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98.203669 by LEON PHILLIPS, Apr. 29, 1998 at 17:26 Eastern


BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA.  The rubble and debris that was once homes is now
everywhere: hanging in trees, scattered over the ground, piled along the
curb.  Eight hundred homes were heavily damaged; four hundred of them were
totally and completely destroyed.  A woman told us of huddling in a shelter
dug out in the side of a hill. She and five other adults and a small child
crowded in and waited as the tornado did its work. When they left the
shelter, their neighborhood looked as if it had been bombed. Her own house
was a total loss, her parents' home only badly damaged, and it was there we
met her and talked to her. In most of the devastated areas drinking water
is only now becoming available.  Only in the last few days have people been
allowed into the neighborhoods.  A simple wreath stands in front of empty
steps that lead nowhere... front steps to a house where not only has the
home been destroyed, but the rubble itself has blown away.  The wreath
testifies to the lives that were lost here.  It reminds us that this
tornado- the most violent category posible, a "5"- exacted a high price in
human life.

Lutheran Disaster Response is here in Birmingham, with a response managed
by Lutheran Ministries of Alabama.  Here is our response strategy: (1)
Lutherans will concentrate on the neighborhood with the worst damage and
the highest percentage of uninsured - McDonald's Chapel. (2) We will
cordinate volunteers through a coordinator, and will employ an outreach
worker to meet with people and assign volunteers to specific jobs. (3) We
will provide pastoral care, inviting pastors to register for a "boots
ministry", walking around the neighborhood and talking to survivors. (4) We
will participate in a warehouse program used by many denominations , where
supplies can be sent and from which we can draw urgently needed items to
help people.

The Southeastern Synod will strengthen the church's disaster response by
recruiting volunteers and gathereing money from congregations within the
synod.  They will keep congregations in the synod updated on the response,
and we will pass on important parts of that message to you.

A coordinator was named today.  LDR has an office in an Episcopal Church,
and is working in partnership with the Episcopal Church. On Monday, May 4,
a telephone line will be activated and the office will be staffed.
Volunteers are urgently, even desperately needed !

       YOU CAN REACH THE LDR/LSA BIRMINGHAM OFFICE BY CALLING
                      1-205-786-2316
                   TRISH NEAL,  COORDINATOR

Pray for people here who have lost their entire communities in one deadly
hour.

TO VOLUNTEER (through September):   Call Trish Neal, 205-786-2316

TO CONTRIBUTE:        ElCA Domestic Disaster Response
                      PO Box 71764
                      Chicago, IL 60694-1764



LEON PHILLIPS  4:59 pm Wed, Apr 29, 1998
Director, ELCA Domestic Disaster Response( Division for Church in Society),
Lutheran Disaster Response ( a cooperative ministry of ELCA and LCMS)
Phone:  610-776-8390    FAX:  610-776-8392
e-mail:[log in to unmask]   WEBSITE  http://www.elca.org/dcs/disaster