More emergency aid sent to Indonesia

March 28 earthquake
to prolong UM efforts
to help survivors recover

United Methodist News Service
NEW YORK—The United Methodist Committee on Relief has joined an ecumenical coalition shipping emergency aid to the Indonesian island of Nias, which was hard hit by a March 28 earthquake.
The United Methodist agency, in partnership with Church World Service, sent 35 boxes of medicine, 14 boxes of gloves, 500 tents, 1,000 packages of emergency supplies, a water purification unit and other items March 31 to the hard-hit island.
Both organizations are members of Action by Churches Together, the international ecumenical alliance. ACT officials report that up to 85 percent of buildings on Nias were damaged in the 8.7-magnitude quake.
The army, police and survivors were trying to evacuate people from under the ruins of buildings and houses. About 600 people were confirmed dead, but that number was expected to rise.
Effects of the March 28 earthquake off the Indonesian island of Sumatra will increase the need for assistance in the tsunami-ravaged region, church mission officials said.
“Some of the same areas damaged only three months ago now have enlarged needs for assistance,” said the Rev. R. Randy Day, chief executive of the General Board of Global Ministries.
United Methodists were already working with Methodist church partners in the Aceh Province of northern Sumatra, the area hardest hit by the Dec. 26 earthquake and tsunami.
“The new tragedy intensifies the need for relief efforts and prolongs the process of social and economic restoration,” Day said. “It means that UMCOR needs a steady flow of support from across our global church.”
Day and Bishop Joel Martinez, the mission board’s president, led a delegation to Indonesia in mid-January to meet with church leaders and assess the needs there. United Methodists have donated more than $15 million to the United Methodist Committee on Relief for tsunami relief efforts.
Although the March 28 earthquake didn’t create a tsunami like the one that killed hundreds of thousands in late December, it is believed to have caused major destruction and death on Nias, west of Sumatra. Simeuleu Island also was hit.
One Sumatran Methodist pastor, the Rev. Rusmin Purba, wrote in an e-mail to the United Methodist relief agency about reports of more than 1,000 dead on Nias Island.
“The day after tomorrow, our crisis center is going to Nias Island to bring food and medicine and paramedics to South Nias,” the pastor added.
Aid workers from Oxfam who had reached Gunungsitoli, the main town on Nias, reported that roads have collapsed and water supplies have failed.
Banda Aceh, a city on Sumatra devastated by the Dec. 26 earthquake and tsunami, suffered tremors and power outages. Many residents headed for higher ground in fear of another tsunami.
“We are grateful that staff members of the United Methodist Committee on Relief, as well as our church partners in the affected areas, are safe following the most recent earthquake,” Day said.
“UMCOR representatives work closely with local Methodists in Indonesia and Sri Lanka in the long process of recovery and rehabilitation. We assist ecumenical relief partners in India, Somalia and other areas struck by the December tidal wave.”
Donations for earthquake relief efforts can be placed into local church offering plates, designated for UMCOR Advance No. 274305 and “South Asia Emergency.”