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Received 29/12/2004
Below are two reports from Joseph Vos who has been involved in
the campaign to support the St. John's Orphanage
First Report on tsunami in Batticolai,
East Sri Lanka
-------- Original Message --------
From: Joseph Vos (vos@netvision.net.il)
Dear Friends,
I would like to inform you about what is currently known about the situation
in Sri Lanka. As far as I am aware of at this point, Sri Lanka was hit
with the full force of the tsunami from a 8.9 richter earthquake off Indonesia.
Twenty foot high waves swept away whole villages.
I have been in contact with Rev. Jeyanesan, area minister of the Eastern
Province for the JDCSI. The contact was very brief and communication was
very difficult. He said that in Batticaloa only there were at least five
thousand dead people and this number can rise.
He was just coming back from visiting one of the orphanages. He told
me that the tsunami hit this orphanage so hard that the whole orphanage
was destroyed completely. The pastor's wife for the orphanage and their
baby were swept away as well. They are still missing. She had been standing
outside at the time the wave struck.
The children were in church at that time and were safe. Rev. Jeyanesan
told me through another pastor by email that all the children are safe.
The situation in the other centers is as of yet not very clear, but one
friend in Colombo told me that the other centers are probably safe.
Your prayers are in need at this time. The aftermath of such a disaster
often means many broken families and great distress for all people inthe
area. Please keep them in your prayers.
Joseph Vos
For the St. John's Orphanages
Second Report on tsunami
Dear Friends,
It seems that many villages were completely destroyed in the Eastern
Province. The highway connecting most parts has become impassable as the
water has also reached that. I have heard that in one center in Trincomalee
the children had been loaded into a bus just before the waves damaged
some of the structures there.
The refugee camp next door has suffered great damage and many of the
people there have been taken by the sea. I heard that none of the fishermen
who were on the sea survived. Often, these fishermen do not know how to
swim.
Apparently, many of the children from the homes were on leave for the
holidays and were with relatives. It is as of yet unknown how many of
the children have survived. Those children that were in the homes at the
time of the tidal waves have all survived.
At this time also an appeal goes out for financial help. Access to the
area is severely limited. All activities are severely hampered also by
the devastation and also some by the bad weather. It is not possible to
travel into the affected areas, but we are able to send funds to help
the emergency needs.
We have been to a village of the indigenous Veddahs in the coastal regions
and have brought them emergency supplies. Their village was completely
erased, but the people had left before the destruction came. None of our
structures in that area were found.
Still many bodies are strewn about in trees, in destroyed buildings,
in the water, everywhere. They are starting to decompose and there is
actual danger of an outbreak of diseases as a result. Many areas are normally
already inaccessible and now especially the access is severely hampered.
Supplies of drinking water have been contaminated by the sea water and
latrines. Supplies of food are being hampered by inaccessible roads. Many
people are without homes and many have lost their complete families. The
disaster is of enormous magnitude. Still communication is severely hampered
and only those with mobile phones can at times be reached, though this
is also severely overstressed.
At this point estimates in the Eastern province alone are that around
thirty thousand people are dead or missing.
The missing people are assumed dead as most do not know how to swim.
The financial damage is enormous as well, as none of the people were insured,
their lifes have been destroyed and many have lost their families. I am
sure that with combined help we can bring some relief into the situation
and I make therefore an appeal to you.
Please also continue to pray for these poor people as they wander about
unknowingly what to do next with their life. They will need to find some
kind of direction in their lifes now that so many have lost all that is
dear and near to them.
Yours,
Joseph Vos.
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