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Sri Lanka Churches Worried about Looting in Tsunami-hit Areas

by Anto Akkara

Posted: January 5, 2005

The National Christian Council of Sri Lanka is one of The United Methodist Committee on Relief's ecumenical partners in its response to the Asian earthquake and tsunamis disaster.

Thrissur, India, 4 January (ENI)--The National Christian Council of Sri Lanka on Tuesday decried looting in areas devastated by the tsunami that have led to the death of some 150,000 people in the Indian Ocean rim, a toll still climbing.

The grouping of eight major Protestant churches in the island nation expressed "deepest sympathies" to families hit by the 26 December tidal wave surges but it denounced attempts "to loot and plunder" possessions of those caught in one of the world's worst natural disasters.

Referring to the looters, the Sri Lanka church council said: "We appeal to them to kindly desist from such dastardly conduct and join with the several who are helping those in need," as it urged more church volunteers and others to join in the relief work.

The criticism came after reports that thugs were looting homes of some tsunami victims and rapists were preying on homeless survivors.

"We have received reports of incidents of rape, gang rape, molestation and physical abuse of women and girls in the course of unsupervised rescue operations," the Women and Media Collective group in Sri Lanka was quoted saying by the Reuters news agency.

One of the biggest aid efforts ever that has mobilized governments, international aid organizations, churches, armies and ordinary citizens, is expected to last a long time following the magnitude undersea quake, the strongest in 40 years, that triggered the killer waves.

In Sri Lanka some 30,000 people were killed by the tsunami and nearly a million have been made homeless. In neighboring India more than 15,000 people were killed, but the worst hit was Indonesia where more than 94,000 people have lost their lives

Anglican Bishop Kumara Illangasinghe, the chairperson of the Sri Lanka Christian council told Ecumenical News International from Colombo after touring affected areas that the relief and the rehabilitation of the affected people will be a "gigantic task" for churches and others.

R.C. Ratnakumar, who is coordinating the movement of the Christian council's relief supplies to victims, said 50 truckloads of food, medicine and shelter material had been dispatched across the island. In addition the council was purchasing relief material and was receiving planeloads of medicines and other materials from church charities abroad.

"During the last two days, we have been reducing the supplies as there are reports that some areas are flooded with material while others have not received enough," Ratnakumar said. "We will be dispatching further relief material after assessing local needs."

Please give to Advance #274305 and designate "South Asia Emergency" on the memo line of your check. Give through your local United Methodist church or mail contributions to: UMCOR, 475 Riverside Dr., Room 330, New York, NY 10115. Call 1-800-554-8583 to make a credit card donation. One hundred percent of every donation to this appeal goes to support recovery efforts in the disaster-stricken regions. UMCOR also needs donations of health kits, school kits, and Medicine Boxes for this response.

Source: Ecumenical News International