Greetings from Port Blair in the Andaman Islands.
I am here with a team of 14 to do relief work in these islands that were hit by the earthquake and tsunami on Dec. 26. I have not been able to travel to outer islands, and am in the city of Port Blair. We have gone out to some of the outlying regions on this island, that is home to most of the population of the Andaman and Nicobar islands.
On this island, the bulk of the damage was due to the earthquake, rather than the tsunami. Still, tsunami damage is visible. Even in a sheltered harbor, I saw two large ships foundered in the marine dockyard. Boats and ships can be seen in some places along the shore line, beached by the tsunami. Sea walls were knocked down, and on one stretch of road a car and a van were pushed out of the way by the big waves.
There is much fear here. The aftershocks continue. There have been two since I got here three days ago. At night, many residents of this island are sleeping outside under temporary tarpaulin shelters. There is too much anxiety to sleep indoors. Rumors are flying around, such as the rumor that between the 15th and 18th there is going to be another earthquake. We are trying to spread the message that there is very, very low chance of another earthquake. the earths pent up energy has been discharged! We are travelling with a consultant who was an advisor to the Papua New Guinea government on earthquakes and tsunamis. He is trying to get a tract publicized to that effect, based on scientific fact. We are hoping such news will help to comfort and allay fears.
Our team is concentrating right now on relief to the camps here in Port Blair. We are distributing hygiene items such as soaps, toothpaste and brushes, combs, hair oil, as well as women's sanitary products, bedsheets, mosquito nets, and sleeping mats. Today some of the Pune DTS students are delivering buckets as well as green vegetables to the tsunami victims. I want to commend the work being done by our Pune DTS team and by the North India Disaster Relief team.
In the 12 or so camps around Port Blair, the people are from Car Nicobar island, Little Andaman, and other areas like Campbell Bay. These people were hardest hit by the tsunami. They were flown into Port Blair in an evacuation operation that continues. The Nicobaris particularly, who are mostly Christians of the Church of North India, have lost everything. I saw one Nicobari family in a camp who had all their belongings on a mat behind them. their house destroyed, their island left behind, refugees in a strange land.
Many are being flown out of the Andamans. I saw an Indian Air Force plane loading up a long queue of people, leaving the islands. Some want to go, fearing to live here, others not really wanting to go, but having no place left here.
The difficulty here with the affected people is that there is no place for some of them to go back to. For some, they simply need to rebuild their house, but for others, the land on which they lived is now covered by the sea. I saw areas in Wandoor, south of Port Blair where rice paddy fields are now covered by sea. It is estimated that the whole plate on which these islands sit sunk by one meter in the earthquake. I met people who have not been able to go back to their houses since Dec. 26. At night they sleep up in temporary tents on the hillside, as the high tide floods into their houses. Basically these people need to come to the realization that they have to move further inland, as a new shoreline has been established in some areas.
At the Marine Dockyard in Port Blair, they told us that at night, at high tide, the pier is now covered with water. At a fishing village, the locals showed us where a beach had existed before the earthquake, but it is gone now.
As I said, the Nicobaris took the brunt of the tsunami waves, before the monster waves got to the Andaman chain. Many Nicobaris have been killed and displaced. Many are here in camps. Last night we distributed 100 hygiene kits to survivors in one camp here. This morning we are taking out 150 more. There are a lot of needs. I heard of one Nicobari pastor, who lost his three children in the tsunami. After seeing them swept away, he jumped into the water and helped many people swim to high ground. Finally he got his arm caught between two trees and it was broken. He and his wife have survived and are here in Port Blair. A pastor told me of people climbing trees to escape the water, only to find poisonous snakes up in the tree tops that were trying to get out of the water. Most of those worst hit were evacuated here. In addition to about 12 camps in Port Blair, I saw six more camps as we drove down toward Wandoor. There is definitely scope for more expenditure on relief here, but also to begin looking for avenues to help in long term rebuilding.
We are attempting to get one of our water purification filters that works off of a car battery sent down to Car Nicobar island, where there is much devastation.
For foreigners, we cannot go to the Nicobar islands, and are somewhat restricted even in the Andamans. A foreign visitor can come in for 30 days maximum. We need Indian workers to come out to Port Blair, and continue with the relief and reconstruction work. I am praying that at least a small team will be formed and will be able to come out here when our present team leaves in just about another week.
That's all for now.
Prayer for continued relief work, relocation and rebuilding of houses for those affected by the earthquake, for YWAM to get a team in here to work for the long haul, for opportunities for others, both Indians and visitors, to be able to assist here in the rebuilding effort, and for the message of assurance that the major quake is over to be spread out.
God bless you, thanks for reading this.
Mike B.
mike_lora@myrealbox.com
Dear All,
Report from teams this morning.
* Teams are safe in at least 3 locations
* one team has set up clinics and probably saw up to 600 people today.
Distributing clothes to 100¹s, and then medical assistance to about 80
people. That number will grow much larger tomorrow.
* Mostly cuts, scrapes, some broken bones and amputation of both legs of one
man. More serious incidents are being referred.
* One team of 50 is in dire need of ORS for six days--
* some shooting during the night
* ongoing trimmers/aftershocks from earthquakes
* most are sleeping in tents
* another 4 NGO¹s in the camp where this team is located
* UN have meeting each evening with about 80 in attendance
* One woman very dehydrated so in the heat -- water and lots of it is very critical.
Thanks for your prayers,
Steve
An air assessment by helicopter (via military, Samaritan¹s Purse & MAF)yesterday showed that the tidal wave went 14 kilometers inland so death toll could reach 1 million. Military authorities are burying bodies without identifying so the numbers may never be known.
Some roads going out of Bandar Aceh have been blocked by rebel groups and the situation is highly volatile. Some of the trucks transporting goods to the affected areas have been commandeered by the rebels. Road travel is highly insecure at present.
Prayer for this situation is critical at this stage.
Steve Goode
The first group of workers have been replaced to give people much needed rest and relief. There is serious emotional trauma attached to this work as they have been dealing with so much grief and processing of several 1000 bodies in very basic conditions.
I am leaving Bangkok for the south this morning with an assessment team. Pray for meetings with provincial authorities in southern Thailand in the next few hours.
Teams still inputing data of missing persons, DNA, hospital verifications and identified bodies upon websites -- http://www.thaitsunami.com teams were asked today if they would travel tomorrow and include all of the six southern provinces in Thailand in this data base.
Several teams visited all of the displaced persons in Phangna province to assess how we could serve immediately with teams.
Assessment began in four of the ten affected Thai villages with YWAM and Christ Church on behalf of the Anglican communion after meeting with the representatives of the Provincial governor for Phangna (deaths in this province alone could be as high as 10,000- as many as half foreigners) Asessments continue through Thursday and then we will give a summary back to government and let them know what our capacities are.
WE LOVE THAILAND is developing momentum as a response from all of the Protestant Churches in Thailand and FHI, YWAM, World Concern, World Vision, Habitat, and others to raise between USD 2-5 million in helping to rebuild up to 30,000 Thai homes and micro-enterprise development and other economic loans.. Will keep you informed but pray as this seems to be the time where God’s love can be demonstrated very practically here in many communities.
Tsunami Relief Effort Underway
Massive tsunamis resulting from the world's largest earthquake in decades tore into southern Thailand's coast and its scores of popular resorts, where tens of thousands of foreign tourists were holidaying at the time. The waves caused catastrophic damage in several areas including the resort island of Phuket, Phi Phi island, Krabi, and the worst-hit province of Khao Lak.
More than 10,000 people were confirmed yesterday as dead or missing in Thailand as a result of Sunday's tsunami, with the most up-to-date death toll in Phang Nga alone approaching 4,000. The Interior Ministry of Thailand figures declared 4,560 dead - half of them foreigners - and another 6,479 people still missing in six Andaman Sea provinces.
YWAM Thailand grieves over the tens of thousands of people who have lost their lives, family members and homes as a result of the recent tidal wave that impacted Indonesia, Myanmar, Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka as well as Thailand.
Due to the fact that it was Christmas time, several of our YWAM Thailand staff were vacationing in or around the affected areas down south. Thankfully, none of our staff were hurt and everyone is accounted for. As you have probably also read in the news, Phang Nga was hit hard by the tsunami but again, we praise God that no one from our Phang Nga team was injured. However, we are saddened to hear reports from several of our Thai staff that they have already lost friends and family members who were not able to get to safety in time.
Would you join us in praying to the one TRUE God at this time for those affected so deeply by this disaster?
For up to the minute news on the situation, please check out The Nation Newspaper
We currently have teams working in the affected areas but rescue workers are still assessing the damage and needs to be able to properly coordinate the relief effort. We will be posting more information here very soon.
Dear Friends,
For the past week and more I have been seeking the answers to an often repeated question, "Did YWAM have team in the area hit by the earthquake or the tsunami?" Of course the answer is yes, but how many teams were there? Did they all survive? What are they doing now? Can we help?
For some days I have been collecting information and now pass it on to you so you will be informed and so you can PASS THIS ON TO OTHERS, as you see fit.
We had many teams in the area, from the most hard-hit part of Sumatra and nearby islands right through to Sri Lanka and the eastern coast of India. In the midst of all the terrible loss of life, we can give thanks that, to my knowledge at this time, all YWAM staff survived. Some teams were very near the epicentre and some were due to have been on the beaches that day, but for different reasons stayed on higher ground. We are very grateful.
Now they are engaged in relief efforts and they desperately need our prayer. One team leader recently telephoned to say that they were spending much of their waking hours simply finding bodies and placing a body bag by each one so the military could deal with them appropriately. At times they have felt it is just too hard to continue, yet they have. Our more permanent teams have lost friends, neighbours and fellow believers by the scores. Our short-term teams are deeply shaken having been so traumatized in a foreign setting. Normally they would need lots of time to debrief, receive counsel and come to grips with the tragedy that engulfed them, but they have no time for that. They hardly have time to eat. Please pray for them!!
As you know the great threat now is disease. Our people are at great risk. Do ask God's protection for them and that they will get, and be able to follow, the best advice for avoiding the deadly diseases that so often follow this kind of disaster.
So many people have asked what they can do to help. I will give that information below, but first I want to list just some of the work that our teams are doing in Thailand, Sri Lanka, India, Indonesia, Andaman and Nicobar Islands:
- in several locations, like northern Sumatra and Thailand and along the Indian coast our teams are coordinating the entire relief operations for large areas.,p> - at hospitals setting up a variety of stations for people looking for loved ones
- assisting people making long distance telephone calls to loved ones (a local company is doing this for free)
- translating with Thai hospital with the multiple languages of people affected. 28 Embassies have come to Phuket to set up embassy inquiry stations.
- listening to stories of people caught in the Tsunami and trying to find word of those who may have survived. Answering questions from inquiries. Finding multiple language doctors to assist patients.
- Coordinating teams to go to local Thai temples where several thousand bodies are being kept for identification. Many if not most are unrecognizable due to salt water, decomposition and injury but loved ones still are coming and wanting to look and see. The Thai Forensic department is here taking DNA samples of all of the dead so that they can be traced more than just through visual identification. Today many are arriving from Scandinavia searching for loved ones and trauma teams and counselling teams are also hopefully arriving to be available for families in need.
- distributing food packs and water to fishing villages in India and Sri Lanka.
- appealing for funds to replace fishing nets so families can start earning a living again as soon as possible.
- arranging and repairing the intact furniture and appliances, disposing the debris of the destroyed buildings, and beginning to rebuild.
- coordinating all medical efforts in Sumatran villages In many previous disaster situations, YWAM has provided staff for the work done under the banner of other agencies. We are always happy to do that and this is no exception. If this, the greatest natural disaster of modern times, follows the pattern of previous disasters, there will be an outpouring of offers for help and money but then the world's attention will shift to other subjects. But the needs will be very long term. Our teams will still be there in a year's time and longer helping to rebuild and offering help in the name of Jesus. It is worth noting that some of the hardest hit areas are those that actively persecuted those who seek to follow Jesus. Let's pray that this will result in much greater openness and receptivity.
YWAM is not a humanitarian organization. We are a missions movement, seeking to follow Jesus of Nazareth with all our strength. He taught us to love our neighbors and even our enemies and to express that love by helping those in need. Jesus' example is at the heart of the vast majority of humanitarian efforts today because most of the organizations in that field have Christian roots. But there is also a tremendous pressure on those organizations to drop the "religious dimension" of their work so they can be the recipients of governmental and other "secular" funds. Over a generation or two, their roots in Christ are obscured.
We will not cease to minister in the name of Jesus. Our assistance is available without regard to race or religion and we are not aggressive or insensitive in our relationships with those in need, but we do give credit where credit is due: Jesus is our example, the Holy Spirit our helper and we live for the glory of God.
Please do pass this report and appeal on to all whom you know.
Yours for the Kingdom of God,
C. Lynn Green,
International Chairman
I talked earlier today to a YWAMer in Phuket who spent New Years Eve on the compound of a Buddhist temple surrounded by 1000's of dead bodies on dry ice....she was helping the forensic teams collect DNA samples for easier body identification. She said that the dry ice in the evening cool provided a smoke that was surreal and as she looked and saw the other forensic team dressed in white protective clothes and masks and small lights, it looked like something out of Hollywood but she has been living in this blur since last Sunday......Death .Tolls will go much higher.....
As we are gearing up for 50 DAYS, 4 K RESPONSES — MY HEART WEEPS....I HAVE NOT KNOWN WHAT TO DO WITH MY EMOTIONS SEEING FAMILIES WHO JUST CAME FOR A NICE HOLIDAY OR THAIS GOING ABOUT THEIR BUSINESS IN ONE MOMENT AND THE NEXT...... SEVERAL SAVAGE WAVES --- LIVES FOREVER CHANGED -----
IT IS GOING TO TAKE A DEPTH OF COMPASSION THAT WE HAVE NOT HAD AS A MISSION. LOVING YOUR NEIGHBOR...........BEING MOVED WITH COMPASSION LIKE JESUS THAT COMPELLED TO ACTION...........THOSE VULNERABLE.....THOSE WITHOUT A VOICE......THOSE WITH AIDS....THOSE IN CRISIS.....
GOD HELP US IN OUR RESPONSES.........Would you take a moment now to remember all of those who have lost or who are assisting in the relief efforts?
STEVE GOODE
[From Alan] I was on the phone this morning with one of our leaders helping with relief work in Aceh and in the midst of our conversation he said, "wait a minute. We have another shock wave!" They have been having many sleepless and interrupted nights because of more tremors and after shock waves. I made another important call at about 2 pm (Sunday) and our worker said,' I was finally getting some time to eat my first meal of the day and you had to call!"
Our workers have been caring for the sick, feeding, clothing, helping to bury, and counselling. They are doing a tremendous work serving in medical and food and emergency supply distribution. We are presently working alongside another aid organisation. Our current team is about 200 plus workers operating out of four locations at a particular quarter of the city and district of Aceh. This includes about 20 Indonesian doctors, our workers and about 150 Acehnese volunteers. These numbers are growing by the day as the government sorts out logistics and infrastructure difficulties that will allow more help to come in.
In the midst of the tens of thousands who have died, there are some miracle stories of God's care and grace. God has cared for our workers even in the midst of so many lost lives.
I have been in communication with the Indonesian leaders in the last few days and we will be going into Aceh on the 6th of January for a needs assessment. We might be able to get in but there is a good chance that we might not be able to get out. They have teams on the ground with Indonesian medical staff and have set up clinics with doctors and nurses in remote areas of Aceh.
There is no housing, no fresh water and significant health concerns are mounting with decomposed bodies by the tens of thousands. Even the Indonesians are challenged in getting out to this remote area as many in Aceh do not speak the central Indonesian language. This is indeed a global catastrophe. Prayer is greatly needed now for the people of Aceh and indeed of this region of the world. Thanks in advance.
We will get to you a response after our assessment trip with how YWAMers can best be mobilized. Just to put this situation in context - Aceh has been in civil unrest with the Indonesian government for the last 14 years and there is a lot of mistrust from each side, even in the midst of this crisis. So that further compounds the crisis response and we will have to maintain good relationships with both sides. We will be meeting with the Indonesian leaders afterward to put together a strategy for the next few weeks, months and years.
For up to date information or inquiries, you can contact Jeff Patterson., the telephone network and INTERNET in Aceh is very, very sporadic so your patience will be needed. The crisis in southern Thailand showed the influx of telephones from all over the world in a few hours. They had a capacity of 15 million calls and that number quadrupled rapidly with only one in 30 or 40 calls being contacted. SO THANKS IN ADVANCE FOR YOUR UNDERSTANDING AND TRUST.
Jeff's email is
Thanks and we will be in touch.
Steve Goode
Alan Lim
YWAM currently has workers in every nation hit by the devastating December tsunami. They're rolling up their sleeves and serving in practical ways, like God called us to do in 1979 when Vietnamese and Cambodian refugees began flooding into Hong Kong and Thailand. Our practical service, meeting people's immediate felt needs, opened the door for sharing Jesus, the answer to their greatest need!
From: "G. Stephen Goode" Subject: Update on southern Thailand
Dear All,
Thanks for your continued prayers for those affected by the Tsunami.
One of our teams shifted from Phangna to Phuket and they were asked to enter in English all of the DNA data on the missing or dead. They are working with the Thai Forensics Department and 11 international forensic groups. This will be put up on a website immediately where hopefully it will be easier for people to be identified. One person was found alive today amongst the rubble of six days. Unfortunately, 1,600 dead bodies were also recovered today. This number will go higher.
Another team in Phangna has identified a Muslim village that has lost most of their 107 homes. Many of them are construction people so if they can buy tools and equipment, they can start rebuilding. Initial estimates are that it will cost around 6 million Baht or approx USD 150,000 to rebuild.
I am also planning on an assessment trip to Aceh, so would appreciate your continued prayers for that hardest hit area.
We drove back from Phuket to Bangkok as well. We were hoping to bring another step of closure in our grieving process by spreading the ashes of our friend Nancy Ross in the Andaman Sea but that did not work out. We will wait for another time. Grief and shock are everywhere but I have been so proud of the response of the Thai people to this tragedy. There is an outpouring of practical help and volunteering. May God continue to show us our part in this response as a Mission.
Thank you,
This is an update from Steve and Marie Goode who are coordinating YWAM's tsunami response in Thailand with 100+ staff, focusing on the hard hit region of Phuket and Phangna. They are working alongside Thai national relief teams who are doing a great job regardless of what you may have heard in the press.
The tsunami alert system was used by some here (and it seemed to work) but many did not heed the Thai warnings on the first day.
Thurs Dec. 30 Report (Friday in Asia)
Today, the 600 foreign patients are down to 3 in the Phangna hospital. All dead bodies are being kept in three wats (temples) and busloads of people are coming to try and identify the bodies. Forensic DNA people are trying to facillitate identification but it is a zoo here. We'll have a report in a few hours as to what happened today in southern Thailand.
Wed. Dec. 29 Report (Thurs. in Asia)
One of the reasons you may not heard from anyone is that the phones here are getting through on only 1 out of 30-40 tries.
It has been an incredible last four days operating from Phuket and Phangna.
Mark and Doreen and the Phangna team and John and Kim Quinley and family from Bangkok who used to be in Phangna have been doing an incredible job.
Doreen, a nurse who has been doing everything from translating from several languages to visiting morgues looking for a 9 month old baby girl and listening to story after story.
Marie and I spent the day in Phangna district one hour north of Phuket in southern Thailand helping Kim, who is the point person at the Phangna hospital, to coordinate one hundred volunteers into multiple teams doing lots of tasks including:
• at two hospitals setting up a variety of stations for people looking for loved ones
• assisting people making long distance telephone calls to loved ones
(a local company is doing this for free)
• translating with Thai hospital with the multiple languages of people affected.
28 Embassies have come to Phuket to set up embassy inquiry stations.
• listening to stories of people caught in the Tsunami and trying to find word of those who may have survived. Answering questions from lots of inquiries. Finding multiple language doctors to assist patients.
• Visiting wards and getting updated records on foreigners that are presently being treated and developing master lists for embassies and hospital staff as most people do not have any identification and some are in serious condition.
• Coordinated teams to go to local Thai temples where several thousand bodies are being kept for identification. Many if not most are not recognizable due to salt water, decomposition and injury but loved ones still are coming and wanting to look and see. The Thai Forensic department is here taking DNA samples of all of the dead so that they can be traced more than just through visual identification. Today many are just now arriving from Scandanavia to search for loved ones and trauma teams and counseling teams are also hopefully arriving to be available for families in crisis.
• John, Mark, Duane from World Concern and I visited several Thai villages that have been wiped out - one village, Ba Kim, about one and half hours north of Phangna - lost more than 1,500 people and the village has just a few buildings standing. Most people there at the time did not make it.
• John, Mark and Duane continued on an hour further north into Muslim areas affected with the same report -- villages devastated and loss of life.
• Delivered relief goods to a local hospital and donation center.
• Coordinated in-country teams to assist in this crisis.
• Communicating and coordinating with YWAM response teams working in India, Sri Lanka and Indonesia in Tsunami-hit areas and with international inquiries about locating YWAM outreach teams in these areas.
Sufficient workers in Thailand
World Concern, Food for the Hungry, Operation Blessing and YWAM are meeting this afternoon (Thrusday in Asia) to take a look at what can be done in the rebuilding of homes in Thai villages, including the Muslim areas which may be overlooked.
YWAM will be coordinating this effort in consultation with these other organizations.
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International Director
YWAM Relief and Development
Regional Director
Ywam South East Asia/Australia
FROM LOREN CUNNINGHAM, FOUNDER, YWAM INTERNATIONAL
January 1, 2005
REPORT FROM THAILAND
January 1, 2005
Steve and Marie
REPORT FROM THAILAND
December 30, 2004
There seems to be sufficient response teams for Thailand for now, as some foreign relief teams are starting to be airlifted to other countries. We still need Thai speakers. Other neighbor countries have been the worst hit and the death count continues to rise. In Thailand, we have people in-country with outreach teams who can be mobilized if needed but the injured expatriates are being cared for by local hospitals and then airlifted as quickly as possible back to home countries.
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