(02.10.09) For the victims of both affected areas the Evangelical Church in Rhineland (EKiR), the Evangelical Church of Westfalia (EKvW), the Evangelical Church in Hesse and Nassau (EKHN) as well as the United Evangelical Mission (UEM) have released 100,000 Euro as emergency aid. (EKiR: 25,000 Euro for the Philippines and 10,000 Euro for Indonesia; EKvW: 20,000 Euro for the Philippines and 15,000 Euro for Indonesia; EKHN: 10,000 for Indonesia; UEM: 10,000 Euro each).

On Wednesday at 5.15pm a first earthquake (7.6 M) hit West-Sumatra. Especially the City of Padang is strongly affected. On Thursday morning at 8.52 am there was a second earthquake. Up to now only very few pieces of information have been available from this destroyed city.
   
UEM is in constant contact with its staff member Jusup Sukatendel who is at place. He reports that phone-connections as well as energy supplies are out of work. Water supply is broken down and public transport has collapsed. It is difficult for emergency teams to reach the insured because streets and bridges have been destroyed. Necessary machines are not available in sufficient number. It is difficult to treat injured persons because the hospital has collapsed as well. Additionally strong rainfalls hinder the rescue-teams to do their work.

Several UEM member churches are affected: The Toba-Batak Church (HKBP) has a parish in Padang. Rev. Dr Jamilin Sirait writes: „70 percent of the house are destroyed. Most of the houses of our parishioners have been destroyed as well. We are happy that up to now members of our congregation have not been injured.“

A building of the Mentawai-Church (GKPM), a hostel for students from Mentawai studying in Padang, has been saved. It now serves as a shelter for people who’s houses have been destroyed, and for guests from destroyed hotels.

The Island of Siberut is affected as well. Here the destruction by the earthquake is limited. The problem is the supply with food because parts of the island rely on the food transported from Padang harbour, which is impossible because the harbour has been destroyed. The Mentawai-Church has therefore set up an emergency team to do the shipping of food from Mentawai Island to the local churches of Siberut.

It has been estimated that both earthquakes killed around 500 people. Other sources estimate 1000. The number of those buried under the ruins of buildings may not yet be numbered. Experts have sent warnings concerning another earthquake in the area even stronger than the previous two.  

From Germany eight UEM-volunteers as well as a co-worker with his family currently live in the in the affected areas. They have survived the earthquake in Indonesia as well as the Typhoon in the Philippines without any injury.

Typhoon desaster in the Philippines

On Thursday Sophie Lizares-Bodegon, a former UEM-co-worker, reported from Manila/ Philippines that UCCP volunteers and staff packed food supplies good for two days for close to 1000  families in Pampanga province and Baliuag town in Bulacan, some 100 kilometres north of Manila. The packages are generic: five kilos of rice,  three cans of sardines, three packs of noodles, one can of pork and beans, some cooking oil, one kilo of sugar, one bar of soap and some dried fish. Smaller packages were distributed in the last two days in Forest Hills in Novaliches, in the northern part of Metro Manila, and San Mateo.

Metro Manila and the surrounding areas were very tense on Thursday as residents still reeling from the disaster wrought by Typhoon Ketsana/Ondoy receive updates about the next typhoon. Nearly 700,000 people have swamped makeshift government-run shelters amid fears that a storm east of the Philippines could develop into a "super typhoon" and lash areas ravaged by Ketsana.
The Philippines early Thursday raised the number of confirmed dead from Ketsana to 277.The number of people known to have been affected by Ketsana in the Philippines rose to 2.5 million on Thursday, the government said. "We are dealing with a very strong typhoon, so we should be at the highest level of preparedness," state weather bureau spokesman Nathaniel Cruz said as Typhoon Parma churned towards the country, with landfall expected Saturday. This afternoon's heavy rains and a hailstorm. The coming storm code-named Typhoon Parma was packing gusts of up to 185 kilometres (114.7 miles) per hour (kph). The government defines a super typhoon as one with sustained winds of 175-200 kph and the potential to cause heavy damage. Ketsana dumped the heaviest rains in more than four decades on Manila and surrounding areas, submerging most of the capital. Parma was set to hit to the north but it was raining in Manila already on Thursday.

On Friday evening, 02.10.09, Sophie Lizares-Bodegon writes: It's quiet right now in Manila, we're just having steady but gentle rains. We arrived this evening from a trip to Pampanga, 77k north of Manila, having distributed 250 bags there. The Metropolis Christian Youth Fellowship has been great with the packing work. Annike, Marian and Karen, German volunteers, have joined us.

UEM and its member churches ask for prayers and support for the homeless and traumatised people in the affected areas. There is a need for blankets, tents, medicine, food and drinking water. UEM and its member churches will continue to help immediately and unbureaucratically.