wfn.org | CWS Urges Continuing Focus on Tsunami Survivors

[Worldwide Faith News <wfn@igc.org>]

AGENCY HEAD URGES WORLD TO KEEP FOCUS ON TSUNAMI SURVIVORS,
LONG TERM RECOVERY

CONTACTS:
Ann Walle/CWS/New York, (212) 870-2654, e-mail:
awalle@churchworldservice.org
Jan Dragin/New York/Boston ­ 24/7,  (781) 925-1526, e-mail: jdragin@gis.net

NEWS UPDATE - FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Aceh¹s Complex Trauma Requires Multi-Faceted, Community-Based Support
Says Church World Service

NEW YORK/BANDA ACEH ­ Tues Feb 1­  "Don¹t lose sight of the tsunami
survivors now" urges the head of international humanitarian agency Church
World Service (CWS).

As some larger humanitarian agencies report they are winding down their
focus and fundraising for emergency response phases to last month¹s tsunami
disaster, CWS Executive Director Rev. John L. McCullough says, "The work
that spells real disaster recovery is just beginning."

McCullough is visiting Indonesia¹s worst hit Aceh province this week to
further shape the agency¹s regional long-term recovery programs. He warns,
"This is the stage when everyone¹s attention tends to turn to other
emergencies. It¹s the stage," he says, "when governments tend to forget
their pledges."

?We¹ll have to multi-task¹

"There¹s no question that we have to continue to focus on the rest of the
world¹s suffering in places like Darfur and Haiti," McCullough says. "But we
can¹t afford to turn away from the Indian Ocean and perpetuate the agony of
human survival there. We¹ll all just have to multi-task," he says.

Church World Service is now developing program plans for the region¹s long
term recovery needs, but teams in Indonesia and Sri Lanka are continuing to
deliver immediate emergency aid, food, medical care and shelter supplies.
One of the most imminent tasks in Indonesia¹s Aceh province, says
McCullough, "is the need for urgent psychosocial or mental health
intervention.

Complex trauma calling for ?holistic, community based supports¹

"The trauma in such devastated areas as Aceh, " he says, "has been complex
and all-encompassing. It has integrally affected individuals, families,
communities, economies, livelihoods, food security, societal supports and
physical environment.

"The approach, therefore," says Maurice Bloom, Country Director for CWS
Indonesia,  "must take place over time and calls for a more holistic,
community-based solution to trauma recovery."

The World Health Organization reports that up to 10 percent of those who
survived the earthquake and tsunami in Aceh province could experience
serious psychiatric events, such as depression or adjustment disorders, and
as many as 50 percent of survivors could develop less severe psychological
reactions.

Bloem says the CWS medical and mental health team has been traveling Aceh
province with its mobile clinic, offering immediate person-to-person
counseling and group counseling, is establishing community-based support
groups and plans training for ongoing help.

Foreign psychologists may not be helpful for direct trauma care, says
Indonesian clinician

But Dr. Julia Suryantan, CWS Indonesia¹s Senior Program Officer for Health
and Nutrition says foreign psychologists may not be contributing much in
immediate trauma care in Aceh, "because of language limitations." She says
foreign clinicians are needed to transfer knowledge and build local
capacity, "but not as direct implementers."

The CWS team now conducts medical services in mosques or small praying halls
or musholahs and travels with a local volunteer translator who speaks
Acehnese. "People under heavy depression and stress," says Suryantan, "are
more comfortable to speak with their own people, using their mother tongue."

With 24 years¹ presence in Indonesia and offices in Banda Aceh and Meulobah
as well as Jakarta, CWS Indonesia has managed mental health and trauma
programs for several years in the violence-torn country.

Its local staff was positioned so it could begin emergency response in Banda
Aceh on December 29 and could quickly prepare logistics for CWS¹ incoming
medical team.

Water and sanitation projects underway in Meulobah, Rantau Panjang

In Meulobah, Aceh¹s second largest city, and in Rantau Panjang village, Aceh
Barat district, CWS is now installing a water treatment and sanitation
project.  Once installed, the water purification units -- donated by the
Norwegian government through CWS partner Norwegian Church Aid (NCA) ­ will
produce enough clean water for approximately 50,000 persons per day.

In Banda Aceh, CWS and local partner Mamamia distributed relief assistance
to nearly 6,000 displaced people living with host families and has so far
distributed food packages, bottled water, blankets and health kits IMA
Medicine Boxes, blankets, and family tents in Montasik sub-districts in Aceh
Besar districts.

. A new shipment of IMA Medicine Boxes, blankets, family tents and biscuits
is due to be distributed this week, and 42,000 packaged rice and soy meals
will be distributed under close supervision by a nutrition specialist.

CWS Sri Lanka: ?2 to 3 years reconstruction programs¹

Concurrently, in Sri Lanka, aid workers from CWS Afghanistand/Pakistan¹s
regional office continue to deliver immediate emergency aid to worst-hit
areas and are looking at at least two to three years of reconstruction
programs. CWS says some reconstruction projects have already begun, working
in conjunction with the Sri Lankan government and other local partners.

Aid agencies now responding to emergencies in 'complex environments.'

"Ethnic tensions, civil war, natural disasters--these are not
'straight-forward' disasters any more," noted CWS Afghanistan/Pakistan
Director Marvin Parvez, who was in New York last Friday (Jan. 28). Parvez
said humanitarian agencies like CWS are having to respond in increasingly
complex environments.

"Responding to emergencies is about speed," Parvez said, "but it's also
about being sensitive to local realities."

Church World Service director McCullough says he intentionally waited till
now to tour Aceh. "The situation was so catastrophic, we wanted to give all
the space possible for international workers to be able to do what they were
there for. Now, we can take a deeper look at what we most need to do to help
the survivors and their communities rebuild their future."

The agency is continuing its multi-million fundraising campaign to support
long-term recovery programs in worst hit and least served tsunami disaster
areas.

The agency has to date delivered more than $1.5 million in emergency aid to
the region.

Editors, please include Church World Service in your news coverage and
tsunami agency listings as follows:

Church World Service
Tsunami Recovery (Acct. #6970)
P.O. Box 968
Elkhart, IN 46515
www.churchworldservice.org
800-297-1516

Contributions may be made by credit card by calling: (800) 297-1516, online
at www.churchworldservice.org.