Tuesday, October 25, 2005

CANADA / SOUTH ASIA (ANS) -- Following the October 8 earthquake measuring 7.6 on the Richter scale which hit South Asia, claiming 35,000 lives and depriving two million people of their homes, Canadian Christians are coming to the aid of victims and their families.

In an online article posted to www.Christianity.ca, Meghan Wood writes the Salvation Army is located directly in Islamabad and greater Pakistan where it provides services including social and health care, schools and homes for children. The Salvation Army in Canada is supporting the relief effort currently under way on the ground.

"The Salvation Army is not collecting goods-in-kind, it is asking for financial assistance," British Columbia's Captain John P. Murray told CC.com. "We've been working there for more than 120 years, so we have relationships and infrastructure."

In addition to equipment held in store for emergencies like this, Wood writes that food, clothing and tents were purchased in Lahore, where supplies were more readily available, and plans were made to drive them to Abbotabad. The Salvation Army officers will accompany the trucks and supervise the distribution within a 50-kilometer radius of the town.

The challenge, Murray said, is the remoteness of the areas and the difficulty of transport. But the money is being delivered more efficiently, effectively and quickly through online donations.

"It is easy for the donor," he said. "They get a tax receipt immediately. The money is used right away. It is transferred electronically to head office, and straight to Pakistan."

Graham Moore, a public relations officer for the Salvation Army, told the National Post that online giving saves charities from costly and time consuming administrative work.

"It's easier for us because we don't have the expense of issuing a manual tax receipt in the mail," he said.

Wood says the Salvation Army's international headquarters in London, England, has sent US$60,000 to Pakistan for relief work. The Canadian branch has committed to sending 100 percent of all public donations to affected areas and will absorb all administrative costs.

Murray said the Salvation Army's response is not only practical, but multi-leveled, including pastoral care and counseling.

"If I were a few years younger, I would want to be there now," said Manitoba Commissioner John Nelson, 73, who worked in Pakistan as the regional leader for five years.

Nelson worked in Pakistan as the regional leader from 1986 to 1991. For the following six and a half years he was responsible for all of South Asia. He said Christians are well received in the area, even though they make up only three percent of the population, which totals more than 140 million.

"If I were a few years younger, I would want to be there now," Nelson, 73, told CC.com from Winnipeg.

"It is more important for people who have youth on their side to be there. Being in Pakistan is roughing it and it is even worse now. The Pakistani Army is well administered, but they have admitted that it is beyond their capacity to address this alone. I don't think any of us have understood the magnitude of it."

Wood reports the Korean office for Canadian Food for the Hungry International, which has its headquarters in Abbotsford, BC, is assessing immediate needs in the affected areas. It has also sent a team of medical, structural and logistical personnel with medical supplies and water purification materials to do what it can.

CFHI's Jodi Martens told CC.com the online donations are most convenient for its donors, as well.

"It has been very useful," she said, "especially the younger demographic and people who see these [disasters] for the first time and want to get involved."

The Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace -- also known as Caritas Canada -- sent $100,000 to aid earthquake victims.

The Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) does not have staff in Pakistan or Afghanistan but plans to respond to needs through local and international partners. In Pakistan, MCC works with Church World Service (CWS), which has an office in Islamabad.

CWS has provided 950 families in the most remote areas affected by the earthquake with emergency food packages containing wheat flour, rice, pulses, cooking oil, sugar, tea leaves, salt and match boxes. This was made possible through US$50,000 in Rapid Response Funds from Action by Churches Together (ACT).

Wood says that in response to an appeal by ACT for funds to assist 10,000 families with emergency relief of food and non-food items, in addition to shelter construction materials, the Anglican Primate's World Relief and Development Fund has contributed $25,000 so far to the coordinated global appeal.

"Once again disaster is affecting thousands of people at a time when we as Canadians are celebrating the blessings of abundance with family and friends," said Laura Loewen, executive director for MCC in BC, in a statement. "MCC is so grateful to be able to respond to the needs of the people in Northern India through trusted partners."

The Christian Reformed World Relief Committee (CRWRC), an agency in Burlington, Ontario that has been benchmarked by the United Nations for its integrated approach to disaster relief, is seeking US$250,000 in aid for victims.

CRWRC is developing strategies to provide food and other essentials to survivors with contacts made in response to the January 26, 2001 earthquake in Gujarat, Pakistan. CRWRC has experience rebuilding homes for disaster survivors, having most recently completed six homes and built 500 more for tsunami survivors on Sumatra Island in Indonesia.