wfn.org | ELCA Continues Aid to Tornado Survivors in Oklahoma and Kansas

[NEWS <NEWS@ELCA.ORG>]

ELCA NEWS SERVICE

May 12, 1999

ELCA CONTINUES AID TO TORNADO SURVIVORS IN OKLAHOMA AND KANSAS
99-124-MR

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Lutheran Disaster Response continues to provide
immediate emergency assistance to survivors of a destructive sequence of
tornadoes that swept through Oklahoma and Kansas May 3.  Lutheran
Disaster Response is a ministry of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in
America (ELCA) and The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod (LCMS).
     Lutheran Social Services of Kansas/Oklahoma, Wichita, Kan.,  is
managing disaster response efforts.  Bernice Karstensen, president,
developed a "Lutheran Disaster Response plan of action," said the Rev.
Gilbert B. Furst, director for Lutheran Disaster Response.
     "In this chaotic time, as needs are still being assessed, the
basic needs of life will be offered," said Furst.  "An initial 30,000
pounds of groceries is being distributed by the Orphan Grain Train.
Health kits are being gathered for distribution and children's materials
will be given to pastors.  Initial cash grants were given to clergy for
direct distribution to people in their communities."
     Furst said special resources for children about tornadoes will be
developed and distributed.
     A local steering committee was formed to address issues of needs
assessment and equitable distribution.  The committee is made up of
local clergy and representatives from two fraternal benefit societies --
Aid Association for Lutherans (AAL), Appleton, Wis., and Lutheran
Brotherhood (LB), Minneapolis, Minn.
     About 50 ELCA and LCMS pastors, church officials and
representatives of AAL and LB gathered at Emmanuel Lutheran Church,
Oklahoma City, May 6.  Furst said pastors told stories of families from
their congregations and communities that had suffered destruction and
death.  "Some choked up and fought tears as they recounted the terror
and devastation," he said.
     St. Mark Lutheran Church, Midwest City, Okla., and Ascension
Lutheran Church, Del City, Okla., congregations of the ELCA, sustained
no damage.
     "Over the years I have seen many disasters of many types, but
never have I seen more widespread violent destruction than I witnessed
yesterday," Furst said.  Furst has been in Oklahoma City with
Karstensen, Lita Brusick Johnson, director for the ELCA World Hunger and
Disaster Appeal, and Elaine R. Bryant, assistant director for Lutheran
Disaster Response.
     "Yesterday I walked in an alien world.  In this place winds had
blown 250 to 300 miles per hour.  The few standing trees had no leaves,
needles or bark.  Grass was pulled out of the ground and a strange bare
earth stretched for miles," Furst said.  "Cars and trucks were
unrecognizable twisted flattened ribbons of metal.  Houses and churches
were heaps of debris or vaporized or compressed into stage props."
     "Teams are searching in rubble for missing people and the smell of
death drifts in the air.  Yesterday, I walked in an alien world that
used to be the quiet rural town of Bridge Creek, Okla., but now it has
lost 750 houses and at least 16 lives," he said.
     Furst added that statistics continue to change, but the death toll
continues to climb.  Many people are still unaccounted for, and
thousands of houses have been damaged or destroyed.
     Lutheran Disaster Response will also be working with the American
Red Cross, the Salvation Army and the local Council of Churches to
respond to the disaster in both states.

Editors: When listing organizations receiving funds for aid
to survivors of major disasters inside the United States,
Puerto Rico or the U.S. Virgin Islands, please include:
     Lutheran Disaster Response
     P.O. Box 71764
     Chicago, IL  60694-1764
     800-638-3522

For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or NEWS@ELCA.ORG
http://listserv.elca.org/archives/elcanews.html