UMCOR Joins Relief Efforts for Indonesia New Quake

Residents walk along a road after a massive earthquake hit Nias island off the Indonesian coast of Sumatra. Rescuers combed the rubble of collapsed buildings for survivors on Indonesia's quake-devastated Nias island on Wednesday, March 30, 2005, as reports emerged of hundreds of additional deaths on a nearby island group. Credit: REUTERS/Crack Palinggi, courtesy www.alertnet.org

UMCOR, New York, NY, March 29 & April 1, 2005: The United Methodist Committee on Relief has joined an ecumenical coalition shipping emergency aid to the Indonesian island of Nias, which was hard hit by a March 28 earthquake that razed much of Nias Island. The Indonesian island, and its neighbor, Simeulue, suffered severe damage on Dec. 26, 2004, when a much larger quake triggered a devastating tsunami in the region.

On March 31, UMCOR, in partnership with Church World Service, sent 35 boxes of medicine, 14 boxes of gloves, 500 tents and 1,000 packages of emergency supplies on a United Nations helicopter, together with a water purification unit and other supplies. Both organizations are members of Action by Churches Together, the international ecumenical alliance.

ACT officials report that up to 85 percent of buildings on Nias were damaged in the 8.7-magnitude quake. The army, police and survivors are still trying to evacuate people from under the ruins of buildings and houses. Complicating their work are impassable roads, the lack of heavy lifting equipment and the small aftershocks that occur every few hours. About 600 people are confirmed dead, but that number is expected to rise.

"The new tragedy intensifies the need for relief efforts and prolongs the process of social and economic restoration," said the Rev. R. Randy Day, head of the General Board of Global Ministries, the mission organization of The United Methodist Church. Church partners, missionaries, and UMCOR workers in the affected areas are safe, he said. "But some of the same areas damaged only three months ago now have enlarged needs for assistance," Rev. Day noted.

UMCOR is launching long-term rehabilitation and rebuilding projects in the area. Rev. Day urged United Methodists to continue their "steady flow of support from across our global church to ensure the effectiveness of UMCOR aid. "Let me encourage United Methodists who did not give to tsunami relief earlier to do so now, and to appeal to those who can give again," Rev. Day said.

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