Update from the Team now in Port Blair, the Andaman & Nicobar Islands, INDIA

 by  Mike & Lora Bordon

2 January 05
 
I talked with Joseph and Jonah, YWAM team members now in Port Blair. Their DTS outreach team of nine is busy doing relief work. This is a team who went to the Andamans on a DTS outreach and found themselves in the middle of a disaster! The team is staying on the main island of the Andaman and Nicobar chain. They are currently living with a local pastor.
 
They are reaching out to tsunami victims at a temporary relief camp at Nirmala Higher Secondary School. They are mainly involved in grief counselling, seeking to comfort the people and help them in whatever way they can. We urgently need to get resources to them. The immediate need is for sarees, bed sheets, and “chappals” (another name for flip-flops or rubber slip-on sandals).
 
The town of Port Blair was not totally devastated. There was significant damage in the coastal areas, the main dock structure was completely destroyed and had to be rebuilt before even a navy ship could arrive with supplies. Joseph, the team leader told me that for the first three days after the tidal waves, many people were wailing and crying in the streets. There was much fear and panic. That has begun to subside.
 
There has been little news about the southerly Nicobar islands. Some of those islands may have been completely covered by water, as they were close to the epicenter. Joseph said that one of the first ships from an outer island brought in about 40 high school aged youth yesterday, so we see tsunami victims coming into Port Blair where more facilities and relief supplies are available. We will probably see more of this. A pastor has asked our team to begin ministering to these forty young people. We need immediate resources to do this.
 
By Wednesday we are flying three additional aid workers into the Andamans.  Elena, the DTS leader of this team will join them. She is trained in relief and development. Along with her, Ravi and Sanjay, from the YWAM North India Disaster Relief team will bring water purification units. These are electric filter devices that can purify 80,000 liters of water, enough for an entire village, in a short time period. We are told these work fast! We presently have one of these units travelling on a truck from village to village in Tamil Nadu, providing much needed water. We would like to use these in outer villages and island areas of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. To do this, we will need portable generators. These will be purchased in Port Blair.

We are presently organizing another team to go to the Andamans and possibly other islands for assessment as to what needs to be done. I will travel with our Regional Director and one or two others. After that visit we will know more clearly our next steps.
 
We urgently need at least $2000 for air tickets, $2,000 for generators, $10,000 to 20,000 for immediate relief use, expenses of workers on the ground, purchase of clothing, food, medicines, etc. The sooner we get this, the sooner we can get it to the people in need in the Andamans.
 
We appreciate you standing with us on this.
 
For Prayer:
-         Pray for the people of Andaman and Nicobar who are hurting and in shock
-         Pray for the three relief workers that leave on Wednesday.
-         Pray for the DTS team in the islands, for guidance and open doors to minister.
-         Pray for finances.
-         Pray for our survey team who will fly in soon.
-         Pray for favor with the Government and a “man of peace.” This is a huge need!
-         Pray for access to Nicobar Islands
 
Thanks,
Mike & Lora Bordon
 
Bordons Prayer Requests at www.geocities.com/mlb7in
Photos of Tidal wave Damage in Chennai at: http://www.angelfire.com/hi5/asiatsunami2004/index.html
 

 
Details for sending Funds:
 
FUNDS TRANSFER: Below are instructions for those in the U.S., Europe, Australia, and Great Britain. If you are in another country and want to wire money please email us at Mike_Lora@myrealbox.com and to Sudhakar@pqsa.net or tks61@yahoo.com and we will send you the wiring instructions for your country.

For those in any country including those listed below if you want to send a cheque by mail you can make the check out to Youth With A Mission and send it to:

Youth With A Mission 121 Vasantha street, Golden George Nagar,
Nerkundram, Chennai Tamil Nadu 600107 India.

Please include a note in the envelope that the money is for the Tidal Relief Project in the Andaman Islands.

For US Dollars from the United States: If you would like a tax-deductible receipt, please make your checks out to Youth With A Mission and include a note in the envelope that the check is for the Tidal Relief Project in the Andaman Islands of India.  Send it to YWAM P.O. Box 61700 Honolulu, Hawaii, 96839.

By Wire from the US: TO TRANSFER FUNDS IN USD TO YOUR ACCOUNT AT CHENNAI: PLEASE INSTRUCT YOUR BANKERS TO TRANSFER BY SWIFT TO ABN AMRO BANK, CHENNAI SWIFT CODE  ABNAINBBMAS UNDER ADVICE TO CREDIT A/C NO.772533 IN THE NAME OF Youth With A Mission WITH ABN AMRO BANK, CHENNAI. AND TRANSFER THE COVER TO OUR ACCOUNT NO. 661001151741   WITH ABN AMRO BANK, NEWYORK. -  Please inform us when you transfer funds so we can track it.

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