In mid-December the ELCA, through its International Disaster Response program, approved a disbursement of $102,337 to support a Lutheran World Federation (LWF) Community-Managed Disaster Risk Reduction (CMDRR) project in the Turkana district of Kenya. Now you might be wondering what CMDRR is or you might be wondering why it needs to be instituted in Turkana. And you might even be asking where Turkana is. Well I’m glad you asked. This post will answers these three questions. If you have any others, please share them in the comments.
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“Our project office in Chidambaram which is situated 40 kilometer away from the center of the cyclone also felt the intensity. The devastation is similar to that of the Tsunami in 2004. As per media and govt. reports, the cyclone killed 42 people, while many people are injured and about 20,000 people became homeless and are taking shelter in relief camps and makeshift arrangement shelters.”
Mr. B.N. Biswal
Deputy Manager – Emergency
Lutheran World Service India Trust (LWSIT)

The quote above from Mr. Biswal is describing the impact of Cyclone Thane, which struck the southern region of India on December 30 and how it affected the offices of LWSIT, a partner of the ELCA, in the area. As the cyclone’s damage was mainly focused on the eastern seaboard area of Tamil Nadu. The most affected populations were those already living in poverty (day laborers, fisher folk and farmers). These people make up the majority of those who lost their homes but now must also deal with wreaked boats, ruined crops and a lack of work.

The massive flooding has led to a severe shortage of drinkable water as wells and ponds are flooded with salt water. The winds, which reached up to 87 mph, uprooted many trees and snapped power lines, leading to blocked roads and downed communications. Also, a food shortage has raised local prices to a point beyond the means of many poorer families. Though there has been an affect to most of the crops in the area, the hardest hit were the rice paddies. They were due to be harvested in the coming weeks but many acres have been completely destroyed.

The ELCA’s continues to be in contact with local partners on the ground as they assess the situation. Word has been received from the United Evangelical Lutheran Church in India (UELCI) that they are planning an immediate response of food items for 5500 families in 55 villages and 1000 huts material assistance and repair as well as 6 institutional building repairs. Check back for updates as the response continues to be solidified. And please keep the our partners and the people affected by Thane in your prayers.

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Gifts to ELCA International Disaster Response allow the church to respond globally in times of need. Donate now.

The situation at the Dollo Ado refugee camp in southern Ethiopia has started to stabilize with the number of new arrivals dropping from 200-300/day in early November to 200-300/week in mid-December. Though the area continues to be plagued by heavy rains and flooding. This has led to difficulty in the delivery of aid like food and water as well as the processing of refugees in the transit center. A welcomed new camp, Bur Amino, has opened and the first few hundred residents have begun to arrive. With a population max of 80,000 this new camp is expected to help alleviate the overcrowding in the other camps and at the transit center.

To learn more, check out the LWF Update.

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Gifts to ELCA International Disaster Response allow the church to respond globally in times of need. Donate now.

How’s that for timing? I’m in Bangladesh in part to visit our partner Rangpur-Dinajpur Rural Services (RDRS) to see some of their projects on disaster risk reduction and climate change programs and the video they made with DanChurchAid on the same topic won an award from COP17 climate conference in Durban this past week.

We had the privilege of viewing Ripple during our LWF communications workshop and I have to agree that it’s a great video. It gave me some well-needed background before I begin my visits today, especially around the difficulties caused by chars. Chars are fertile sand bars left after flooding that run a high risk of re-flooding since they by nature exist in flood planes. Since Bangladesh is an extremely population dense country, when chars form they are almost immediately inhabited by the poorest members of Bengali society. Since they have a high risk of flooding there tends to run a cycle of re-impoverishment for people living on them as they continually are flooded out of their homes.

I would highly recommend taking 11 minutes out of your day to view the video, especially if you’re from Australia (it’ll make sense when you view it).

Over the last three days I attended an LWF workshop in Dhaka, Bangladesh. The purpose was to bring communications personnel from agencies, like the ELCA, and country programs, like Life With Dignity (LWD) in Cambodia, to talk about how to better share our story of the church active in the world, particularly around disasters. In the spirit of the workshops purpose I asked Dr. Sam Inn, Executive Director of LWD, if he would give me his thoughts on the situation of flooding in Cambodia. Below is a summary of the main points of that conversation.

To get some background on the situation and the initial ELCA response, see the previous post SE Asia Floods: ELCA Responds in Cambodia & Thailand.

Overview
According to Dr. Inn, the flooding has affected the areas mainly along the Mekong River and around Tonle Sap Lake, though 17 of the 24 provinces have been affected in one way or another. Luckily the capital, Phnom Penh, has not been affected. The situation has led to 250 deaths and 1.2 million people strongly affected.

Short Term Response
The main issue he raised in the short term has been the displacement of people by flooding. To address this LWD has been working with to provide emergency food kits in two provinces of rice, cooking oil, ionic salt, a water purifier and mosquito nets.

Long Term Response
Currently LWD is helping to conduct a post-flood assessment over the next 4-6 months to determine the long term needs of the people in affected areas. Dr. Inn shared that the most likely needs will be around people’s livelihood, mainly in agriculture. Since the rice crops have been affected, the response will probably focus on supplying rice seed. They also may distribute vegetable seed for home gardens and poultry for livelihood improvement. Overall Dr. Inn believes they have gotten past the worst of the disaster in Cambodia and LWD will now be focusing their energies on helping the affected people return to and rebuild their lives.

Update on Thailand
As to the situation in Thailand, their Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Department has reported 689 deaths and over 4.4 million people affected as of today. They also are reporting that heavy rains in the southern part of the country may lead to further flooding over the weekend. Dr. Inn also shared that with the flooding of Bangkok, much of the media attention has been focused on the urban areas and not on those affected in the rural parts of the country.

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Gifts to ELCA International Disaster Response allow the church to respond globally in times of need. Donate now.

Just got forwarded a great article from today’s Minot Daily News which highlights how members of the ELCA are responding to disaster. The story is about the Tree of Hope Fair, hosted at First Lutheran in Minot this past Sunday. The event sprung from the idea that with the extensive flooding in Minot this past summer many people may have lost their decorations for the Christmas season. To help make the season brighter, the fair offered donated holiday decorations for free, that people could come and take.

A great aspect of the event was the shared opportunity in hosting it, as highlighted by a comment posted to the article by Pastor Mike Pancoast, Associate Pastor of First Lutheran:

While the event was held at First Lutheran, the whole thing was really an effort of ALL the Minot-area congregations of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). The coordinator for the marvelous snacks and refreshments served on Sunday was Sue Roise from Zion Lutheran. Deanna Syvertson from Bethany was a coordinator for the set-up and sorting that took place on Saturday. I know there were volunteers from Peace Lutheran in Burlington and Christ Lutheran here in town, not to mention the dozens of other volunteers from across the denominational spectrum.

There are so many great things in here, it’s hard to decide which to lift up. This is the ELCA at work, doing God’s Work with our hands. These are Churches highlighting the meaning of Christmas in true acts of giving. Here we see Christians loving God through their loving service to the neighbor. Gotta say it brings a smile to my face and a lightness to my heart. Amen!

Read the Article: Tree of Hope Fair — First Lutheran event brightens Christmas for area residents

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Gifts to ELCA Disaster Response allow the church to respond globally and at home in times of need. Donate now.