Baptist Global Response

MANILA, Philippines – Thirty Southern Baptist disaster relief specialists have completed a week’s labor in the Philippines capital, helping local partners and community residents dig out from a flood that inundated vast sections of the city.

Faced with monumental disaster, residents of Manila hardly knew where to begin trying to put their lives back together. (Photo/Gloria Fern)

“The past few weeks have been filled with disaster, starting with 16 inches of rain in one day that left metro Manila 80 percent flooded,” said Gloria Fern, a Southern Baptist field partner in the Philippines. “Then a typhoon made landfall three times up north, flooding out the top part of Luzon and destroying the entire rice crop. Landslides cut off the major roads, the major dams are all full and gates had to be opened, causing more flooding. The Luguna de Bay lake left surrounded towns in knee-deep flooding that will take five months to subside. And there are two more storms on the horizon.”

The Philippines government has estimated about 6 million people were affected by typhoons Ketsana and Parma. More than 287,000 people remain in evacuation centers.

The Southern Baptist volunteers – 29 men and one woman from Texas, Oklahoma and Kentucky – have been helping local residents shovel out their homes, enduring difficult work conditions and the stench of rotting debris, Fern said. Some of the work has been done in pastors’ homes and church buildings, while the rest has focused on the community in general. A public school was on the agenda for Oct. 12.

“We took them to Malanday, Marikina, which was flooded up to the second story in many areas,” Fern said. “I was so impressed with their expertise, commitment and just good old ‘git busy and git ‘er done’ attitude! And yet taking time to talk to people and even pass out lollipops to the kids.

“The smell was putrid, rotting two-weeks-old sewer and garbage – yet everyone there smiled and chatted with us like it was just another normal day,” Fern added. “We are so proud to see these brave, rugged Baptist men who are trained to go to some of the worst diasters ever and clean up!”

Southern Baptist disaster relief specialists get to work in Manila, helping residents dig out after flooding that inundated 80 percent of the city. (Photo/Gloria Fern)

One volunteer, Ray Fultz of Crestwood Baptist Church in Frankfort, Ky., was injured when a nail pierced the middle finger of his right hand while he was helping clean out a church building, according to Kathy North, another Southern Baptist field partner in the Philippines. While Fultz was up to date on his tetanus shots, the finger became infected over the weekend and a doctor was tending to the wound.

Flooding often is followed by severe medical concerns and that is the case in Manila, noted Jim Brown, U.S. director for Baptist Global Response.

“News reports indicate the water is still waist-deep, even chest-deep in places,” Brown said. “It has been standing for three weeks now. The longer water stagnates, the greater the risk of diseases like malaria, dengue fever, diarrhea – even typhoid.”

Fern echoed that concern: “The cities of Marikina, Cainta, Pasig are in dire need of medical teams, but even before that they need front loaders and more dump trucks to even make a dent in the mounds and mounds of garbage heaped less than a foot from their doors.”

Residents of the community where the volunteers are working have been deeply moved by the fact that Southern Baptists care enough to come help people in need, even in the most difficult of circumstances, Fern said.

“Thank you for caring about our fellow Christians in this community and the lost people around them,” she said.

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To help with the cost of the Philippines relief effort, contributions may be made to the Southern Baptist World Hunger Fund or BGR’s Disaster Response Fund by clicking here.

More photos from Manila may be found on Gloria Fern’s Facebook site.

A vast multitude of poor villagers in southern India are trekking back to washed-out homes and ruined farmlands after the worst rains in 100 years set off devastating floods in early October.

Southern Baptist field partners are assessing needs and preparing an emergency response for some of the estimated 1.5 million people who are leaving relief camps to see what, if anything is left of their homes, said Francis Horton, who with his wife, Angie, directs work in Central and South Asia for Baptist Global Response.

“Local partners tell me conditions are very bad and it appears the principal needs right now are emergency food and water,” Horton said. “Please pray for the affected people in this area to get the relief they need. The state of Karnataka has been a focal point for persecution of Christians this past year.”

About 300 people are confirmed dead and thousands more are missing in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka states, according to news reports. The floods came just as many farmers had planted winter crops – much of which now has been washed away or damaged. To compound the problem, family food stores were destroyed with their homes, leaving many people with nothing to eat.

The area had been suffering from months of drought before the week of torrential downpours that caused the flooding.

“We’re able to respond quickly in emergencies like this because Southern Baptists have given so generously to their World Hunger Fund and disaster response. They are truly people who care about people in need,” said Jim Brown, BGR’s U.S. director. “With so many disasters in recent weeks, we hope they will make an extra effort to reach out to the millions of people in India, Indonesia, and the Philippines who need to experience the compassion of Jesus Christ in their time of need.”

Updates on the relief effort will be available at gobgr.org, along with information on how to give to Southern Baptist disaster response and the World Hunger Fund.

Traumatized residents of the Philippines and Indonesia face more difficulty as another strong earthquake rocked Sumatra and a new – even stronger – typhoon is bearing down on the Philippines.

Read more at http://www.baptistglobalresponse.com/new/details.php?id=87

Southern Baptists are gearing up a major disaster response in the wake of a typhoon that flooded the homes of 2.3 million people in the Philippines.

Read about it here.

By Kate Taylor

Communities in the Pacific Rim devastated by flooding have been helped through relief efforts made possible only by the generosity of Southern Baptists. A total of 475 households received food staples, as well as roofing shingles, purchased with $5,000 provided from Southern Baptist world hunger and general relief funds.

Early this year, three days of extremely heavy rain and high winds caused flooding up to six feet deep in the areas. A number of rural villages were left isolated as flood waters rose, blocking roads and taking out bridges and electricity. By the fourth day, the water had risen so high that homes were submerged and people had to flee. At least 11 people died and three others were missing and presumed dead.

Field partners of Baptist Global Response moved quickly to provide disaster relief directly to families living in the villages. By distributing packets of rice, sugar, noodles, oil, and tea, around 2,000 people in two villages experienced renewed hope. Field partners also were able to distribute shingles and help repair several buildings. They continue to monitor the situation and look for additional ways to help.

Believers are asked to pray for the more than 4,000 villagers affected by this tragedy and for the workers who are assisting them. Pray that the help these families have received will inspire them to raise their families with confidence, build their communities with dignity, and share this life with others.