RICHMOND, Va. — Large numbers of Baptist disaster relief teams responding to recent flooding in Georgia have made it unnecessary for Virginia Baptists to send their own units, a disaster relief coordinator said Oct. 1.
But a Norfolk, Va.-based “fly away” kitchen team has been placed on alert for possible deployment to the South Pacific in the wake of earthquakes and a tsunami there.
“The Virginia Baptist Mission Board’s disaster relief cleanup and recovery teams that have been on standby for service in Georgia were stood down today,” Terry Raines, the board’s mobile mission and disaster relief coordinator, said Oct. 1.
A “fly away” kitchen like this one given by Virginia Baptists to Hungarian Baptist Aid could see service in the South Pacific. Virginia Baptist disaster relief volunteers Mike Oberschmidt (left) of King George, Va., and Hop Crowder (right) of Hampton, Va., recently joined the VBMB’s Terry Raines (second from left) in presenting the kitchen to two Hungarian Baptist Aid representatives. (Photo courtesy of VBMB)
|
More than 50 units of disaster relief volunteers from nine state Baptist conventions have mobilized in Georgia, Baptist Press reported. Raines said additional teams were not needed as waters receded and Georgians began sorting through the destruction.
Two volunteers — Paul McDaniel of Roanoke and Patrick Johnson of Nickelsville — who have been in Georgia assessing needs for possible Virginia Baptist relief teams were expected to return home Oct. 3, Raines said.
Unusually large downpours caused widespread flooding across Georgia the week of Sept. 20, leaving as many as 10 dead and more than $250 million in damage.
But another disaster in the Pacific has placed Virginia Baptist’s relief arm on alert. At least 169 people in Samoa died in massive destruction caused by an earthquake and tsunami that struck the South Pacific island and others nearby Sept. 29.
“Our ‘fly away’ kitchen based in the Norfolk Area Baptist Association has been placed on alert for potential service in either American Samoa or Guam,” which also was affected by the tsunami, said Raines.
If activated, the kitchen would be accompanied by a small team led by Tim Cline, a member of Temple Baptist Church in Newport News, Va., said Raines.
The Norfolk association’s “fly away” kitchen consists of cooking and serving equipment that can be packed into crates, loaded onto an airplane and transported to a disaster site. The equipment includes three propane burners and a gas generator, as well an array of cooking, serving and eating utensils.
Meanwhile, Baptist relief agencies are working on several fronts to respond to humanitarian needs created by the series of tsunamis, earthquakes and tropical storms that affected not only the Pacific islands but also Southeast Asia, Associated Baptist Press reported Oct. 2.
Paul Montacute, director of Baptist World Aid, said New Zealand Baptists are working through links they have with a network of Baptist churches in American Samoa. BWAid is the relief arm of the Baptist World Alliance.
In the Philippines, which was bracing Oct. 2 for its second major typhoon in less than a week, local churches provided shelter and relief after record rainfall killed at least 293 people in the country Sept. 26.
A team of three North Carolina volunteers, including one doctor and two EMTs, left for the Philippines Oct. 1 at the invitation of Hungarian Baptist Aid. The team plans to work in cooperation with Baptist volunteers from Hungary and the Philippines' Luzon Baptist Convention.
Field personnel of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship left Oct. 2 for the Indonesian island of Sumatra to deliver supplies and offer help to victims of Sept. 30 and Oct. 1 earthquakes that left more than 1,100 dead. Rescue workers from BWAid also headed toward the region.
Local Baptist relief efforts are being supported by a second international BWAid Rescue Team headed for the Indonesian city of Padang from Hungary and Germany.
Montacute and Bela Szilagyi of Hungarian Baptist Aid have taken the lead in coordinating Baptist relief efforts, joining with other Baptist leaders around the world.
Baptist Press reported that Southern Baptists have mobilized four teams of disaster relief specialists to assist in the Philippines, and Baptist Global Response, an international relief and development organization with ties to the Southern Baptist Convention, is working to provide resources for relief teams on the ground in Indonesia.
Southern Baptists have initially released $40,000 to help with the early response in the Philippines, Jim Brown, U.S. director of Baptist Global Response, told BP. Those funds will be used primarily for water, food, clothing and other critical short-term needs, with additional funds expected to be released once an assessment is complete and long-term needs are identified.