ELCA NEWS SERVICE

December 28, 2004

ELCA Member Killed By Tsunami In South Asia
04-236-MRC

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Tamara Mendis, 55, a member of the
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), died when a
tsunami struck southern Asia Dec. 26.  Mendis and her daughter,
Eranthie Mendis, 25, had been traveling by train along the Indian
Ocean coast between the cities of Maratuwa and Hikkaduaw, Sri
Lanka, when the tsunami struck.
     Mendis is survived by her husband, the Rev. Eardley Mendis,
pastor of the Purna Jiwan Mission, a South Asian congregation of
the ELCA in Chicago's Norwood Park.
     According to a Dec. 28 e-mail to staff of the ELCA
churchwide office here, family members in Sri Lanka told Eardley
Mendis that a half-hour before his wife and daughter were to
reach their destination "a 30-foot wave came from nowhere and
crashed into the train, toppling it.  Passengers were submerged
for several minutes before the water subsided."  Eranthie Mendis
"tried pulling her mother to safety, but people screamed at her
to go because another wave was coming.  She walked about 10 miles
to a family home in shock, her father said."
     The tsunami was triggered by the "strongest earth earthquake
in the world" in the past 40 years, said the Rev. Y. Franklin
Ishida, director for leadership development and mission personnel
recruitment, ELCA Division for Global Mission.
     The earthquake "struck under the sea in north Sumatra,
Indonesia, generating sea surges that sped across the ocean and
striking land as far as Somalia and Kenya on the east coast of
Africa," he said.
     The tsunami has killed more than 23,000 people, said Ishida.
"Casualty figures [continue to] rise by the hour as thousands of
people are still missing in the coastal regions of Indonesia,
Malaysia, Thailand, Myanmar, Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka,"
Ishida said.  "Millions of people have been rendered homeless by
the devastating tsunami."
     At least 4,500 people have died in Indonesia, most of them
in Aceh, a province of Indonesia.  Lutheran churches in Indonesia
-- Huria Kristen Batak Protestan and Simalungun Protestant
Christian Church -- are major churches in areas south of Aceh, in
and around the city of Medan, said Ishida.
     "In Sri Lanka alone more than five percent of the population
has been affected," and "more than 10,800 people were killed," he
said.
     In India, "officials estimate that more than 6,200 people
were killed, many of them from fishing villages in and around
Chennai, along the southeast coast," Ishida said.  Casualty
figures continue to rise in Thailand, "whose tourist resorts,
including Phuket, were packed with holidaymakers.  Severe
flooding hit the low-lying Maldives Islands in the Indian Ocean,
more than 1,500 miles from the quake's epicenter."
     "Thousands more may have been killed on the Andaman and
Nicobar Islands, where reports say entire communities were swept
into the sea," Ishida said.
     "Tsunamis are rare in the region, and there was little
warning of the impending disaster.  Both the earthquake and
tsunami hit in the early morning hours.  Electricity and
communication networks have been severely affected, making it
difficult to confirm the extent of damage and casualties," he
said.

Disaster Response Now Underway
     "Most of the affected countries and areas have church
connections to the ELCA," said Ishida.  They include the Huria
Kristen Batak Protestan, and Simalungun Protestant Christian
Church, in Indonesia; the Lutheran Church in Malaysia and
Singapore; the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Myanmar, and the
Myanmar Council of Churches; the Church of Christ in Thailand,
and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Thailand; the Bangladesh
Lutheran Church, and Lutheran Health Care Bangladesh; the Andhra
Evangelical Lutheran Church, and the South Andhra Lutheran Church
in India; and the Lanka Lutheran Church, Sri Lanka.
     "There are no known damage or casualty reports from these
churches yet," said Ishida.  "But church-related organizations
and agencies are often called upon to respond to disasters."
     "In addition to government and relief organizations around
the world, church- related relief operations have begun," said
Ishida.  The National Christian Council of Sri Lanka (NCCSL), a
member of Action by Churches Together (ACT), has already started
responding to the emergency brought on by the massive sea surge,
he said.
     ACT is a worldwide network of churches and related agencies
that meets human need through organized emergency response.  It
is based with the World Council of Churches (WCC) and Lutheran
World Federation (LWF), both in Geneva, Switzerland.  The ELCA is
a member of WCC and LWF.
     The immediate needs for survivors include clean water,
medicine, shelter and food.  There are great fears for water-
borne diseases, such as malaria and diarrhea, Ishida said.
     NCCSL has dispatched two truckloads of essential food items
and water for Muttur in Trincomalee and Thirukovil in Batticaloa,
two of the worst hit areas in Sri Lanka, said Ishida.
     Members of ACT International in India -- Church's Auxiliary
for Social Action and Lutheran World Service India -- have been
in touch with the ACT coordinating office in Geneva.  They will
be working together with ACT member United Evangelical Lutheran
Church in India to assess people's needs in the states of Andhra
Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, said Ishida.
     "In Indonesia, the province of Aceh on Sumatra's northern-
most tip near the epicenter of the under-sea quake is reported to
have been hit the worst.  Members of ACT in Indonesia -- Yayasan
Tanggul Benkana, Yakkum Emergency Unit/CD Bethesda and Church
World Service -- will be coordinating their response to the
emergency," he said.
     "Reports are that the island of Nias, one of the areas where
Yayasan Tanggul Benkana works, has been hit very hard.  The
island, which is generally underdeveloped, has a population of
nearly 70,000 people," Ishida said.  "No reports have been
received so far from Aceh.  Complicating factors could be that
Aceh has become increasingly isolated from the world due to a
clampdown by the Indonesian government in an effort to control
fighting between government soldiers and separatist rebels."
     "Powerful aftershocks continue" and fear of further damage
and tsunamis remain, Ishida said.
     Lutheran World Relief (LWR) is providing clean water, food,
shelter, sanitation and shelter.  LWR works overseas in relief
and development on behalf of the ELCA and the Lutheran
Church-Missouri Synod.
     According to an LWR news release, "teams trained in disaster
response are in the southern coastal areas of India, providing up
to 50,000 people with clean water and food.  Immediate aid will
include blankets, clothing, cooking equipment, candles, matches
and emergency shelter tarps."  LWR is also coordinating its
relief efforts with locally-based partners in India, Indonesia,
and Sri Lanka, and with funds to ACT.
     According to the Rev. Joseph K. Chu, program director for
Asia and the Pacific, ELCA Division for Global Mission, areas
affected most by the tsunami "are areas that do not have a lot of
modern amenities or facilities, so information travels much more
slowly."  In the days to come "we'll receive more personal
stories about the devastation," Chu said.
     Contributions to ELCA International Disaster Response will
be directed 100 percent to relief efforts in South Asia,
coordinated through ACT.  Coordinated by the ELCA Division for
Global Mission, International Disaster Response often channels
its funds through international church organizations and relief
agencies.
_ _ _
INTERNATIONAL DISASTERS:
Editors: When listing organizations receiving funds for aid to
survivors of major disasters outside the United States, Puerto
Rico or the U.S. Virgin Islands, please include:
ELCA International Disaster Response, PO Box 71764 Chicago, IL
60694-1764, 1-800-638-3522, or at
http://www.elca.org/scriptlib/dcm/giving/idisaster.asp on the
Internet.

For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or [log in to unmask]
http://www.elca.org/news