Progress Made in Tsunami Recovery Efforts

Thursday, July 13, A.D. 2006

It has now been more than 18 months since a tsunami swept across the Indian Ocean and killed more than 250,000 people and left millions more without loved ones, livelihoods and homes. Even though this was one of the world's worst humanitarian disasters ever, very little about the ongoing impact of the tsunami and recovery efforts is reported in the western news media.

Because of the remarkable outpouring of concern from Disciples across the U.S. and Canada, Week of Compassion was able to provide significant resources to the initial relief efforts of numerous church partners in five of the hardest hit nations and now is able to give strong support to ongoing recovery and rehabilitation efforts. Altogether, Disciples through WOC currently have provided more than $1,675,000 for tsunami relief and recovery.

In the last few days, WOC has received several reports from church partners that rehabilitation work is progressing well. The Jaffna Diocese of the Church of South India in Sri Lanka recently handed over new homes to 14 tsunami-affected families. Similarly, the Peace Trust, one of our church partners in India, reports the completion of seven new homes, the repair of 27 damaged homes, vocational training for 80 people, 30 scholarships for students from tsunami-impacted families, new fishing nets for 30 families, and ongoing medical care - in some of India's worst impacted villages.

In one of our more ambitious projects, WOC has joined forces with the Reformed Church in America to build 430 Habitat homes for Indonesian families left homeless by the tsunami. Click here for the latest project update. Additional stories and photos on tsunami recovery can be found on the WOC website: www.weekofcompassion.org.

WOC anticipates requests for long-term rehabilitation from Church World Service, Action by Churches Together members and Global Ministries' partners for another 3-5 years. Because of the incredible generosity of our members and friends, WOC will be able to ensure that the Disciples will be there.

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