Statement from Church World Service

NEW YORK – International humanitarian agency Church World Service (CWS) announced this morning a $5 million public fundraising campaign for victims of the Southern Asia tsunami disaster. Of the agency’s initial $1 million aid shipment airlifted last week, a first shipment of shelter kits arrived for distribution in Sri Lanka on Sunday.

"In the first two or three days following the disaster, we quickly surpassed a startup million dollar goal for contributions from our supporting denominations," says CWS Executive Director Rev. John L. McCullough, "and that was without benefit of our national direct mail campaign, which is in the mail this week."

But much more is needed, says McCullough, to support Church World Service’s tsunami recovery efforts -- in a region where the agency has longstanding presence providing self-help development, refugee assistance, and emergency relief.

"Additional airlifts are planned to provide much needed commodities for immediate needs and long-term recovery," McCullough said. CWS is establishing a regional emergency staging area to support its Southern Asia recovery efforts.

The New York-headquartered agency provided emergency rapid response grants to its partners in India and to the CWS office in Indonesia immediately after the disaster struck.

Church World Service Emergency Response Program Director Rick Augsburger, scheduled to be in the devastated region this week, says CWS was positioned to respond quickly to the disaster.

"The agency has longstanding presence in Southern Asia, with offices in Pakistan, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, and Indonesia," Augsburger said. "With over 100 staff in our Indonesia office we responded immediately."

CWS Pakistan’s Emergency Response Team is now in Sri Lanka assisting its longstanding partner the National Christian Council of Sri Lanka (NCCSL) in distribution of shelter and other material assistance and to assess further emergency needs.

In Indonesia, hardest hit and with an estimated death toll to date of 94,000, a Church World Service team is now in the Sumatran province of Aceh completing its initial assessment and administering CWS relief.

For initial response to coastal Thailand’s affected area, CWS has offered to provide Emergency Medical Boxes for a shipment that the Thai Embassy in Washington, D.C., is facilitating from the United States. Augsburger said CWS has been active in Thailand for many years as a founding member of the Thai-Burmese Border Consortium in Bangkok.

CWS Associate Director for International Emergency Response Donna Derr, CWS Emergency Response Staff Specialist Jane Strachen, and CWS Tsunami Relief Coordinator Menno Wiebe will join Augsburger and regional CWS response staff to begin further assessment needs in the region and detail additional immediate and long-term response and recovery actions.

To assist Church World Service in meeting urgent needs throughout Southern Asia, Pakistan International Airlines and Singapore Airlines have agreed to provide gratis air lifts of material aid to Sri Lanka and Indonesia.

The CWS response: long-term, many-faceted

Maurice Bloem, CWS Indonesia Country Director, whose program has focused on trauma recovery in the politically challenged region, says, "Children experienced an emotionally painful event in which they have lost a parent or both parents and were separated from siblings and significant others. They are in shock from the sudden fleeing from their homes and distressed by the overcrowding of camps (for the displaced).

"We hope to provide much-needed psychosocial activities for 2,000 children who have been displaced by the disaster. The program would focus on activities for children ages 6-12 in internally displaced camps in Aceh. This will be just one part of our ongoing relief and recovery program.

"Early intervention is critical to help children who have suffered trauma due to disaster," he noted. The proposed program will provide children with a gradual routine after the catastrophic events of the last week.

Agency sees three-year emergency response and long-term recovery effort

CWS is committed to long-term recovery in South Asia, McCullough says. “We see the emergency response phase itself lasting a significant period of time until basic needs are stabilized. It is already clear that long-term recovery for those in affected areas will take many years.

"For now, in addition to getting food, medical supplies, shelter, and aid delivered to people," he says, "we are beginning to plan long-term rehabilitation efforts. We join with those millions in mourning their tragic losses. There is no way to lessen that pain."

McCullough says one of Church World Service’s strengths "lies in its ability to rally support from grassroots Americans and through the interfaith community."

CWS is supported in part by 36 U.S. denominations. "We communicated with the leaders of our supporting communions immediately after the earthquakes and tsunami," McCullough said, urging them to join with us in an unprecedented and united ecumenical effort."

"The denominations have come forth with record support already," reports CWS’s McCullough, who cited initial pledges from the United Church of Christ; Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)--Week of Compassion; United Methodist Committee on Relief; International Orthodox Christian Charities; Reformed Church of America; Presbyterian Disaster Assistance; Episcopal Relief and Development; Evangelical Lutheran Church in America; and the Church of the Brethren.

"Faith-based response in the U.S. is proving a major supporter for victims of this tragedy– now and for the long-term," says McCullough. "Church World Service will also be pursuing possibilities with member communions for other joint fundraising opportunities and responses."

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Contributions to support CWS Tsunami Recovery efforts may be sent to:

Church World Service
Tsunami Recovery
P.O. Box 968
Elkhart, IN 46515

Credit card contributions may be made by calling 800-297-1516, or online at www.churchworldservice.org.