Letter from our partner in Sri Lanka

This is a circular information letter written about Tsunami and the Church’s Response.

Dear Concerned Friends,

This is a circular information letter written about Tsunami and the Church’s Response.

I am writing this out of news gathered from friends who went to visit areas hit by the disastrous Tsunami. Unfortunately I have not been able to go with any of the groups as foreigners other than those working for recognized NGOs are not allowed to go to the disaster hit places as most of them are under LTTE controlled area, i.e. those nearest to Jaffna Peninsula. However, I may be able to go to Trinco-Batticoloa region some time later. I am giving below a summary of information gathered.

The death toll kept rising from an originally estimated 6,000 in the whole of Sri Lanka to the current tally of 35,000. As deaths are occurring among survivors too it may keep rising for some time as many of the survivors who got drenched and soaked by continuing rain and floods have been affected by pneumonia, typhoid and other dangerous diseases and, with available medical help being meager, there are bound to be more fatalities.

Some statistics are horrendous. In some villages the whole of the generation under 12 has been wiped out. Two persons I came to know from a local congregation each had lost about 80 of their relatives who lived near the coast. Some Churches standing close to the coast have been totally destroyed by the force of the waves rising to 6 metres high. A small congregation of 35 families who had just gone home after Sunday morning mass got swept away. A young pastor Selvanand lost his wife and 11 month old infant. He was inside the Church leading worship while his wife had gone out because the baby started crying. The mother and the infant son got swept away. Water rushed into the Church also but those inside were able to hold on to the beams and survive. There is going to be a memorial thanksgiving prayer at the home of the pastor’s wife tomorrow. The bodies were not recovered. This young pastor, a CTS trained man, stayed on in the area of disaster until yesterday trying to bring relief and consolation to the other bereaved survivors. Another couple who were taking a young baby for the service of dedication lost two of their children, a six year old child and her infant brother. The adults on a motorbike escaped while their children got swept away from their very hands. The mother refuses to be consoled and is angry with God and the Church.

The Churches here rose to the occasion going on solidarity visits and rushing whatever relief material they could gather, some even borrowing heavy amounts in the hope it could be paid back. The Catholic Church set up a good machinery to circulate information in regards to the immediate and long term needs and set up an infrastructure to receive and distribute relief according to carefully assessed priorities. They have also thrown open their Church and School compounds to house the survivors and have started recruiting and training counselors. Our Seminary is a very small community of a total of 4 faculty members and 13 students. We reopen tomorrow. 7 of our students are from Vanni and so all of them individually went to the different disaster hit areas along with pastors in the Vanni region. There are nine pastors working in the Vanni region. After the reopening we plan to go as a team of counselors after receiving some help as to how to be good listeners. A Catholic Father will be leading our year-beginning retreat on the 6th.

The following are the continuing needs immediate and long term. Enough food has been rushed. But the desperate need is for medicine and refrigerators to keep the medicine. All the survivors have lost everything and so there is need for clothing of all sizes and bedding. In terms of infrastructure, alternative shelters to move people hurdled together inside school campuses and toilet and sanitation facilities need to be provided on an emergency footing to prevent the spread of infectious diseases. Proper houses need to be built and employment opportunities provided. God needs to give long life and new progeny to make up for the massive loss of the young generation.

The most encouraging positive outcome of the disaster is that, in the East and in deep South, where we have a mixed ethnic population people of all ethnic groups, people have extended help transcending communal and ethnic boundaries to each other. President Chandrika went on a personal visit to the LTTE controlled area and during the visit she shook hands with an LTTE woman cadre. Both the Government and LTTE have pledged to work together. Hope this will prove to be a beginning of a new phase of mutuality and trust.

I am doing my best to preach that God as Immanuel is with people sharing in their sorrow, that God is calling the rest of us to repent about our carelessness in matters concerning ecology and environment, that it is God who is bringing out the best in humans in transcending prejudices and hatred and in showing courage fortitude and generosity in the matter of bringing relief and above all that all those who suffered for no fault of theirs will contribute to the pool of redemption.

Sincerely,
Dhyanchand Carr