Pakistani Church close to Sri Lankan victims
Islamabad (AsiaNews) The year 2004 will sadly be remembered for the worst earthquake in more than 100 years. And not only is the death toll still rising (over 150,000 so far), things might even get worse if diseases spread as a result of contaminated water.
The immediate needs are medicines, clean water, food and shelter for the homeless.
The Pakistani Church immediately went into action to bring aid and relief to the tsunami-devastated areas.
The country's Catholics and Protestants joined hands to help tsunami victims in Sri Lankathe Catholic Church and the (Protestant) National Council of Churches in Pakistan (NCCP) are working in a joint effort.
After a trip to Sri Lanka to find out what was most needed, Dr Simon Azraiah found that medical aid was on the top of the list. Accordingly, a four-member medical mission is being set up to go to the island nation.
The NCCP has also pledged 500,000 rupees for the undertaking.
Mgr Joseph Coutts, Bishop of Faisalabad and national director of Caritas Pakistan, announced that each Caritas employee will donate a day's salary to the same humanitarian mission.
Bishop Coutts told AsiaNews that some parishes and religious groups have already moved ahead and sent their donations to Caritas. Some schools have promised to help.
Lawrence John Saldanha, Archbishop of Lahore and president of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Pakistan, has also appealed to all the dioceses to raise funds.
All the money collected will be channelled through Caritas Sri Lanka (CEDEC) in Colombo.
In the meantime, the authorities and large international relief organisations have been moving on several fronts.
In Pakistan, the government took emergency measures in the days following the tsunami and sent aid to the stricken areas.
The Edhi foundation (Pakistan's leading welfare NGO) and private TV stations are raising funds to help the victims cope with their immediate and long-term reconstruction needs.
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08/01/2005
14/01/2005
