CEO's Tsunami Update

Wednesday January 5, 2005

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WORLD EMERGENCY RELIEF

Tsunami Update: CHIEF EXECUTIVE’S REPORT

5 January 2005 12 Noon Hong Kong (PST +14 hours)

Our assessment team labors diligently in Sri Lanka today, after four days in Thailand. Their return to U.S. was originally set for 10 January after meeting with me in Hong Kong, but their schedule is now committed to staying longer.

E-mail access is difficult in terms of available computers, and time. Gary and Andrea are safe, and tired. Wendell has joined them on Sunday. The physical and emotional impact of so much death, around the clock, strains every fiber of their being.

Here are some highlights of what WER has been doing since the last update. Please forgive me if you have done something which is unrecognized here.

*Our team connected with high officials in Thailand and established supply pipelines for two programme partners, including Rotary Club of Phuket. Gary used WER funds to buy local supplies needed by rescue teams, including infection-resistant boots for the local coroner’s staff.

*Our team has been in Sri Lanka for three days, and we do not have firm feedback on their activities, except that they have joined with a medical team to provide direct assistance (Gary is former U.S. Army medic and 19-year fireman, well versed in these matters). They are attempting to contact three great programme partners recommended by our London office.

*WER is being recognized positively by global media community. I’ve done several interviews here in Hong Kong and am on CNN International Thursday a.m. local time here, and CNN Asia on Friday a.m. My main focus is public education on disaster complexity vs. human expectations of immediate action and results.

*Incredible good news that a school for the blind we support in Sri Lanka (through our UK office) is safe, as are almost all of the children who were home for Christmas holidays. Sadly, four were killed.

*We have wired $25,000 to ICMC, a respected global NGO, on the ground in Aceh, the decimated Indonesian town. This first grant will be used for logistical support so they can deliver supplies and also serve as local support office for six other NGOs new to the region. It includes $10,000 for local food purchases while relief supplies struggle over damaged roads.

*We have consignees ready to receive 10-15 40-foot containers primarily from WER in USA and UK. Mostly food, blankets, etc. We are buying some medicines locally at this point. We thank “Glasgow the Caring City” for being an important partner with us for securing commodities.

*I am working with local Hong Kong trade association to recruit their membership to help in our “Embrace a Village” long-term strategy.

*I am pleased to report WER was warning of child sexual exploitation concerns 36-48 hours before the U.N. went public with this. We are definitely “heads up” on many key issues.

*We are not accepting volunteers at this moment. Many places do not need or want volunteers. They either have too many, or are trying to keep outsiders away from worst damage.

*We are still not accepting gifts-in-kind from individuals. It is far too labor-intensive and too many risks (poor shelf-life, potential product tampering, health issues on unclean clothes and bedding, etc.

*Everyone is still very much in EMERGENCY mode although some media report “recovery” has started. True, that in a few places emergency has shifted to “sustained” relief. Already schools are reported reopening, and this is vital to help children cope with tragedy, etc. But recovery? Hardly, at least in our technical sense of our current activities.

Conclusion

WER’s role is a “servant agency”, and we are doing this both hands-on with our disaster team in Sri Lanka and also by helping strengthen other agencies already in countries where our presence has never been felt before.

We continue to plan to “Embrace a Village” (or two, perhaps) where we can come alongside the victims for perhaps 3-5 years and help their full recovery: physical (medical plus rebuilding structures],. Emotion (trauma counseling), spiritual (putting God’s perspective on all of this), economic (micro-economic development, help businesses restart) and social (helping families and local life resume, community-wide).

In sum, we are not a huge agency like UNICEF or the World Food Programme, and we know our place. We are not going in with TV crews to gain PR or raise money. We will not be rebuilding roads or power plants, etc. We will assume our vision of “Giving children a living chance” by helping one or more “embraceable communities” to find their way back to whatever “normal” means after this devastation.

Thanks for your prayer, encouragement, generosity and patience with me, and with each other. God bless, from Hong Kong.

Joel

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