January 3, 2005

Dear concerned Friends,

Two days ago, Leith joined other pastors at the island of Phi Phi to conduct a memorial service where several hundred European tourists and foreigners lost their lives.

Bodies were still being retrieved. Many are still unidentified and may be buried that way. At the temporary morgue on the mainland in Krabi, rows of bulletin boards are covered with pictures of missing Europeans whose friends and loved ones have all but given up. A backhoe had just finished mass grave about 100 yards long, and dozens of occupied coffins were waiting burial.

The death toll in Thailand could exceed 10,000, including an estimated 5,000 from one completely buried village, which had just a few survivors.

Churches are gearing up to assist Thai survivors, many who lost everything, but for now the attention is still on dealing with the dead and missing. Heavy equipment needs to be used to unearth many still buried under the debris.

Please pray for the long-term recovery and rebuilding not only here in Thailand but in the harder-hit countries of Indonesia and Sri Lanka.

Thank you. For those who are interested, the PC(USA) has a helpful Web page.

http://www.pcusa.org/pda/response/asia/tsunami-materialaid.htm

http://www.pcusa.org/pda/resources/tsunami-insert.pdf

There are many other organizations that are responding to this crisis as well.

Sincerely,

Carol Fujii

The 2005 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 12