During a moving and at times tearful church
service, Christians in Gandhidham, Gujarat, sought to come to terms on
Sunday (Feb 11) with the destruction wrought by the worst earthquake in
living memory.
Members of the congregation of Salem
church spoke of loved ones who died when the ground buckled beneath them
on January 26th. As they told of their loss others joined in their
grieving. "It was a dignified and controlled display of emotion,"
says Andrew Boyd, of Christian relief and development agency, Tearfund.
Women in gold, red and green saris, their heads covered, sat to the right, while men sat to the left praying fervently and giving thanks to God for delivering them from destruction. "The devastation is vast and will take months and years to repair," said pastor Nesamani Stephens. "People have gone through great trauma and fear. The Holy Spirit is our comforter."
Salem church has become the base for the relief effort by Tearfund partner agency, EFICOR (Evangelical Fellowship of India Commission on Relief). Half the church is piled up with sacks full of grain, boxes of oil and tents. On Sunday the remainder became a place of worship.
The church is a centre for aid distribution to almost 70 villages, many of which were almost wiped out by the quake.
On Friday there were angry and chaotic scenes surrounding relief distribution in one quake-stricken village where only 10 of the 515 houses are still standing. Aid workers struggled to bring order to a desperate and confused situation. Villagers defied relief workers' attempts to make an orderly distribution of tents to the most needy. Quarrelling broke out when it was discovered there were not enough tents for everyone.
Eventually, village leaders asked the EFICOR relief team to take their truckload of tents back to their base with them, rather than risk 'murder' breaking out. As the truck made to leave the stricken village, a number of men and youths scrambled aboard the moving vehicle. Several fell to the ground as it pulled away, one holding aloft his prize - a stolen tent.
Later the same day at the same village, another relief vehicle laden with tents was boarded and several tents were looted. Supervising the distribution attempt was Dr Reeta Rao, a volunteer. Following in a jeep as the truck beat its retreat, she said: "People are fighting, anyone who can grabs and those who are weakest will not get anything."
The crowd was whipped up when a relief truck from a different Indian agency arrived while Dr Rao was trying to negotiate the phased distribution of her tents. Aid workers tossed blankets and clothing off the back of the truck to a forest of eager hands. Scuffles broke out where two caught the same blanket. The indiscriminate distribution amounted to the survival of the fittest.
Last Tuesday, two EFICOR workers were beaten up as they tried to distribute food in a slum area of Gandhidham town. "There was talk then that we should stop," said Kennedy Dhanabalan, EFICOR's manager of programmes, "but on Wednesday and Thursday it went well." He refuses to be discouraged: "Once you win the confidence of the people it is a smooth ride."
Kennedy is calling on the government to co-ordinate the ad hoc NGO relief effort and is considering asking for police protection if the trouble continues. "There are groups that just come to throw out relief and go," he says. "But EFICOR is here for the long term. We have to win the confidence of the people that we are here to stay."
Successful aid distribution, believes Kennedy, is largely down to the skill of the volunteers in managing crowd control and expectations. "It isn't easy," says Kennedy, "but we will keep on trying." EFICOR is looking for more volunteers to help with aid distribution. Forty-five helpers per day are going out into the countryside in rented jeeps and trucks. Support has come in from churches and Christian organisations all over the country.
"They are the backbone of the whole work," says Kennedy. "Like Christ said, they are the leaders, because they are the ones who are serving. We need more of them."
EFICOR is planning to distribute around 10,000 tents, 30,000 blankets and 20,000 cots, as well as 200 rupees' worth of utensils each to 10,000 families. It has already given out food and medicine.
Ends
For further: Contact Keith Ewing, Tearfund Senior Media Officer, +44 20 8977 6061.