri Lanka has mobilized all its staff and hundreds of church volunteers to assist those who survived and are now in need of assistance.

Assessment teams report that in Muttur 13 camps have been established for people displaced by the tidal waves. NCCSL has been providing people food from a central cooking place as a temporary solution. The teams report that medical needs are acute and that medical teams have been sent to Muttur and Batti. Other needs include roofing materials, and food items (dry rations). One truckload of food has also been dispatched to Muttur, Trinco and Batti.

NCCSL's emergency officer, SK Xavier writes that "Tangalle is very badly hit. There are several bodies that has got torn and wedged amidst the debris. Diseases are apt to multiply." This underscores fears expressed in every country hit by the disaster that communicable diseases could exact an equally devastating toll on human life. The BBC quotes the UN as saying that disease could double the death toll after Sunday's earthquake.

NCCSL, in an update to the ACT Coordinating Office in Geneva, says that news from Jaffna in the north of the country indicates that Point Pedro, KKS and Nagar Kovil have all been badly hit. "Nearly 1,000 people are reported missing."

"The challenges these families face in the coming weeks and months are very real," said Kathryn Wolford, moderator of the executive committee of ACT International and president of one of its members, US-based Lutheran World Relief. "Decaying bodies, polluted water sources, destroyed sanitation systems and, in some cases, having lost literally everything will make day-to-day existence every bit as challenging as surviving the tsunamis themselves," she continued.

In India, where the official death toll is now just over 4,300, ACT member Church's Auxiliary for Social Action (CASA) has also mobilized teams of staff and its partner churches and network organizations. Distribution kitchens are up and running, providing food to people in the stricken areas, which include Kerala, Krishna Godawari in Andhra Pradesh, Madras Diocese and Chennai city.

Of great concern to CASA are the people of the Andaman & Nicobar islands. CASA writes that "communication has still not be established with the smaller islands, where the situation is so bad that rescue teams have not been able to reach them."

Based on information received from the assessment teams sent to the mainland coastal areas hit by the tsunamis, CASA will assist some 50,000 affected families. "The response of CASA will be through food and non-food relief assistance, temporary shelters and post-crisis phase response through reconstruction of houses, cyclone shelters and rehabilitation through providing support for strengthening food security and livelihoods. In food relief assistance, we plan to undertake feeding programs through 10 centers in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala."

ACT member Lutheran World Service India (LWSI) is distributing the most essential relief items to meet the basic needs of the people to 10,000 families in Tamil Nadu. In areas completely devastated by the force of the water, major relief items needed are plastic sheeting for temporary shelter, food rations (rice, pulses and salt), blankets, clothing and household utensils. LWSI plans to distribute 10,000 reinforced polythene sheets to the most vulnerable families for use in relief camps, as well as when they return home.

LWSI's information officer, Rina Chunder, says that "since people barely had time to save their lives from the gigantic tidal waves that washed away their homes within 15 minutes, a large number of families were unable to take any possessions with them when they fled. These families will be provided with blankets, saris for women, lungis for men and children's wear. We plan to distribute 20,000 blankets, 10,000 saris, 10,000 lungis and 10,000 each of girls' and boys' garments. People have no utensils to cook or eat their food. So we plan to distribute 10,000 household utensils among the affected families."

"The church, with the assistance of the United Evangelical Lutheran Church in India (UELCI) and CASA will open feeding centers in several places in Cuddalore and Pondicherry," writes UELCI's executive secretary, Rev. Chandran Paul Martin. He adds "in Chennai (Madras) the Christian community has organized feeding programs for the victims in the coastal belt. Bishop V. Devashayam, the Bishop of the Church of South India (Madras) has expressed his deep anguish and pain," over the catastrophic event that devastated much of the island nation of Sri Lanka.

UELCI's assessment teams report that along the east coast road, "we saw people fear-stricken with hundred of families taking shelter on the roads."

In Indonesia, a staggering 32,000 people are believed to have been killed. ACT member Church World Service Indonesia staff are conducting a rapid assessment mission this week and will focus on the province of Aceh -- on Sumatra's northernmost tip near the epicenter of the undersea quake. The province is believed to have been hit the worst by the quake, with reports of some 150,000 displaced persons in Aceh.

Yakkum Emergency Unit/CD Bethesda (YEU), also a member of ACT in Indonesia, reports that "our friends at RPUK Lhokseumawe (Aceh) are in deep mourning, because most of the staff lost family members." YEU is focusing its relief efforts on Lhokseumawe in Aceh province, although people on the island of Nias will also be assisted. YEU is coordinating its relief efforts with CWS and members Yayasan Tanggul Benkana (YTB), also a member of ACT.

ACT International has launched a $8,217 million (US) appeal to assist its members in India, Indonesia and Sri Lanka, Burma in their relief assistance operations, as well as other countries that may require assistance through the ACT alliance.

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