Cyclone Ditwah’s Destruction: Emergency Relief Needed in Asia-Pacific
Cyclone Ditwah has brought the worst flooding Sri Lanka has seen since the 1940s, leaving more than 300 dead, 370 missing, and more than one million affected across the island. The cyclone has also severely affected Indonesia, especially Sumatra, and parts of Thailand.
According to a Global Partners (GP) missionary residing in Sri Lanka, the cyclone has brought destruction to every district in the country. Three Wesleyan churches were under water, and the main Wesleyan church in Colombo has been hit particularly hard. Many of our fellow Wesleyans in Sri Lanka, if not all, have been affected.
On Sunday, an initial assessment from the United Nations reported more than 15,000 homes in Sri Lanka have been destroyed.
While some families had a second floor where they were able to store their things, others did not, causing them to lose everything they weren’t able to fit into a suitcase for evacuation to higher ground.
The GP missionary states: “Beyond the personal loss by the flood, many are unable to work and even their livelihood has been affected. Places of business are flooded, and farmers have lost everything.”
This GP missionary and his wife had to evacuate their home, which had at least six feet of water on Monday.
In the mountains and interior portions of the country, communities are experiencing severe flash floods and landslides, causing people to lose their homes entirely.
Severe flooding and landslides have resulted in Sumatra, as well. Rev. Dr. Sitta Sibro, national superintendent of The Wesleyan Church (TWC) of Indonesia, reported 604 people have been confirmed dead, 2,600 are injured and more than 450 are still missing. We don’t currently have information on Wesleyan churches on the island affected by the disaster.
Sri Lanka’s President, Anura Kumara Dissanayake, stated in a televised address late on Sunday “As a country, we are facing the largest and most challenging natural disaster in our history.”
As the water slowly recedes, the cleaning of a Wesleyan church in Sri Lanka will begin later this week, so that an operational headquarters for relief work can be established there, according to Rev. Cedric Rodrigo, national leader of TWC of Sri Lanka.
Please join the global Wesleyan Church in praying for relief, restoration and healing in these places. To assist families with basic necessities and home repair, in addition to enabling churches to be salvaged, please donate here.