The Salvation Army Responds To Disasters At Home And Around The World
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Editor's Notes: The following Disaster Services updates were originally posted on The Salvation Army's New Frontier Chronicle website. To read more about The Salvation Army's work in the U.S. and around the world, please click HERE.
Army Funds Typhoon Emergency Response In Chuuk
The Salvation Army Hawaiian & Pacific Islands Division set up an donation page to help fund emergency response efforts for residents of Chuuk affected by Super Typhoon Maysak.
The Salvation Army operates the Chuuk Corps in Weno and an Outpost in Wichap. Communication has been difficult since the storm struck Sunday evening and headed towards Yap and The Philippines. The division’s Guam Corps in Tayan has been assisting in outreach to Chuuk.
“We heard from our Chuuk Corps on Monday evening their time that they had been providing food, water and shelter to about 50 people starting Sunday evening and they anticipated sheltering upwards of 100 people starting last evening,” said Major Mark Gilden, divisional secretary for business for The Salvation Army Hawaiian & Pacific Islands Division. “Power was out and, since local stores were closed, residents have been unable to purchase food or water. Volunteers also have been cleaning road debris to help provide access to nearby businesses and other locations.”
Last week, Super Typhoon Maysak quickly grew into the equivalent of a Category 5 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 160 mph. Weather Underground’s Dr. Jeff Masters noted this may be just the third super typhoon in since the 1940s with estimated winds that strong prior to April.
Maysak is also only the fifth super typhoon of record prior to April 1, according to senior digital meteorologist, Nick Wiltgen. A western Pacific tropical cyclone is named a “super typhoon” when maximum sustained winds reach 150 mph. The last such pre-April super typhoon was Super Typhoon Mitag in March 2002.
Prior to becoming a super typhoon, Maysak caused significant damage and killed at least five people in the Chuuk state of Micronesia, according to The Associated Press.
The public is encouraged to support the emergency disaster services efforts via monetary donations at www.hawaii.salvationarmy.org or by calling The Salvation Army Hawaiian & Pacific Islands Divisional Headquarters at (808) 988-2136. One-hundred percent of the donated funds will support The Salvation Army’s emergency disaster services in Chuuk.
Army responds to storms, tornadoes on Arkansas, Oklahoma
The Salvation Army is providing food, hydration as well as emotional and spiritual care to areas in Moore and Sand Springs Oklahoma to first responders, volunteers and survivors of a series of tornadoes. On Thursday, Governor Mary Fallin toured areas that received the most damage.
Major James Taylor, Metropolitan Tulsa Area Commander for The Salvation Army, had the opportunity to speak with Governor Fallin at the River Oaks Mobile Home Park in Sand Springs, the site of the only fatality in the state as a result Wednesday’s tornadoes.
Taylor explained to the Governor, “We’ve reached out to many individuals. We have prayed with people, fed them, helped them carry out belongings and have done whatever we could to ease the burden of the victims and provide relief to the first responders and volunteers. Some people just want and need you hear their story.”
Between the services being provided in both Moore and Sand Springs, 143 individuals have been provided emotional and spiritual care. Through March 27, over 1,000 meals and 2,200 drinks and snacks had been provided.
Army Responds To Floods In Peru And Chile
The Salvation Army in South America is providing assistance to people affected by devastating floods and mudslides. At least 24 people have lost their lives in Peru and Chile, and many more have become homeless.
The city of Chosica, in Peru, was the first to be affected by torrential rain, which set off mudslides that buried everything in their way. At least seven people were killed and 65 houses destroyed. A Salvation Army team, working in coordination with Civil Defense and municipal authorities of Chosica, has provided material assistance and spiritual support.
Northern Chile is also struggling to cope with torrential rain and floods. There is even flooding in the Atacama Desert, one of the world’s driest regions. At the time of writing, 17 people are known to have died in this region and at least 30 are missing.
Salvation Army forces have joined together to respond to the disaster, with Emergency and Disaster Services from South America West Territorial Headquarters working alongside the Chile North District and Chile Central Division to collect and distribute groceries and water. The first truck – laden with 20 tons of food, water, and milk – reached the affected communities on Saturday 28 March.
Territorial leaders Commissioners Deise and Torben Eliasen have travelled to the north to provide support to those who have been made homeless by the floods and to the Salvation Army team members who are providing physical, emotional and spiritual care.
Nairobi Emergency Team Responds
A 2013 International Emergency Services (IES) training in Nairobi, Kenya, resulted in a local emergency service team poised for action—a team that soon after responded to the 2013 terrorist attack at an upscale mall and again after the April 2 attack at Garrissa University.
The Government’s Emergency Response Team requested The Salvation Army’s assistance following the attack at a response center at Nyayo Stadium, where relatives of students are being asked to wait.
“At present, while the bodies are arriving, only 40 have been formally identified,” said Richard Bradbury, IES project officer. “This place will also be a meeting place for students arriving back. We are expecting the exercise to last all weekend.”
The Salvation Army is providing refreshments there for relatives and officials, as well as counseling. Bradbury also reported that the Army’s public relations officer was asked to lead prayers in official meetings.
Three Remote Communities On Vanuatu Assisted
The Salvation Army is continuing its response in Vanuatu to people affected by Cyclone Pam, with particular focus on three remote communities on the island of Tanna. Latest figures suggest that 166,000 people on 22 islands have been impacted, of whom 110,000 still have no clean drinking water. The Vanuatu Government, with the assistance of the UN and other agencies, sent out teams to conduct assessments in all impacted areas.
Craig Arnold, from the international logistics company UPS, partnered with The Salvation Army International Emergency Services on Vanuatu. He traveled with Salvation Army team member Mike Andrews and a local guide to the island of Tanna to conduct an assessment in the villages of Lownapaiu, Lous and Lowental. The journey from the main island of Vanuatu, Efate, required the assessment team to travel by plane, boat and four-wheel drive vehicle, followed by a five-hour walk through the jungle.
“No one else had been to these areas, because they are hard to get to and the population is relatively small,” Arnold said. “Ninety percent of homes are damaged too badly to live in. People are living in caves and walking up to two hours to find water sources. The hardest-hit village sits on the top of a 250-foot cliff above the waterfront. Their staircase down to the water has been destroyed so they can only reach it via a narrow, steep mountain path.”
Arnold said 1,000 people live in the three villages. The furthest north village, Lowental, is a 90-minute mountain hike from its nearest neighbour to the south, Lous, which is accessible by small boat. From Lous down to Lownapaiu is another two-hour walk. From Lownapaiu to the airstrip is a six-hour walk or a two-hour 4×4 drive (the village owns one Land Cruiser).
“Based on assessments, the local government has asked The Salvation Army to support these three villages as they are not receiving help from other agencies,” Arnold said. “The priorities are water, food and shelter.”
With the help of the UPS Foundation, The Salvation Army arranged an airlift from Vanuatu’s capital, Port Vila, to the airstrip on Tanna where, with the help of the World Food Programme and UNICEF water was offloaded into a portable warehouse until all transportation was finalized.
Within 24 hours—working with a local non-governmental organisation (NGO), Liberty for the Nations—Arnold said the group moved 1,300 litres of fresh water as close as possible to each village, using a combination of 4×4 vehicles, a small boat and carrying by hand. Another NGO, Dragon Fly, used its desalination ship to drop an additional 5,000 litres of fresh water on a small beach about a four hours away. The truck is able to drive to the beach and back to the villages in a day.
The local government also enlisted a French military helicopter to deliver food rations for all three villages to a landing area the group GPS tagged so there is now enough food for up to two weeks.
The next step will be to arrange for essentials to be transported on ocean freight instead of air for efficiency. A water supply engineer is visiting the villages to assess the rebuilding or repairing of water pipes and tanks, and options are being considered for the provision of sustainable shelter.
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