Within three days, Episcopal Relief and Development announced that it had sent $250,000 in emergency relief to the stricken countries to buy tents, food, drinking water medicine, and other critical supplies.

In the first two and a half weeks after the Dec. 26 tsunami, ERD received $2.1 million for its South Asia Relief Fund. In the days immediately following the disaster, ERD used seven phone lines to accept calls from donors, while thousands more gave using its website. Donations continue to come in daily.

Livelihoods destroyed

“The totality of this disaster is so enormous. Millions of lives have been ruined,” said Mark Spina, ERD program director. “This tragedy hit people where they live and where they work. It is particularly difficult for societies that depend on the sea for their livelihood.”

Centered off the coast of Indonesia, the underwater quake caused tidal waves that swept coastal towns and villages in Indonesia, Thailand, Sri Lanka, India and as far away as the African coast, destroying buildings and boats and sweeping people and farm animals out to sea.

The church’s Episcopal Asian American Ministries has designated the first Sunday in Lent, Feb. 13, as EAM-Tsunami Rehabilitation Sunday. “We appeal to congregations to have a special collection or a second offering and designate the collection towards the work of tsunami rehabilitation,” said the Rev. Winfred B. Vergara, missioner for Episcopal Asian Americans. “We ask for prayers and intercessions for victims of the tsunami and for the efforts of those who minister to the affected communities.”

The groundswell of financial support from parishes has been generous. One parish, All Saints’ in Pasadena, Calif., announced a $167,000 donation in the first weeks and later doubled that amount.

An Episcopal parish in Memphis, Tenn., was at the center of an interfaith effort that raised more than $95,000. Hundreds of volunteers from the Church of the Holy Communion led St. Mary’s Episcopal School, Temple Israel and Idlewild Presbyterian Church on a 12-hour drive, Jan. 5, collecting donations on street corners and serving coffee and snacks to contributors.

“This is people at their best,” said the Rev. Gary Jones, Holy Communion’s rector. “People want to give.”

Two neighboring Hawaii parishes -- Christ Memorial Church in Kilauea on the island of Kauai and St. Thomas’ Church in Hanalei on Kauai -- share the same priest and often join forces in outreach projects. In one week, the churches raised $18,350 to provide clothing and pay local tailors in Bangkok.

In the Diocese of Minnesota, Bishop James Jelinek urged more than 100 congregations to receive special offerings to aid the tsunami victims throughout the month of January. Jelinek pledged $15,000 from his discretionary fund as matching funds.

Others, such as registered nurse Sandy Stone of St. Bartholomew Episcopal Church in Beaverton, Ore, are giving time. In early January, she left with a team of other medical professionals to assist with relief efforts. They traveled to Indonesia to villages close to the epicenter of the earthquake that caused the tsunami. This is her 15th trip overseas doing humanitarian medical relief work since 1979.

Bishop Johncy Itty of the Diocese of Oregon extended a prearranged trip to India in late January to represent ERD and visit tsunami-affected areas in Chennai and Sri Lanka, offering solidarity and observing the church’s relief efforts.

“The earthquake and the resulting tidal waves in the South Asia Pacific region have presented us with an urgent need to work together,” Itty said in a pastoral letter to his diocese.

Seven seminarians from Virginia Theological Seminary in Alexandria, Va., also traveled to India last month to assist with relief.

Long-term development plans

As part of a comprehensive program, ERD officials are establishing partnerships with local communities to help them. It is an integrated plan to repair the infrastructure of communities, such as homes, schools and clinics, and to work with local partners to identify the best ways to spur economic growth.

“The problems and conditions are complex, and it will take years to rebuild,” said Sandra Swan, ERD president. “We want to work at a community level to help people strategize and take part in their own solution. We’ll remain with communities for several years and employ our resources to restore lives in South Asia.”

In the meantime, she said, ERD will continue its current work in Sudan, Haiti, Iran, Honduras and El Salvador. “We will not abandon our other commitments, in spite of the urgent need we have facing us now,” she said.

Don Hammond, the agency’s vice president, said an ERD team would work with tsunami-affected dioceses and partners on the ground. “The team will assess the best way to respond to both immediate and long-term needs.” The team will assess needs during visits to Thailand, Sri Lanka, and India.
“It is easy to give boats and nets to people who’ve lost their livelihood,” said Spina, “but ERD is involved in strengthening communities from within. That’s what makes our work sustainable.”

Vergara has been coordinating with ERD staff and various American Asian congregations and ministries -- such as the Church of our Savior, New York; Church of the Holy Spirit, Safety Harbor, Fla.; and the Metropolitan Filipino Ministry, New York -- that have responded with fund drives.

“We commend the generosity and readiness of our people,” said Vergara. “The focus in long-term is to move from relief to rehabilitation, that of rebuilding homes and communities ravaged by the calamity, restoring the livelihood of fisherfolks and farmers, starting cooperatives and providing loans, etc., so that the survivors can have the needed tools to get back on their feet and move on.”

Donations can be sent to Episcopal Relief and Development, South Asia Relief Fund, P.O. Box 12043, Newark, NJ 07101, or made by calling 800-334-7626, ext. 5129, or giving online at http://erd.servicenetwork.com/Donate/Donate.asp.