wfn.org | Episcopalians respond to Turkey earthquake disaster

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99-131

Presiding Bishop's Fund responds to earthquake disaster in Turkey

by Kathryn McCormick

     (ENS) When a powerful earthquake rumbled across northwestern 
Turkey last August, the Presiding Bishop's Fund for World Relief, 
the Episcopal Church's agency for international relief, knew who 
to contact. In a country almost entirely Muslim, the Episcopal 
Church had a special friend, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, 
the head of the Eastern Orthodox Church, who had received an 
Episcopal delegation at his Istanbul headquarters only a month 
earlier.

     "It was natural that we send condolences to the Patriarch 
because of the recent visit," said Sandra Swan, executive 
director of the Presiding Bishop's Fund. With that letter, she 
said, went an emergency grant from the fund and a request for a 
description of ways in which the Episcopal Church could help deal 
with the disaster, which killed more than 15,000, injured 
hundreds of thousands more and reduced entire city blocks to 
rubble.

     The patriarch quickly responded, she said, urging the 
Episcopal Church to work with the Churches of Turkey Steering 
Committee, an ecumenical response group based in Turkey that 
works closely with the Middle East Council of Churches, the 
Armenian Orthodox Church, the Greek Orthodox Church and the 
European Conference of Churches.

     The committee is guiding the efforts of Church World 
Service, which is working through Action by Churches Together 
(ACT). Both groups have recently received relief aid from the 
Presiding Bishop's Fund, Swan said.

Recalling a visit

     Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold, recalling his visit to 
Istanbul in mid-July, said, "Our prayers and support are with the 
people of Turkey at the time of this almost unimaginable 
devastation. I am grateful to those around the church who have 
responded to this tragedy through the Presiding Bishop's Fund."

     He added that it was especially poignant "to be sending, 
such a short time after the visit, not simply a note of thanks 
for the patriarch's hospitality but a check for such an 
emergency."

     Griswold and his delegation received a warm welcome from 
Bartholomew, "first among equals" of the 16 independent Orthodox 
churches with a membership estimated at 250 million. Earlier, 
during the same trip, Griswold also met with Alexy II, patriarch 
of the Russian Orthodox Church. The visit marked what was 
described as "a new era of cooperation" between the Episcopal 
Church and Orthodox Christians. 

     The August earthquake has drawn relief efforts from many 
U.S. churches. Many organizations are using monetary donations to 
purchase emergency relief supplies--most of which are available 
in Turkey--for survivors. ACT currently is seeking a total of $1 
million for supplies and for temporary housing for the thousands 
who now are homeless.

Tents replace buildings

     Tent cities are now stretched end to end throughout western 
Turkey, where more than 300 aftershocks have been recorded since 
the August 17 quake. A second major shock hit Izmit, about 50 
miles southeast of Istanbul, on September. 13, killing at least 
six people and injuring at least 200. Izmit suffered serious 
damage in the August quake.

     Even though the search and rescue phase of emergency efforts 
has ended, thousands of bodies remain buried under the debris. 
Nearly half of Turkey's population lives in the area affected by 
the quake. Thousands are still sleeping outside, many in muddy 
tent cities, afraid of aftershocks, building collapses or 
explosions caused by ruptured gas lines and electrical cables.

     Swan indicated that the Presiding Bishop's Fund will stay in 
touch with the coalition of Christian churches in Turkey to 
provide funds and to learn ways to help in redeveloping the area 
after the bodies have been recovered and the wreckage of 
buildings has been cleared.

     This look at the possibilities in long-range plans fits the 
fund's new emphasis on development, Swan said, noting that work 
is going well at the fund's first large development project site 
in Honduras, where the first 100 homes of a projected 500 are 
being built for people rendered homeless by Hurricane Mitch last 
fall.

Contributions to aid victims of the earthquake in Turkey may be 
sent to The Presiding Bishop's Fund for World Relief, P.O. Box 
12043, Newark, NJ 07101. Checks should be designated for Turkey 
Earthquake Relief.

--Kathryn McCormick is associate director of the Office of News 
and Information of the Episcopal Church.