On April 25, 2015, around 11:55 a.m. local time, a 7.8-magnitude earthquake shook Nepal, with its epicenter approximately 43 miles from its capital city, Kathmandu. The earthquake was felt around the whole country, but the Kathmandu valley and western region of the country were hit hardest.

On May 12, 2015, just a little more than two weeks later, around 12:50 p.m. local time, another earthquake struck Nepal approximately 47 miles northeast of its capital, Kathmandu – an area already affected by the April 25 earthquake. The 7.3-magnitude earthquake, while still considered an aftershock of the previous quake, was followed by several strong aftershocks that continued to be felt in the region. More than 8,460 people were killed and more than 480,000 homes damaged or destroyed.

From the very beginning, Lutheran Disaster Response has been working with a network of partners who are actively engaged with communities on the ground. Within days of the first and second earthquake, resources were mobilized. In an interview, Dr. Prabin Manandhar, the Country Director for the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) Nepal and a native of the country, said, “The earthquake happened at 11:55 a.m. and I was in the office by 2 o’clock.” Immediate distribution of ready-to-eat food, blankets, and hygiene kits was provided to households. Water filtration units and personal care kits were also a priority in the beginning stages of recovery.

Being dedicated to more than just the immediate recovery,  cash-for-work programs were initiated for debris cleanup and water maintenance. Small grants and training for self-help groups were organized and training in agriculture, livestock support and income generation took place in rural areas. Because much of the land was disrupted by the earthquake, support was given to farmers with seed distribution, irrigation projects, and soil management. Ten mini tractors were also supplied.

Now, 2 years later, we are still working with The Lutheran World Federation (LWF), United Mission to Nepal (UMN), Shanti Nepal and Lutheran World Relief (LWR), helping to rebuild communities and improve lives. While recovery of physical property is important for the safety of families who were affected by the earthquakes, care for the all-around well-being of those impacted is something that cannot be overlooked. “Before any of us, it is the people saving people. That happens not when you have resilient buildings,” Dr. Manandhar said. ” That happens when you have resilient people.” To that end, Lutheran Disaster Response continues to engage in many forms.

• Rebuilding homes*
  • 100 homes in the Shankarapur municipality
  • 170 homes in the Lamjung District
• WASH
  • Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene
• Livelihood Projects
  • Educational opportunities, bee-keeping, etc.
  • Social Empowerment
• Rebuilding Schools
  • 9 Learning centers consisting of 14 buildings
• Health (Shanti Nepal Hospital)
  • Upgrading facilities for disaster preparedness
  • expanding maternity ward
  • New emergency ward/equipment and outpatient facilities

*Most of our rebuilding efforts are being focused on the Dalit community in Nepal. The Dalit community is the lowest caste in the Hindu caste system and tends to be more vulnerable than other communities.

In devotions the morning of the anniversary, Rev. Y. Franklin Ishida, Area Director for Asia and the Pacific, said, “Sighing is an expression of uncontrolled letting go. In Nepal, the sighs of the people are heard, by us and by others.” Thanks to the generosity of individuals and congregations all across this church, Lutheran Disaster Response is responding to the sighs of the people by investing $2.1 million in the second phase of recovery.

In a world full of groaning or sighing, we are thankful for the opportunity to accompany the people of Nepal through their sighs of suffering and pray that we all are opened to God’s sighs of hope and new birth. As a church, we have been and will continue to walk with our siblings in Nepal, responding to the needs of our neighbors.

Be a part of the response:

Pray

Continue to pray for the people affected by the earthquakes, especially as they work to rebuild their homes and lives. Pray for staff that will work alongside survivors in communities affected.

Give

Your gifts are still needed. Gifts designated for the “Nepal Area Earthquake” will be used in full (100 percent) to assist those directly impacted until the response is complete. Gifts from people like you allow us to continue to serve those in need.

Connect

To learn more about the situation and the ELCA’s response:

• Sign up to receive Lutheran Disaster Response alerts.
• Check the Lutheran Disaster Response blog.
• Like Lutheran Disaster Response on Facebook and follow @ELCALDR on Twitter.

All photos by ACT/ Paul Jeffrey

South Sudan Relief

Civil war and famine in South Sudan have caused nearly 5 million people to be food insecure. Rates of acute malnutrition are well over the emergency thresholds in most of the country. This is the first internationally declared famine anywhere in the world in the last six years.

This crisis has driven about 100,000 people to flee their homes since the beginning of the year. More than 90 percent of them are women and children. With the influx of refugees, the resources of neighboring host countries are running thin.

Lutheran Disaster Response is committed to walking with our brothers and sisters affected by the crisis in South Sudan by responding within the country as well as across its borders. Because we are a church working with companion churches and other ecumenical partners in the region, we are prepared to provide care, support and hope. We need you to join us in this effort.

Operating through local partners, we will accompany survivors through food distribution, temporary shelter, water and sanitation, and psycho-social support. Your gifts are needed to provide this lifesaving aid. This immediate aid is being linked to a longer-term commitment to South Sudan by ELCA World Hunger to build up resilient communities and provide health care, and by ELCA’s Global Church Sponsorship in completion of a ministry center including a health clinic.

Be a part of the response: 

Pray:
Pray for those affected by the violence that they may be granted peace and healing. Visit the Lutheran Disaster Response resource page for worship resources.

Give:
Your gifts designated for the South Sudan Relief will be used in full (100 percent) to assist those impacted until the response is complete. Gifts from people like you allow us to accompany those who are suffering.

Connect:
To learn more about the situation and the ELCA’s response:

• Sign up to receive Lutheran Disaster Response alerts.
• Check the Lutheran Disaster Response blog.
• Like Lutheran Disaster Response on Facebook and follow @ELCALDR on Twitter.

JOIN THE AMMPARO MOVEMENT

Last year, the Churchwide Assembly overwhelmingly adopted the AMMPARO strategy,  Accompanying Migrant Minors with Protection, Advocacy, Representation and Opportunity. This holistic, whole church response to accompany migrant children and families from Central America has birthed a movement in the ELCA and you are invited to join us! How?

ACCOMPANIMENT: One hundred eighty-five thousand families, 185,957 to be exact, have entered the United States on our southern border in the last 3 years alone. There are another 168,203 unaccompanied children that entered during this same period. Your congregation can accompany thee families and children as a Welcoming Congregation which makes a public commitment to provide pastoral and physical accompaniment of children and families through the difficult transition into life in the US. Since the assembly, the first Welcoming Congregations have been established in six synods for a total of 35 Welcoming Congregations from California to Texas to Wisconsin and Illinois.

ADVOCATE: Now more than ever, our voices as people of faith are urgently needed to protect the human rights of children and families as they reach our border. Go to ELCA Advocacy for the most recent action alerts.

LEARN about the all important work that our companions are doing in Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala to address the root causes of migration by providing vocational training and psychological assistance to youth deported Mexico and the US. A short video of Suyapa Ucles, Program Director, CASM, Honduras is on the AMMPARO webpage under videos.

PRAY for migrant children and families and for guidance for the ELCA in all its expressions to be faithful to God’s call.

GIVE to AMMPARO to support work by companions in Central America and partners in the US through the ELCA.

For more information about AMMPARO, visit our website or contact Mary Campbell, Program Director at mary.campbell@elca.org

Follow AMMPARO on Facebook

Late Sunday afternoon, an evacuation order went out in Oroville and other towns in Yuba, Sutter and Butte counties of California. The evacuation, having forced over 100,000 people from their homes, was ordered when a hole was discovered in the emergency spillway of the Oroville Dam.

Carol Roberts, CEO of LSS of Northern California, a resident of the Oroville community, told us that the level of the lake was dropping, relieving pressure on the spillway but there was still a possibility of “catastrophic failure.”  According to the LA Times, this failure could send a 30-foot wall of water down the hillside into Feather River.

Workers begun repairing the erosion at the spillway and are working to stay ahead of a forecasted storm system approaching the area.

Two nearby, Lutheran congregations – Faith Lutheran Church of Chico, CA and First Lutheran Church of Orland, CA –offered to provide shelter and food support for evacuees. “As the winter storms fill Lake Oroville and so many of our community are forced to flee their homes, we find our hope in Christ who calms the waters, Pastor Ben of Faith Lutheran said in a message to his congregants. “And we remember, that we as the church are called to be Christ’s body and to participate in providing that peace in the midst of fear.”

As of this afternoon, the evacuation order has been reduced to an evacuation warning. This allows people to return to their homes but they are encouraged to remain vigilant. Lutheran Disaster Response will continue to monitor the situation and hold the community in our prayers.

Be a part of the response:

Pray

Continue to pray for displaced persons in the U.S. and around the world, may God’s healing presence comfort them in their time of need.

Give

Thanks to generous, undesignated donations, we are able to respond quickly to these kinds of crises. Your gifts to Lutheran Disaster Response will be used where there is the greatest need.

Connect

To learn more about global migration and what Lutheran Disaster Response is doing:

• Like Lutheran Disaster Response on Facebook.
• Follow us on Twitter.
• Visit our website at LDR.org
• Sign up to receive Lutheran Disaster Response alerts.

End of Year Reflections

By Pastor Michael Stadie

With 2016 coming to an end, like many of you, I am thinking back about this past year especially in terms of the disasters that impacted the United States. As I do, the word that I would use to describe this year’s disasters is “Forgotten.”

After every disaster, there comes a time when the disaster falls off the radar of most folks, especially on the major media outlets. But this year, the time between when the disaster struck and the time it is forgotten seems to have been especially short.

Do you remember the flooding in Louisiana, both the March and August events? What about the flooding in Texas, especially the eastern most counties? How about Hurricane Hermine impacting the west coast of Florida? Do you recall how many states were impacted by Hurricane Matthew? There are five; (Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina and Virginia.) What about the Tennessee fires? Did you know that the number of children from Central America coming to this country was quite a bit higher than last year; or that there were more families that came from Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala than the number of children from those countries?

There are many reasons why this year has so many “forgotten” disasters. One reason is because there were so many disasters it is hard for folks to keep track of them—they all seem to flow together and it is hard identifying all of them. And because there has been so many disasters, there has been a lot of compassion fatigue.

Another reason why we don’t remember all the disasters of this past year is because of the NIMBY syndrome—Not In My Back Yard. While there were many disasters, and we feel compassion for those impacted, they tended to be in one part of the country so unless we were near an impacted area, it is easy to forget about them.

But most importantly, the Presidential Election tended to push every other news items to the back burner if they were even on the stove at all. It seemed like every other day, some new issue came up concerning one or the other presidential candidate that grabbed the headline. Now there were some exceptions—specifically the Tennessee fires and Hurricane Matthew’s impact in North Carolina did get several days of news coverage.

But thankfully, our network of affiliates, social ministry organizations and synods, were and remain active in responding to all the disasters, not just the ones from this year, but past disasters as well. For example, our affiliates in New York and New Jersey in 2016 are still responding to Hurricane Sandy; with Lutheran Social Ministries of New Jersey planning on working on Sandy recovery efforts through most of 2017.

I cannot forget about those impacted by a disaster even long after the event is over because I recognize a disaster is often one of the defining moments of a person’s or a family’s life. More often than not, time is measured before or after the disaster. With each disaster being so important to so many people, I just cannot forget about it and move on to the next one.

So next year, and in the years to come, please keep an eye on the news, specifically for the reports of disasters both large and small. And when you hear of a disaster, either on the news or through one of our social media outlets, please remember to pray for those impacted as well as those responding. Not just at the time, but for years to come.

May Emmanuel, God with us, be with all those impacted by a disaster whenever and wherever they may occur.

Pastor Michael Stadie is the Program Director for Lutheran Disaster Response – U.S.

Be a part of the response:

Pray

Continue to pray for all affected by disasters, may God’s healing presence comfort them in their time of need.

Give

Thanks to generous, undesignated donations, Lutheran Disaster response is able to respond quickly and effectively to disasters around the globe. Your gifts to Lutheran Disaster Response will be used where there is the greatest need.

Connect

To learn more about global migration and what Lutheran Disaster Response is doing:

• Like Lutheran Disaster Response on Facebook.
• Follow us on Twitter.
• Visit our website at LDR.org
• Sign up to receive Lutheran Disaster Response alerts

In early October, many of us watched as Hurricane Matthew devastated the Caribbean and powered its way towards the U.S. Florida, Georgia, and the Carolinas braced themselves as Matthew moved in their direction.

After the hurricane dispelled and rivers receded, thousands of people, still reeling from the impact, were left with the work of putting their lives back together. Even now, across all affected U.S. states and internationally, people are still in the early stages of relief: living in hotels, mucking out homes, etc.

Lutheran Disaster Response, in partnership with its affiliate social ministry organizations, local synods and congregations, are present on the ground working in these communities.

In Georgia, 10 Lutheran Congregations in the Savannah area (listed below) heard about a community that had been severely affected by the hurricane. Pastor Jim Nelson of Holy Spirit Lutheran in Savannah, GA said, “We came together and discussed what we could do, as Lutherans, to help this community.”

“We’re in it for the long haul. Whatever we do, we’ll do it together.”

The community, located on the west side of Savannah, already faced many poverty-related challenges.  About 100 households of the apartment complex were impacted by the flooding. Some residents evacuated at the news of the Hurricane and found their belongings completely ruined when they returned. Others stayed in their homes and watched as the flood waters entered their homes; they saved what they could from the flood waters but not much was left.

On October 29^th, in coordination with the County Commissioner and the local Red Cross, members of these congregations arrived at the apartment complex to provide a Day of Rest; A break from the everyday burden of mucking out homes, to have a meal and fellowship. They brought food, clothes, flood buckets, and an inflatable bounce house for the children.

After a day of food, fun and conversation, a new relationship had been built between the congregations and the community.“We’re in it for the long haul,” Pastor Jim said. “Whatever we do, we’ll do it together.”

A Lutheran Disaster Response coordinator once said, “There are times when we are the only Bible disaster survivors see.” They went on to say, “we simply try to be the hands and feet of God, giving witness to the life giving love of Christ.” Our affiliated SMOs, synods, and congregations like the 10 in Savannah, are important to the ministry of Lutheran Disaster Response because, we are all the church, responding to disasters in the name of Christ, for the sake of our beloved community. We are thankful for their presence now and in the time to come.

Lutheran Disaster Response will continue to accompany congregations, synods, trusted partners and companion churches  that know the communities well and will walk with people on the road to recovery.

Be a part of the response:

Pray

Continue to pray for the people who have been affected by Hurricane Matthew. May God’s healing presence give them peace and hope in their time of need.

Give

We still need your help. Gifts to “Hurricane Matthew” will be used to assist those affected by the hurricane until the response is complete.

Connect: 

Stay connected to the latest events and our response to this and other disasters:

• Like Lutheran Disaster Response on Facebook and follow @ELCALDR onTwitter.
• Share this bulletin insert with your congregation.
• Sign up to receive Lutheran Disaster Response alerts.
• Check the Lutheran Disaster Response blog.

___

Participating Congregations 

Ascension Lutheran Church

Good Shepherd Lutheran Church (Garden City, GA)

Holy Spirit Lutheran Church

Jerusalem Lutheran Church (Rincon, GA)

Lord of Life (St. Simon’s Island)

Messiah Lutheran Church

Redeemer Lutheran Church

St. James Lutheran Church (Brunswick, GA)

St. John Lutheran Church(Rincon, GA)

St. Paul Lutheran Church