Miss Becky's Blog

LDS Church Responds to Indonesian Quake

The following article tells how the Church I belong to (the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) is assisting the victims of the world's most recent natural disaster, the earthquake in Indonesia last Saturday.

My church has a wonderful "welfare" system and humanitarian effort designed to help people, all over the world, who are in need. In a future article I will tell you more about this organization. There are huge storage buildings to prepare and store food, clothing, books, medical equipment, etc. that can be used by others all over the world located in Salt Lake City, Utah. Then our Church works in cooperation with other churches, governments and humanitarian organizations all over the world to ship and get the basic things to the people when needed. There are members of our church all over the world and it's the local members who really do a lot to help those in need when disasters strike ... like last year when Katrina sruck here in America, one of our Church buildings was damaged, but the others were used as a refugree center and we served meals, got people clothese, etc. before the government was into action.

Within hours after the Indonesia earthquake last Saturday, May 27, members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints turned a local chapel (a chapel is what we call our church building where we meet to worship and learn together and also have social activities there) in Solo into a food kitchen. By Sunday night, the food kitchen was relocated to a chapel in Yogyakarta, the city that suffered most of the destruction.

The Church has responded with assistance to 177 major disasters between 1985 and 2005, including such efforts as Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005, the Africa measles vaccination campaigns in 2004 and 2005, and the Florida and Caribbean hurricane relief in 2004. Within the last 20 years, the Church has also distributed 51,480 tons of food, 7,697 tons of medical equipment, and 68,923 tons of clothing.

Church Responds to Indonesian Quake

By Abbey Olsen, Church Magazines

A 747 cargo jet full of emergency supplies is expected to arrive in Indonesia today, May 31, as part of a combined effort by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) and Islamic Relief Worldwide (IRW) to respond to an urgent appeal by Indonesian government officials after a 6.3 magnitude earthquake struck Indonesia on Saturday. The quake killed more than 5,500 and left tens of thousands injured and homeless.

“Our timely reaction here is really going to save lives,” said Mokhtar Shawky, a member of the board of directors of Islamic Relief Worldwide (IRW).

More than eight semi-truckloads of medical supplies, hygiene kits, and other supplies from the Church's welfare and humanitarian storehouses in Salt Lake City were loaded into the cargo jet on Tuesday afternoon. The Indonesian Embassy has indicated that upon arrival, helicopters will take the items from the jet and move them to areas most in need. The Indonesian government and IRW have teams working together in Indonesia to continually assess the situation and then communicate the needs in the area.

“We're coordinating it all so that we're not duplicating what other organizations are doing,” said Garry R. Flake, director of humanitarian emergency response for the Church's Welfare Services Department. “It's a very relevant response and a very quick response.”

After the quake struck near Yogyakarta, Church leaders and members in Indonesia immediately responded by preparing and serving 2,000 meals for people in need, as well as distributing hygiene kits and purchasing and providing cots, mattresses, and blankets to an orthopedic hospital where hundreds came seeking medical attention.

The quake, which struck 230 miles from Jakarta on the island of Java, isn't the first natural disaster to bring the Church and IRW together to provide relief to victims. They also teamed up to help after the tsunami in 2004 and the earthquake in Pakistan last year.

“It's a tremendous relationship,” Mr. Shawky said. “We really appreciate what the Church is doing. We feel like we complement each other. . . . The end result is helping more people in more parts of the world. . . . Nothing compares to that.”

The IRW, under its mission to eliminate poverty and suffering, works to first provide relief and then help people rebuild their lives.

The Church's ability to respond with supplies so quickly is due to donations from Church members and Church leaders' emphasis on preparedness and reaching out to help people in need.