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Churches overwhelmed by multiple natural disasters in Asia.
Help us respond today.
The last two weeks have been chaotic for us as multiple
natural disasters hit Indonesia and the Philippines. I have only
managed to find time today to send this email. We have been responding
rapidly but the needs are enormous and our resources have been stretched to
the limit.
We need your financial support.
A few days ago in the South
Pacific, Samoa and Tonga were flattened by a tsunami triggered from an
earthquake measuring 8.9 on the Richter scale, which has left some 130
people dead. The following day, another earthquake hit the Indonesian city
of Padang on Sumatra's west coast. More than a thousand people have been
killed and, with rescuers searching the rubble for thousands still missing,
the death toll is likely to be far greater. Aftershocks and the fear of
tsunamis is compounding the trauma as the region vividly recalls the
disaster of December 2004. View BBC video footage here
A week earlier Typhoon
Ketsana ripped though Luzon, the northern island of The Philippines,
leaving well over a million people in need of rescue, relief or
support. News and film reportsshowed people wading waist deep through
even the main highways that connect the sprawling cities. Other images
showed furniture suspended in overhead cables. The poorest people in the
slum areas have been acutely hit, with their fragile homes and their
possessions washed away in the flood water.
'The needs are enormous and after the initial loss there comes the sense of
devastation and shock. People - many of whom are already desperately poor -
are left with nothing,' says Reuben Coulter, Tearfund Ireland Chief
Executive. 'Our partner relief teams in Sumatra and in Metro Manila are
assessing the need and responding, but we can also surround the crises and
the families affected in prayer.'
Immediate needs to that Tearfund partner's are supplying are:
· access to clean water
· food aid and basic items
· shelter provision
· medical supplies and counselling support for the grieving and distressed
Thanks for your
prayers and support,
Every blessing,
Reuben Coulter
Chief Executive
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