wfn.org | [ENS] Asian earthquake prompts prayers and pledges

["Matthew Davies" <mdavies@episcopalchurch.org>]

Monday, October 10, 2005

Asian earthquake prompts prayers and pledges

By Matthew Davies

ENS 101005-1

[Episcopal News Service] Church leaders and relief agencies are
responding
immediately to the devastating October 8 earthquake which measured 7.6
on
the Richter scale, killing an estimated 30,000 people and leaving
thousands
more injured and more than a million homeless in India and Pakistan.

The earthquake is reportedly the worst to hit Kashmir for more than 100
years.

"On behalf of the Episcopal Church, I have written to our Anglican
brothers
and sisters in Pakistan and North India letting them know they are in
our
prayers," Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold said. "Yet again we are
reminded
that those with the least suffer the most during natural disasters."

Episcopal Relief and Development (ERD) is working with Anglican and
ecumenical partners to provide emergency assistance to people affected
by
the earthquake, while supporting the Churches of Pakistan and North
India as
they respond to needs in affected dioceses.

"In a region already struggling to recover from the tsunami, we stand
with
our partners as they provide medical care, shelter, sustenance, and
comfort
to people in need," said Kirsten Laursen, ERD's senior program director
for
Asia and New Initiatives.

Many communities, particularly in Pakistan's hard hit Northwest Frontier
province, were completely leveled, ERD reports. "At least 43,000 were
injured in the country. Muzaffarabad, the capital of
Pakistan-administered
Kashmir, was the quake's epicenter located 60 miles north-northeast of
Islamabad. In India, 2,000 people are dead."

ERD's initial support has provided food supplies -- including wheat,
flour,
rice, cooking oil, sugar, tea leaves, and matches -- to 1,600 families
in
the affected areas of Azad Kashmir and the Northwest Frontier Province.

"As we watch this tragedy unfolding in South Asia, we can be grateful we
have an opportunity to offer practical support through the work of ERD,"
said ERD's president, Robert Radtke.

"The assistance will also supply shelter kits, including items such as a
tent and plastic sheeting, to 15,000 families," ERD reports. "In
Mansehra,
mobile medical personnel are providing tetanus shots as 70 percent of
the
area was destroyed. Medical camps are in the process of being organized
in
the affected areas for 50,000 to 100,000 people."

Ecumenical efforts

Church World Service (CWS), a member of the global alliance Action by
Churches Together (ACT) International, has reported that its
Pakistan-Afghanistan office is responding with expedited initial food
relief
and shelter kits to survivors in the Murree Hills in northern Pakistan.

ERD has partnered with CWS to provide food and medical assistance in the
devastated communities of Mansehra and Murree.

"The situation is still very chaotic here. Right now everyone is
focusing on
rescue efforts, but those have been made difficult by the heavy rains
and
hail that hit some of the affected areas," Shama Mall, Church World
Service
Pakistan/Afghanistan senior program manager, reported from Islamabad
October
9.

"Tremors are continuing," Mall added, "so people are afraid to be
indoors.
Many people are sleeping in their cars or ... outside."

Missionary support

Dr. David Johnson of the Diocese of Western North Carolina is an
Episcopal
Church missionary in Pakistan's Northwest Frontier Province.

"At present all roads are blocked and entry is only by helicopter
according
to our best local sources," he said in an October 10 note sent from
Peshawar, Pakistan, to the Episcopal Church's Office of Anglican and
Global
Relations. "Mission Hospital, Peshawar, will send four teams in very
shortly
as soon as the roads are available to us."

Johnson, whose home in Peshawar was less than 200 miles from the
earthquake's epicenter, is perfectly positioned to help those who have
been
injured as a result of the earthquake. A pediatric cardiologist, he is
assisting Bishop Munawar Rumalshah of Peshawar in further development of
public health systems as well as general clinical care through the
extensive
diocesan hospital system.

"We are linking up with one hospital that is not destroyed and will
probably
work with another but much is yet to be determined," he said.

Concerns from Canterbury

Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams, sent a message to church
leaders in South Asia October 10 speaking of his distress and assuring
them
of prayers as they undertake the daunting work of rescue and recovery.

"In Britain, where so many of our communities have links with the
region,
the impact of this tragedy is keenly felt and our thoughts are very much
with you," Williams said in a letter to Bishop Alexander Malik,
Moderator of
the Church of Pakistan, and Bishop James Terom, Moderator of the Church
of
North India. "It seems clear that many of the Christian communities
under
your care will have been affected but I am sure that many will already
be
deeply involved in the work of rescue and care.

"Please be sure that your brothers and sisters in England are with you
in
your grief and shock, and are praying God to strengthen you all in
witness
and loving service," he added.

To help people affected by disasters, make a donation to the Emergency
Relief Fund at www.er-d.org, or call 1-800-334-7626, ext. 5129. Gifts
can be
mailed to Episcopal Relief and Development, Emergency Relief Fund, PO
Box
12043, Newark, NJ 07101.

-- Matthew Davies is international correspondent / multimedia manager
for
the Episcopal News Service. With files from ACT, ERD and Lambeth Palace.

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