wfn.org | Lutherans Commit To Long-Term Tsunami Disaster Response

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ELCA NEWS SERVICE

February 3, 2005

Lutherans Commit To Long-Term Tsunami Disaster Response
05-018-MRC

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- For the next five to 10 years, the Evangelical
Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) will work with its "companion" Lutheran
churches in India, restoring and rebuilding tsunami-struck communities in
India.	The Dec. 26 tsunami claimed more than 200,000 lives in several
coastal countries of the Indian Ocean.
     According to the Lutheran World Federation (LWF), the death toll in
India is about 10,000 people.  Hundreds of thousands of people are
displaced in the coastal states of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, and
the union territories of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.  LWF is a global
communion of Christian churches in the Lutheran tradition.  Based in
Geneva, Switzerland, the LWF has 138 member churches in 77 countries.  The
ELCA is a member of the LWF.
     Although "Christians in general are minorities in Indian society, and
very few victims [of the tsunami] were members of Lutheran churches, our
sister church bodies in India immersed themselves in relief and rebuilding
efforts immediately after the disaster," said the Rev. Joseph K. Chu,
program director for Asia and the Pacific, ELCA Division for Global
Mission.
     "We will work with them over the next five to 10 years on projects
that address vital community issues such as peace and justice, sustainable
development, health care, gender justice, child welfare and more.  [The
ELCA will] be their long-term partner," he said.
     To assess needs for short-term relief and long-term community
building, Chu, staff of the ELCA and others traveled to India, Jan. 13-20.
In response to a special invitation from the United Evangelical Lutheran
Church in India (UELCI), the Lutheran delegation met with and expressed
their solidarity with survivors of the tsunami.  They traveled from
Chennai to Nagapattinam and Tranquebar, coastal states of southern India.
The UELCI is a body of 11 Lutheran churches in India, and it is a member
of the LWF.
     "We have seen evidence of massive destruction as a result of the
tsunami [that hit] various coastal cities and villages in southeast
India," Chu said.  "We have also witnessed the dignity of survivors there.
They want to rebuild their homes and their lives."
     The Rev. Chandran Paul Martin, executive director, UELCI, issued the
invitation and referred to the visiting Lutheran delegation as a "walking
letter."
     "People will create the future.  It is up to the churches to help
create hope," Paul Martin told the delegation.	"Your visit goes beyond
solidarity.  It is sharing life."

Reflections from Members of the Delegation
     The leader of the delegation, the Rev. Rafael Malpica-Padilla,
executive director, ELCA Division for Global Mission, said another purpose
of the visit was to "identify areas of collaboration" between the ELCA and
the UELCI, as both engage in relief and rehabilitation efforts there.
     Malpica-Padilla offered three overall impressions from the
delegation's trip.
     Lutheran churches in India had "shown a great capacity to engage" and
"a willingness" to provide disaster response immediately with their
limited resources," said Malpica-Padilla.  "The churches in India
immediately made themselves available to areas where there was need, and
they provided food, shelter, medicine and whatever else they could without
having a financial commitment from their companions abroad," he said.
     The second impression is "the spirit of the Indian people.  They want
to get on with their lives, and they want tools to start rebuilding.
Something that we heard over and over again was a message that I have
framed in the context of one phrase -- nets and boats.	That's what they
were asking us for, nets and boats.  'If we could have our boats, if we
could have our nets, we will be able to go out to sea and fish again.
Fishing produces income that will translate into me fixing my own house
and probably sharing some additional resources to help rebuild my village
and community.'  So, it's the resilience of the Indian people and their
desire to get back to normalcy," he said.
     A third impression surrounds conversation about the "big wave,"
Malpica-Padilla said. "Everyone is thinking and talking about the tsunami,
the big wave.  But, before the big wave came, many [people living in] the
coastal communities and fishing villages, were living or were being
affected by what I call a wave of poverty, exclusion and marginalization.
No one was paying attention to that."  He called this impression, "dignity
in disaster, justice in life."
     "When most relief agencies leave India because they have accomplished
their goals related to the big wave," the ELCA will continue to remain in
the country "to address the needs of this other wave of poverty,
underdevelopment and exclusion affecting these communities.  We are
willing to walk with the churches in India to address not only the needs
created by the tsunami, but this constant wave of poverty,"
Malpica-Padilla said.
      "Some fisher folk are having difficulty understanding why Dalits
should receive compensation, since they did not lose 'nets and boats' in
the tsunami," said Sue Edison-Swift, associate director for
interpretation, ELCA Department for Communication.  Dalits are the
"invisible" people of India, she said.
     "While Dalits do not fish, their livelihoods depend on it.  They are
the ones who receive, clean and sell the fish.	Whole economies depend on
fishing," she said.
     "The UELCI has been asked by the government to reconstruct two whole
villages.  The reconstruction is to include repairing roads, providing
education, securing electricity and more for all people, fisher folk and
Dalits alike.  About 80 percent of Dalits are Lutheran," said
Edison-Swift.
     "At one end of the reconstruction spectrum is restitution -- you'll
be compensated for your losses.  On the other end is restoration --
whether or not you've been directly affected by the tsunami, your
livelihood will be restored.  What churches want and what the government
in India hope churches will do is create a new community out of the old
one.  We don't want to distinguish between people, Dalits nor fisher folk.
We also want to avoid creating communities that divide between 'the haves'
and 'the have-nots,'" she said.
     "Life will never be the same," said the Rev. Frederick E.N. Rajan,
executive director, ELCA Commission for Multicultural Ministries.
     "When we walked the beach in India, it looked so peaceful, and the
sea moved in perfect rhythm.  But on that fateful day, December 26, this
same sea became such a destructive force, swallowing up so many lives" and
"loved ones," he said.
     "I am so grateful for the extraordinary response of the Lutheran
churches in India. These powerful waves may have destroyed life, but it
did not destroy the hope distilled in [people].  We witnessed people who
lost everything, who are now trying to rebuild their lives," Rajan said.
     "I am also overwhelmed by the response of the global Christian
community. Indeed we are all tied together at our baptism.  It is
empowering to see Christians from all over the world come together to help
each other.  I am hopeful of the future. We need to join with them in
their rebuilding effort," he said.
     "The Earth shudders.  The sea rises.  And 200,000 people die.  TV
cameras capture the apocalyptic devastation and pathos of lost lives and
loves.	Around the country, around the world, millions dig into their
pockets and give with unprecedented generosity," wrote the Rev. David L.
Miller in the March issue of The Lutheran magazine.  Miller, editor of the
magazine, was a member of the delegation.
     "The tsunami is a spectacle of Hollywood-esque proportions.  It's
magnetic.  It captures the imagination," he said.
     "The spotlight seldom shines on this suffering, even though much of
it is resolvable with far smaller sums than the tsunami is attracting.
Malaria?  Experts suggest $2 billion to $3 billion would save a million
lives a year, most of them children.  A bargain, comparatively speaking,"
Miller said.  "Strange as it may seem, this is one reason I love the
church, my church.  It's the church and its partners that remain when the
[television] cameras are turned off and most relief agencies leave," he
said.
     Members of the delegation were Chu; Belletech Deressa, director for
international development and disaster response, ELCA Division for Global
Mission; Edison-Swift; Malpica-Padilla; Miller; and Rajan.  Other members
of the delegation were Daniel Chelliah, program director for Asia and the
Middle East, Lutheran World Relief, Baltimore; Lowell Gretebeck, a member
of the ELCA serving the Japan Evangelical Lutheran Church (JELC); the Rev.
Hirotaka Tokuhiro, a member of the JELC Executive Council; and Leslie D.
Weed-Fonner, Asia Pacific regional representative, ELCA Division for
Global Mission.

UELCI Tsunami Relief Operations
     "The tsunami-relief operations of the UELCI and its partners are
progressing effectively," Paul Martin reported.  "Several villages,
communities and families have been covered by relief operations.
Operations included the distribution of relief materials,
psychological-social counseling and medical assistance.  In several areas,
our operations are gradually transitioning into post-relief.  These
include the erection of temporary shelters, organizing communities into
action, and training community volunteers, teachers and government
officials in psycho-social counseling," he said.
     In Cuddalore, India, "about 800 families have been covered in the
relief phase," Chandran said.  The UELCI constructed about 40 shelters in
Thamanampettai, Chitirapettai, Nijalingapettai, and Aiyampettai," he said.
     In Nagapattinam, the UELCI attended to 1,000 families with the
distribution of relief kits, which included a suitcase, pump stove,
plates, tumblers, ladles and other cooking utensils, Paul Martin said.	In
Tranquebar, more than 2,000 families have also received relief kits, he
said.
     The Tamil Evangelical Lutheran Church, a member church of the UELCI,
is overseeing recovery operations in Kanchipuram, said Paul Martin.  "More
than 850 families have been covered."  The Andhra Evangelical Lutheran
Church, a member church of the UELCI, has carried out recovery operations
in Andhra, reaching about 750 families, he said.
     "The UELCI has participated in [tsunami] disaster response with
commitment and passion," said Paul Martin.
_ _ _

INTERNATIONAL DISASTERS:
Editors: When listing organizations receiving funds for aid to survivors
of major disasters outside the United States, Puerto Rico or the U.S.
Virgin Islands, please include:

ELCA International Disaster Response, PO Box 71764 Chicago, IL 60694-1764,
1-800-638-3522, or at http://www.elca.org/disaster/idrgive on the
Internet.

For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or news@elca.org
http://www.elca.org/news