World Vision president announces airlifts to South Asia

• In Thailand, World Vision is distributing rice, dry food, blankets, school supplies and kitchen utensils to families in Phangnga, Ranong and Krabi Districts. In addition, World Vision also will help build temporary housing, reconstruct school buildings and assemble clean water tanks and latrines.

• In India, World Vision has distributed food, clothing and blankets, despite a recent warning of another possible tsunami. In Chennai, World Vision also has provided bleaching powder and cleaning liquid to help improve sanitation conditions.

• Many staff members are continuing their work in reaching out to those in need, even as they face the loss of their own family members or homes. In Sri Lanka, staff members opened their own homes to the displaced, often taking in 100 people at a time. One staff member, who celebrates 21 years of service with World Vision today, also is grieving the loss of 16 extended family members. Another watched as his mother and daughter were washed away. Yet another lost his mother-in-law. Five staff members in one community alone lost their homes.

• Sri Lankan volunteers gathered to pack and load food, clothing, mattresses, kitchen utensils, and basic medications to be sent out to the hardest-hit areas in the Matara, Killinochchi and Hambantota Districts.

• The chairman of Sri Lanka’s National Child Protection Authority issued a statement emphasizing the need for proper legal procedures before orphaned children are removed from displacement camps. Increasing reports have been circulated of children discovered missing from hospitals and refugee camps. Fears are that they may be trafficked as domestic help or into the sex trade.

• Ampara has been a site of a civil war between rebels and the Sri Lankan government for more than 20 years. This conflict has created unique problems. Much of Ampara has been heavily mined; the surging waters displaced many of those landmines, only adding to the dangers in the disaster site. Several aid agencies are pursuing the delicate task of finding and dismantling these bombs. However, the crisis has revealed signs of hope in the Sri Lankan conflict. Government and rebel forces have laid down their weapons and are cooperating to help with relief efforts.

• In the southern district of Matara, World Vision distributed food, clothing, soap and water to 350 people who found shelter at Don Bosco Roman Catholic Church. Though they had been at the church for days, this was the first opportunity aid agencies had to reach them with supplies. Nearly all of the 350 were from the same small fishing community. Most have expressed fear in returning to their livelihoods. They are afraid to return to the water.

• Yesterday in Matara, some 7,000 people were buried in a mass grave. The graves have become necessary to mitigate against the spread of disease. To facilitate identification, officials had the grisly chore of severing one finger from each body. World Vision provided a refrigerator where the body parts can be stored until family members are able to identify their loved ones.

• According to staff members in Sri Lanka, one of the greatest long term needs will be help in dealing with the trauma and intense grief that often comes in such a tragedy. World Vision has experience offering culturally-sensitive psychosocial counseling throughout the world and has been in many of these communities for decades, building the trust necessary for such programs to work.

Contact	Office	Cell/Pager	Hours
Amy Parodi	(253) 815-2386	(253) 709-3190	10 p.m. to 6 a.m. (Eastern Time)
Brian Peterson	(407) 445-6484	(407) 491-2399	5 a.m. to 1 p.m. (Eastern Time)
Steve Quant	(253) 815-2652	(206) 910-5949	Noon to 10 p.m. (Eastern Time)
Dean R. Owen	(253) 815-2103	(888) 734-8938