Disasters Affecting Members of the Church

Transcription

1 Disasters Affecting Members of the Church Response to Typhoon Haiyan by the numbers 1 March 2014 Church News Typhoon Haiyan struck the central Philippines on Nov. 8, destroying more than 1.1 million homes. The deadliest typhoon on record in the country, the storm left more than 6,100 people dead, injured 28,000 and displaced 4.1 million. Some 1,785 people remain missing. After the disaster, in which 42 Latter-day Saints died, the Church sent relief supplies and partnered with local and international relief organizations to assist with food, shelter, water purification, debris removal and livelihood restoration projects. Typhoon in the Philippines Typhoon Yolanda/Haiyan made landfall in the central Philippines on Friday, Nov. 8, Published: Saturday, Dec. 7, 2013 The Church has confirmed that 38 members of the Taclaban Philippines Stake died when Typhoon Yolanda/Haiyan made landfall in the central Philippines on Friday, Nov. 8, according to a Church welfare report. Seven Latter-day Saints remain missing. The Philippines emergency management agency reports that 5,500 people are confirmed dead, more than 26,000 are injured and more than 1,700 are still missing as search and rescue efforts continue. All missionaries are safe. The storm damaged or destroyed more than 1.1 million houses and displaced more than 3.3 million people. Typhoon Yolanda/Haiyan made landfall as a category 5 storm with winds topping 200 mph. The wind, storm surge and heavy rains caused widespread flooding and landslides, particularly in the Samar and Leyte provinces of the Philippines. The storm damaged 62 Church buildings, according to the welfare report. A total of 29 meetinghouses continue to be used as evacuation centers for 987 individuals. Two transient bishops have been called to provide support to evacuees from hard hit areas. Water and power systems in the disaster area are gradually returning, but will take months to return to normal. Fuel is becoming more available. All wards and branches in the most impacted areas have begun holding Sunday services. In the days and weeks after the storm, the Church sent basic relief supplies to the community including food, water, blankets, sleeping mats, hygiene kits, clothing, cooking supplies and water purification units. In addition, the Church is working with international partners to consider collaboration on shelter, livelihood and other initiatives in the weeks to come.. 1

2 KFL 19 Nov 2013: Missionary who lost parents, siblings in typhoon benefits from Utah fundraiser at Sister Bendoy lost her parents, siblings and house to Typhoon Haiyan. Nine of Bendoy's immediate family members were killed by the storm. She is temporarily living in Manilla with her two surviving siblings after returning home a month early from her mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. After hearing about Bendoy's situation from his sister's , Cameron Manwaring decided to find a productive way to help his sister's first companion in the Philippines Bacolod Mission. His fundraiser on Micro Giving was shared on social media and exceeded its $5,000 goal within 24 hours of its creation on Monday. It s just hard to see that happen to someone that we care about and who took care of my sister and our family, he said. I don t know if my sister would have been able to get through those hard first couple of months the way that she did without having that kind of tough, native love she got from Sister Bendoy. Now it s our turn to give back, if we can, as she s going through something much harder. His sister Megan said Bendoy's home in Letye, near Tacloban, was directly hit by the storm and completely destroyed. Bendoy came to the mission from humble circumstances, Manwaring said. "This sister gave everything that she had to be able to serve a mission, and so she doesn t have finances and her parents are gone and her home is gone," he said. "Basically within one week of returning from her mission, she just doesn t have anything. Manwaring said his family feels indebted to Bendoy, who helped his sister love the Philippines and learn the language. He described his sister as "the girl of all girls" who had always dreamed of serving in Paris, so living in the Philippines was an adjustment. Bendoy was used to the bugs and the Philippine's environment, which helped his sister. During one of her first weeks in the Philipinnes, his sister wrote home about an occasion where they came across what she thought was a fire hose in the road on their way home from an appointment. As they were walking around it, it started to move and revealed itself to be a 12-foot long snake. She didn't even scream, she wrote. "She helped a lot," Manwaring said. "She was her first companion, so she was the one who really helped (my sister) learn the language and culture and got her through a lot of the awkard things." Half of LDS homes in Tonga destroyed or damaged by brutal cyclone Deseret News 15 Jan 2014 NUKU'ALOFA, TONGA Half of the homes of members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the path of a violent tropical cyclone that struck Tonga over the weekend were destroyed or damaged, according to a church release. Tropical Cyclone Ian lashed the island kingdom over the weekend with winds that reached 178 mph, making it a Category 5 storm the most destructive. The cyclone ripped through 2

3 the Ha'apai island chain, destroying most of the homes in some areas, the Associated Press reported Mormon Meetinghouse demolished by Joplin Tornado Deseret News 23 May 2011 JOPLIN, Mo. With Joplin the hardest-hit area affected by Sunday's string of tornadoes sweeping through the Midwest, all Mormon missionaries in the area are safe and accounted for, with no LDS Church members reported among the initial fatalities. However, the Joplin Missouri stake center a large meetinghouse accommodating several local congregations of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was demolished in what local officials have called a "once in a generation event." "Even though several members of the church lost their homes in the disaster, initial assessments indicate that members are accounted for, and only a few of them require hospitalization at this time," said President Matthew G. Montague, first counselor in the Joplin stake presidency. At least 90 fatalities have been confirmed in the Joplin area, a city of 50,000 located 160 miles south of Kansas City. More deaths are expected to be reported as emergency personnel continued to sift through the destruction and debris Monday. An EF-4 tornado the second-strongest class with winds of 200 mph cut a 6-mile-wide swatch Sunday through Joplin, uprooting some 2,000 structures. The LDS Church said in a statement Monday that local priesthood leaders would continue to assess needs, with plans to contact officials in affected areas to determine how to assist with response efforts. Church members have begun already to assist with the clean-up. Later Matthew G. Montague, first counselor in the Joplin stake presidency, also sent in additional images of the downed meetinghouse. "Even though several members of the Church lost their homes in the disaster, initial assessments indicate that members are accounted for, and only a few of them require hospitalization at this time," he reported. Creed R. Jones, Joplin stake president, was featured on CNN in a touching interview about his tornado experience, having left the graduation with his family in several vehicles separated by the storm. His home was one of the dozen LDS houses destroyed by the tornado. President Montague said the damage to the city is "incomprehensible," noting that many areas are simply unrecognizable. The homes of at least 10 member families in Joplin were destroyed; dozens more were damaged. 3

4 Church members among those killed in catastrophic Philippine tropical storm Church News 20 Dec 2011 Tropical storm in the Philippines Seven Church members died during a catastrophic tropical storm that hit the southern Philippines island of Mindanao in the early hours of Dec. 17. Cyclone Washi, known in the Philippines as Sendong, dumped large amounts of rain, triggered flooding and landslides, and caused widespread destruction and hundreds of deaths. As of press time, five Latter-day Saints in the Philippines remained missing. Elder Misalucha reported that 45 member homes were destroyed, with another 90 partially damaged. In the days after the cyclone struck, 79 member families sought refuge in seven Latter-day Saint meetinghouses. Comfort' amid increasing disasters Deseret News 10 April 2010 PROVO, Utah -- More Mormons have died from natural disasters since September than in the previous 10 years combined, said the manager of Humanitarian Emergency Response for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. "It's been a turbulent six months," Nate Leishman said April 5 at the annual International Society conference at BYU. Natural disasters are indeed increasing but involvement in efforts such as the U.S. Navy's Operation Continuing Promise 2009 improves the church's capacity for responding to emergencies. Last year, the LDS Church provided 60 percent of both supplies and volunteer labor to the USNS Comfort, a U.S. Navy medical ship that visited seven countries on a four-month humanitarian mission. "It's turned out to be a great thing, and we're going to continue it again this year," Leishman said. Because of his job, Leishman is constantly asked whether disasters are increasing around the world. He showed a graph detailing "a sharp increase in all disasters" over the past 100 years, with floods having the most significant spike. Some of the increase can be attributed to better reporting and greater coastline populations, Leishman said. But it's also a sign of the times. "Probably the biggest reason we know of is we live in the last days and we know this will be a part of our lives," he said. The past six months, he said, have been particularly devastating. The LDS Church has recently responded to flooding in the Northeast; earthquakes in Chile, Haiti and Indonesia; a tsunami in Samoa; typhoons in the Philippines; and civil unrest in Zimbabwe. "We're really responding to something almost every day somewhere around the world," Leishman said. 4

5 Twenty-four church members died in the Samoa tsunami and 42 in the Haiti earthquake, which Leishman called "the biggest disaster in modern history." Most Mormons in Port-Au- Prince lost their homes and many were injured, he said. The ongoing needs in Haiti are shelter, clean water, food, medical care and sanitation. "We've got a huge chore ahead of us in Haiti," Leishman said. "The church will be down there for many, many years to come." "It was so great to watch this fall into place," Leishman said.with the help of in-country volunteers, the 650 medical professionals onboard the Comfort, of which 600 were active duty and reserve military, counted 432,846 healthcare service encounters, treated 100,049 patients, performed 1,657 surgeries (such as cataract removal and cleft palette repair) and helped 15,003 dental patients. Deseret News 1 Mar 2010 Chilean Quake While continuing its limited local relief efforts in quake-shaken Chile, LDS Church leaders there and in Utah are determining the extent of additional assistance in the aftermath of Saturday's magnitude-8.8 earthquake. Early fatality reports indicate three members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints died in the wake of the quake and ensuing tsunami. More than a half-million LDS members reside in Chile. That 7.0-magnitutde earthquake Jan. 12 in Port-au-Prince resulted in an estimated 212,000 deaths, while Chilean officials have confirmed more than 720 deaths in that country, with more confirmed casualties expected in coming days. An estimated 2 million people reportedly have been affected by the quake, with some 500,000 homes suffering considerable damage. Dozens of aftershocks some registering as high as 6.9 on the Richter scale have continued to rumble through the country and rattle already-panicked Chileans. While most Mormon meetinghouses in Chile escaped with little or no damage, many are filled with dust. Three meetinghouses sustained extensive structural damage. Another was severely flooded from the quake-triggered tsunami. Tsunami waves also swept away a house that served as an LDS meetinghouse. Communications with and among local LDS leaders in the most affected areas of Chile have been limited and unreliable, with the best success being through text messages. Deseret News 12 July 2010: A deadly magnitude 8.8 temblor rattled the central coast of Chile, claiming hundreds of lives and displacing thousands. Latter-day Saints were counted among the victims. Seven were killed in the disaster and more than 400 LDS families had to leave their homes. 5

6 Church News 12 March 2010 Chile Earthquake The presidency message was drafted by Elder Lawrence E. Corbridge, first counsellor in the Chile Area presidency. This period of natural disasters, struggling economies and wars has been prophesied and foretold many times, the message added. Such calamities should not come as a surprise. While hardships are often experienced individually, the Chile quake represents a hardship shared by many. Many have lost their material possessions. A few have lost their lives. The question remains, "How are we responding?" The Savior offers His singular form of peace. Hearts need not be troubled."even though the hearts of many have been troubled, we should not fear; our hearts should not be troubled. We cannot permit our hearts to be troubled or afraid." The Chile Area presidency also declared everyone will experience hardship and, ultimately, death. "Some will die earlier than others, but all will die. The truth is that it is more important how we live than how we die. The truth is that the Holy Ghost comforts and guides us and helps us carry on." Twenty-three meetinghouses were being used to shelter member families whose homes were lost or seriously damaged. More than 400 LDS families were displaced by the quake. Many, said Brother Muir, "are staying with relatives." Amid the optimism, their is grief. Seven members were killed in the disaster. Church officials in Chile were pleased that the vast majority of Church-constructed buildings weathered the disaster well. Of the many buildings inspected, only five suffered notable damage. Church sends humanitarian aid to Haiti after 7.0 earthquake 13 January 2010 Jason Swensen, Church News In the moments following a devastating earthquake in Haiti, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints began organizing a humanitarian response to assist the legions affected by the Jan. 12 disaster. "We express our sympathy and prayers on behalf of the citizens of Haiti following the recent devastating earthquake," said Mormon Church spokesman Scott Trotter. "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is immediately shipping humanitarian relief including personal hygiene kits and supplies for newborns." The Church is relatively young in Haiti. The first baptisms in the West Indies nation were performed in A branch was organized later that year followed by the creation of the Haiti District in In 1983, President Thomas S. Monson blessed the land of Haiti while serving as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve. A year later, the Haiti Port-au-Prince Mission was created. Haiti's first stake, the Port-au-Prince stake, was formed in Today there are two stakes in the country. 19 Jan 2010: Church news: Lynn A. Samsel, the Church's director of humanitarian emergency response and emergency services, said some 4,000 people total have sought refuge at the seven Port-Au-Prince LDS meetinghouses. Pierre-Louis Wanso has been among the more than 500 people Church members and non-members alike who have 6

7 made the Central Ward meetinghouse their new home in the first week after Haiti's Jan. 12 horrific earthquake. Members of Port-Au-Prince's Central Ward, Brother Wanso and his mother have since been joined by his brother, his sister and brother-in-law, an aunt and several cousins in staying each night on the meetinghouse's gated grounds.a handful of tents are scattered across the grounds, but Brother Wanso explains they are for families with young children. 23 Jan 2010 Church News Haiti Earthquake From the Dominican Republic, Bennie Lilly, Caribbean area welfare manager for the church, reported Friday that the need in Haiti is "tremendous." The LDS Church is sheltering more than 5,000 people both members and non-members in nine Haiti chapels. As aid workers travel from chapel to chapel passing out basics such as food, water, shelter and medical supplies, thousands more reach out to them, begging for help. He said that during the day, people go into the streets to try to find relatives and meet their basic needs, then, in the evening, they assemble at any of nine LDS meetinghouses in the quake-affected region in and around Port-au-Prince. The buildings have been a refuge for some 5,000 people, he said. Only 20 to 30 percent are Church members, he estimated, explaining that in the Haitian culture, one person fortunate enough to have a job might be the sole financial support for a number of people, including family and friends. LDS efforts are being coordinated with those of a number of other organizations, such as Healing Hands for Haiti, Food for the Poor, CARE and Islamic Relief. About 20 Church members have lost their lives, Brother Lilly said, including a man who was airlifted out for hospital care in the Dominican Republic and succumbed to his injuries. His wife and children had perished earlier. Brother Lilly said it is "a huge, emotional, impactful experience" for rescue workers. He told of one Church physical facilities employee who soon after the disaster spent five days visiting the Church meetinghouse sites to assess damage. He reported seeing bodies on sidewalks and roads. "We brought him back into the office the day before yesterday," Brother Lilly recounted. "I walked into his office and looked into his eyes. You could just see the pain that he was feeling. I didn't even speak to him. I just came up to him and put my arms around him. We shed tears together, hugging each other." 30 Jan 2010 Church News Port-au-Prince Haiti Stake In the two weeks since, President Colin Prosner of the Port-au-Prince Haiti Stake and Ghemmald Francillon of the Port-au-Prince Haiti North Stake have answered the call to stand firm and lead true as the two stake presidents directly responsible for the Latter-day Saints in the capital city. For the second week, the number of Church members affected remained 7

8 consistent 20 deaths, several hundred injured and countless others missing and unaccounted for. Church meetings have been held each Sunday since the quake single one-hour sessions the first Sunday, on Jan. 17, and three-hour blocks the following Sunday, Jan. 24 in the meetinghouses throughout Port-au-Prince. And the meetinghouse grounds are still serving as temporary shelters for several thousand Haitians members and nonmembers alike who were left homeless after the earthquake. The visitors are packed on every square foot of meetinghouse properties, including lawns, parking lots and driveways. "There is still concern for a number of the people in the shelters," said President Francillon, who received word Monday, Jan. 25, from Haitian government officials that they are looking for available space to relocate many of the homeless into temporary shelters and tents, rather than on Church grounds. This would be a welcome move, since sanitation concerns on the grounds as well as providing food and water for all are the utmost concerns. "We are lucky to have the chapels I've got a testimony of that," said President Prosner, adding that while many homes and buildings throughout Port-au-Prince were severely damaged or completely destroyed, the LDS meetinghouses escaped relatively unscathed. In the Church's ongoing efforts in Haiti, Presidents Prosner and Francillon are working to follow the two objectives set by the Caribbean Area Presidency, led by Elder Francisco J. Vinas of the First Quorum of the Seventy: to continue to provide life-sustaining aid to those in need and to continue to teach welfare principles while underscoring the importance of members becoming self-reliant. Specifically, local leaders are working to continually improve the meetinghouse shelters and maintain the best sanitation conditions there and to help people regain their hope and normalcy of life. That includes holding classes in the meetinghouses by re-establishing seminary classes and educational instruction for the children and youth, with so many of Port-au-Prince's schools having been destroyed. 4 Mormons among dead in El Salvador flooding Church News 10 Nov 2009 Torrential rains across El Salvador triggered floods and mudslides over the weekend of Sunday Nov. 8, killing at least 130 people including four members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, according to a Church welfare report, but all Mormon missionaries are safe. In addition, between 16 and 18 Latter-day Saints are missing and presumed dead. The rainfall was caused by a low-pressure system, which was linked indirectly to Hurricane Ida. The areas around San Salvador and the central province of San Vicente were hit hardest by the rainfall, setting off a mudslide near Verapaz that killed dozens of people and destroyed more than 300 homes. LDS among 240 dead in Philippine storm Deseret News 25 Sept 2009 MANILA, Philippines At least 24 members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints are among the more than 200 dead after tropical storm Ketsana scythed across the northern Philippines over the weekend, church officials said. Overwhelmed rescue crews 8

9 today confirmed the deaths of at least 240 people from the Philippine capital of Manila and its surrounding towns. The storm, which dumped more than a month's worth of rain in 12 hours, damaged 15 LDS Church meetinghouses in the region, according to church spokesman Cody Craynor. Update Church News 1 Oct 2009: Flooding triggered by typhoon Ketsana that devastated Manila and surrounding areas Sept. 26 left 12 Church members reportedly among the dead and another 14 missing, according to a Church statement issued Sept. 30. Flood waters surround the Pasig Philippines Stake center. Devastating floods in the Manila, Philippines, area were the result of tropical storm Ketsana on Sept. 26. Many members homeless after flooding caused by typhoon Ketsana Church update on Pacific earthquake and tsunami crisis LDS Newsroom 3 Oct 2009 Following the devastating earthquake and resulting tsunami in the central Pacific, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is determining a response from church headquarters in Salt Lake City while local relief efforts are underway. According to news reports, more than 150 people have died in Samoa, American Samoa and Tonga. Church reports indicate that 26 members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have died. Some 22 were in Samoa and four were in American Samoa. Post-Katrina: Most Church Members Counted, Volunteers Pour In September 2005 While recovery efforts carry on in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, the Church continues to help victims members and other refugees to get back on their feet. In the Slidell Louisiana Stake, two families are missing. As for the Gulfport Mississippi Stake, all members have been contacted except for those of the Waveland Ward. As of Thursday, September 8, 60 percent of members in the Waveland Ward had been contacted, with two confirmed deaths. As for Church-property damage, repairs are already in progress on meetinghouses that 9

10 sustained minor storm damage. Six other meetinghouses sustained significant damage from wind and rain: two in the Gulfport stake, three in the New Orleans stake, and two in the Slidell stake. Church News 3 Sept 2005-Hurricane Katrina In Hurricane Katrina's aftermath, more than 1 million people including thousands of Church members from numerous stakes in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama have been displaced from their homes and will not be able to return for months. The hurricane, which killed hundreds and caused what insurers estimate may be $25 billion of damage throughout the United States' Gulf Coast, is being called one of the worst natural disasters in U.S. history. After hitting Florida, Katrina strengthened to a Category 5 storm over the Gulf of Mexico but weakened slightly and came ashore in New Orleans early Aug. 29 as a Category 4 storm with winds of 145 mph. Government leaders In New Orleans ordered a "total evacuation of the city." Church News 1 Jan A unit of the New Orleans Louisiana Stake, the branch, located on St. Charles Avenue, three miles west of the Superdome, is still recovering from the effects of Hurricane Katrina, which devastated the city in August According to Brother Van Dam, two wards and a branch totalling nearly 700 members were reduced to a single branch of fewer than 200 because of the effects of the storm. "Two of the buildings were destroyed and most of the members were displaced," he said. "They took three congregations and consolidated them into one branch." The LDS Church in New Orleans Post Katrina Well the First Presidency has shaken things up finally in New Orleans. Here are the changes.the Ponchartrain Ward, the Chalmette Ward (Slidell, LA Stake), and the Uptown Branch no longer exist. The Uptown Branch is now the New Orleans 1st Branch and encompasses ALL of Orleans, St. Bernard and the East Bank of Plaquemines Parish. This includes all oil platforms in the Gulf north of Carlisle, LA and West of Pearl River, MS. Despite the addition of over 200 square miles of territory, the branch received no active Melchezidek Priesthood holders and President Van Dam presides over the great majority of the devastated areas due to Katrina and Rita. The Ponchartrain Ward and all of the Uptown Branch in Jefferson Parish have now been folded into the Jefferson Ward with Kirk Gomez as Bishop. A number of LDS Military personnel have died and been injured in the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars see the study the justification to go to war 10

11 LDS Marines die in Afghanistan Deseret News 13 Mar 2010 Two LDS Marines died recently in separate combat incidents while supporting Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan. Killed were: U.S. Marine Lance Cpl. Carlos A. Aragon, 19, of Orem, Utah. U.S. Marine Lance Cpl. Nigel K. Olsen, 21, of Salem, Utah. Both men were graduates of Utah's Mountain View High School and lost their lives while serving in Afghanistan's Helmand Province. 11