Sri Lankan Bishops urge prayers and action for survivors
Colombo (AsiaNews) In a statement released today by Mgr Joseph Vianney Fernando, Bishop of Kandy and chairman of the Bishops' Conference of Sri Lanka, the country's Bishops urge Catholics to "set up refugee centres throughout the island for tsunami survivors" and organise prayer vigils calling on "the Lord to give our people the courage and determination to survive this calamity".
In the statement, which was also signed by Mgr Marius Peiris, Auxiliary Bishop of Colombo Secretary General of the Bishops' Conference, the Bishops renew their faith in God, good and generous, in light of the catastrophe that has called 30,000 in Sri Lanka alone and more than 150,000 throughout Asia.
"We are consoled," the statement reads' "by the Holy Scriptures (Psalms 145-146) that we are not abandoned to ourselves and that the vicissitudes of our day are not dominated by chaos or fate."
For this reason, the Bishops call on the people of Sri Lanka "to take courage and face the situation bravely."
They urge all of their fellow citizens, Catholics in particular "to go to the help of those affected irrespective of differences in ethnicity or religion. We are all brothers and sisters and in this tragedy we should display our brotherly love for each other."
Sri Lanka is a true religious mosaic. Buddhists represent 69 per cent of its 19 million inhabitants; Hindus are about 15 per cent; Muslims are 8 per cent; Christians, 7.5 per cent; Catholics, about 1.3 million.
In their press release, Bishops Fernando and Peiris appeal to the international community to "come to the aid of the government and the country to relieve the misery of the victims as the magnitude of the calamity is too heavy for our country to bear alone".
According to the government's first estimates, reconstruction costs are around US$ 1 billion.
The number of displaced people currently stands at 650,000 divided amongst 700 refugee camps.
According to Health Ministry data about medicines and equipment needed to face the emergency, the country needs 45,000 bandages, 200,000 pieces of dressing gauze, 1,000,000 catheters, 10,000,000 boxes of painkillers, 500,000 dehydration bags and 2,000,000 syringes. (LF)
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28/12/2004
