wfn.org | Emergency help for Papua New Guinea tsunami victims

[FRANK_IMHOFF.parti@ecunet.org (FRANK IMHOFF)]

Title:Emergency assistance provided for Papua New Guinea tidal wave victims
Majority who perished were children

GENEVA, 30 July 1998 (lwi) - The ecumenical aid network "Action by Churches
Together" (ACT) supported by the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) and World
Council of Churches has contributed USD 11,500 in emergency funding for
victims of the recent tidal waves in Papua New Guinea. The emergency
assistance comes in response to an appeal from the Papua New Guinea Council
of Churches (PNGCC).

Several thousand people are estimated to have been killed by the three
tidal waves that flooded the northwestern coast of Papua New Guinea July
17. In some villages, according to initial reports from the disaster area,
not a single child has survived. PNGCC General Secretary Leva Kila Pat
confirmed this by fax to ACT: "Where have all the children gone, is being
asked by some survivors. Remembering that this is school holidays many
children were at home at the time of the disaster."

ACT's emergency assistance will provide, for the most part, food and
clothing.

First news from one of the LWF member churches

According to the presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of
Papua New Guinea (ELC-PNG), Wesley Kigasung, the church will concentrate on
three probable areas of assistance. In a letter to the mission agency of
the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bavaria, he listed assistance in the
areas of health and pastoral ministry and financial assistance including
the provision of clothing and eating and cooking utensils.

The LWF has two member churches on the western Pacific island: the ELC-PNG
and the Gutnius Lutheran Church - Papua New Guinea. According to Kigasung,
both churches have been affected by the disaster although the area is not
predominantly Lutheran.

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Lutheran World Information
Editorial Assistant: Janet Bond-Nash
E-mail: jbn@lutheranworld.org
http://www.lutheranworld.org/