A Story of Heartbreak -- A Tsunami Destroys the Lives of the Poor

Will you make it a story of hope??

I'm sure many of you have already heard about the devastating earthquake and tsunamis (tidal waves) which hit Asia today. I wanted to share with you some of my personal connections to the areas devastated. Several years ago while working with Habitat for Humanity International, I spent some time in Sumatra, the largest island in Indonesia. The epicenter of the 8.9 earthquake was centered just offshore from Sumatra. I have also traveled through the Maldives in transit to Sri Lanka. The airport, sitting barely above sea-level, was inundated by a tsunami.

My closest connection, though, was to Sri Lanka which was hardest hit by the tsunamis. The eastern, southern, and southwestern coasts were hit.  This morning I was able to get a call through to Pastor Ranjan Fernando,  my ministry partner in Sri Lanka. He gave me a first-hand report from  Moratuwa, the coastal community where he lives. He had been walking on  the beach only 5 minutes before the tsunami hit. He and his family are all  safe.

Hard hit was the Moratuwa Beach slum community of poor people living in thrown together shanty huts. Earlier this year, in January, a medical  mission team from my church conducted a medical clinic for the poor people and their children living in this slum community.

 I have attached photos from that medical clinic for you to see what the people and community used to look like. I am sad to report that everything you see in these photos was washed out to sea by the tsunami, including the UCF Children's Day Care Center. (I had raised funds last year to begin this ministry project for the beach children.) Many children and adults perished, perhaps including some in these photos. According to Rev. Fernando, the area was "swept clean" by the waters.

He told me it was pitiful to see parents crying for children who had been swept out to sea and children crying for parents who had drowned.  Emergency shelters have been set up in schools and churches for the survivors, now homeless refugees. 

 Other areas of Sri Lanka where I have visited were also hit including Matara and Galle in the south. But the closest connection for me and my church medical mission team is the Moratuwa Beach slum where we conducted our first medical clinic. We are still assessing how we might best respond.

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For more information in regards to how you might respond to the medical mission, please contact me at:

 Littleton United Methodist Church

 (252) 586-5885

 PO Box 26

 Littleton, NC 27850

You can also respond through the United Methodist Committee on Relief:

Contributions may be placed in the offering plate of any United Methodist Church or

sent directly to UMCOR at 475 Riverside Drive, New York, NY 10115.

Please indicate that the gift is for “Advance # 274305, Southeast Asia Emergency Relief.” 

Credit-card donations may be made by calling 1-800-554-8583,

or you can use UMC.org's secure server to make an online donation by clicking here! 

Above all please pray for all those suffering from the disaster, not only in Sri Lanka, but also in India, the Maldives, Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia.

 Thanks for your concern.

 Blessings,

 David Haley