wfn.org | [PCUSANEWS] Faith-based groups mobilize to help victims of Asian quake

[PCUSA NEWS <PCUSA.NEWS@ECUNET.ORG>]

Note #8959 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

05546
Oct. 11, 2005

Faith-based groups mobilize 
to help victims of Asian quake	

by Anto Akkara
Ecumenical News International  
      
BARAMULLA, India - Religious groups from around the globe have mobilized
resources to help victims of the earthquake that killed more than 20,000
people in southern Asia and left hundreds of thousands without food or
shelter.
     
      Christian emergency response organizations like Action by Churches
Together (ACT) sprang into action immediately after the Oct. 8 quake. ACT
said on Oct. 10 that its members around the world were receiving donations
and pledges for the response and planned to appeal for several million
dollars to help those stricken by the disaster.  
       
      From Islamabad in Pakistan, Shama Mall, a senior program manager for
ACT's partner, Church World Service (CWS) Pakistan/Afghanistan, said, "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."  

       
      CWS was planning to help 15,000 families with food, shelter kits and
house reconstruction kits consisting of a tent, a ground sheet, plastic
sheeting, iron beams and poles, cement, windows and a door.   
       
      The Oct. 8 quake measured 7.6 on the Richter scale of ground motion.
Its epicenter was about 50 miles northeast of Islamabad.   
       
      Catholic Relief Services (CRS) sent an emergency team to the affected
areas to conduct damage assessments, and CRS representatives met with local
military and government officials for to coordinate relief efforts. CRS is
working with Islamic Relief and Oxfam UK.  
       
      Muslim charities, including Muslim Aid, Islamic Relief, Kashmir
International Relief Fund and Muslim Hands, quickly mobilized their
communities in efforts to help survivors.   
       
      In New York, the American Jewish Committee said it was offering
humanitarian assistance to Pakistan, India and Afghanistan.	  
       
      Churches across Pakistan offered special prayers for the victims.  
	
      "This (quake) has devastated our country. The people are in a state of
shock," said Bishop Samuel Pervez, president of the National Council of
Churches of Pakistan (NCCP), an alliance of four Protestant churches. Pervez
described the tragedy as the "worst ever" in Pakistan's history.

      Most of the casualties were reported from the Kashmir province north of
Islamabad, where entire villages were buried by landslides triggered by the
earthquake. Muzzafarabad, the capital of the Pakistan-controlled part of
Kashmir, was flattened, becoming a ghost city with thousands of people,
including 300 students, buried under debris.  
       
      More than 700 deaths were reported from the Indian-controlled part of
Kashmir, which is thinly populated.

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