World aid groups launch massive effort after tsunami disaster 

by Anto Akkara and Peter Kenny

Editor’s note: Presbyterian Disaster Assistance, the relief agency of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) which works ecumenically with such partners as the Geneva-based Action by Churches Together — has dispatched $220,000 in emergency assistance from One Great Hour of Sharing funds to agencies providing immediate relief to tsunami victims. PDA officials say they hope to raise $1 million in relief funds. To make a donation, contribute through regular church channels; visit the PDA website at www.pcusa.org/pda; or call Presbytel at 800-872-3283. — Jerry L. Van Marter

VELANKANNI,India/GENEVA — Faith‑based organizations and partner emergency aid providers across the globe have mobilized as the world reels from one its worst natural disasters, a series of huge tidal waves called tsunami, triggered by a massive undersea earthquake, that have claimed more than 60,000 lives. 

      In southern India on Sunday the fragrance of incense perfumed the air near a spot on the Tamil Nadu coast where millions of pilgrims gather ever year. But on Tuesday at the shrine of Velankanni there were no pilgrims, only the stench of rotting corpses in the air. It was just one scene among hundreds of similar other scenes in southern and southeast Asian countries.

      News agencies reported Tuesday that the death toll in 11 countries lashed by the tsunami was around 44,000, and rising. 

      “This is a catastrophe,” Bishop Devadass Ambrose Mariadoss of Tanjore told the Catholic World News service from the Basilica of Our Lady of Good Health at Velankanni. Church officials said that nearly 20 million pilgrims from India and southeast Asia each year visit the shrine, south of Chennai (formerly Madras), seeking to heal physical ailments.

      About 500 pilgrims were among the 2,300 people authorities reported killed in the nearby town of Nagapattinam by Sunday’s ruthless tsunami waves. 

      The 9.0‑magnitude earthquake fractured the seabed off Sumatra in Indonesia triggering tsunami that struck Sri Lanka, southern India, the Maldives, Malaysia, Myanmar and Thailand and whose impact was later felt as far away as the east coast of Africa. 

      “I have never seen a calamity like this,” said the bishop, whose diocese includes the shrine. “There has been no casualty inside the basilica as the water did not enter the basilica compound.” Bishop Ambrose said, however, hundreds of pilgrims had been on the beach in front of the basilica when the tidal wave hit without warning, Catholic World News reported.  

      United Nations emergency relief coordinator Jan Egeland noted on Monday that although the tsunami was not the largest in recorded history, “the effects may be the biggest‑ever because many more people live in exposed areas than ever before.” 

      The Geneva‑based global alliance Action by Churches Together (ACT) International reported that is members in south and southeast Asia were working furiously to respond to the needs of survivors.  

      “I can’t describe the disaster that has hit Sri Lanka very unexpectedly and has thrown millions of lives into complete disarray,” said SK Xavier, an emergency officer with ACT member, the National Christian Council of Sri Lanka. More than 13,000 people are reported dead in the island nation.  

      Norwegian Church Aid said on Monday it was mapping out the disaster‑struck regions of Sri Lanka before beginning emergency relief work. 

      All around the world members of church and religious –backed agencies interrupted their Christmas and year‑end holidays to rally to help people in south and southeast Asia; many in countries not prepared for tsunami.  

      The Roman Catholic Aid Agency, Caritas, was also appealing for donations, as were other denominations including Anglicans, Baptists, Methodists, Orthodox, Pentecostals and Presbyterians,  as well as other faith groups such as Buddhists, Jews and Muslims.