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Posted by news4uccyakima on 11/03/2011
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Global Ministries mission personnel located in Japan have transmitted their accounts of the 9.0-magnitude earthquake and resulting tsunami that devastated the northern region of the country Friday, March 11.
Japanese officials now estimate the death toll from the disaster at over 3,300 – a number that is expected to rise as search-and-rescue efforts continue. New fears over fires, explosions and leaks at nuclear power facilities have the country and international community on watch.
Global Ministries, the combined world mission of the United Church of Christ and Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), has three mission personnel serving in Japan. Martha Mensendiek and Casilda Luzares are professors at Doshisha University in Kyoto. Jeffrey Mensendiek, Martha’s brother, and his family are in hard-hit Sendai where he works as the youth director at the Emmaus Center.
Martha wrote Friday afternoon saying they felt the quake in Kyoto but damage was light in the area. Mensendiek also assured staff that her brother was safe but without electricity or gas.
By Sunday, power had been restored to Sendai and Jeffrey Mensendiek was able to send an email to Susan Sanders, the UCC’s minister for Global Sharing of Resources.
“Our family is fine,” he began. “Thank you so much for your prayers. Luckily we have had water all along which has been a true blessing.
“The worst destruction has been along the coast, where several of our churches, as well as homes of lay people in our churches are located. We are not able to get any information at this point to confirm whether they are OK or not. I will send out another email when I have more information. As for now, I want you to know that we are well, and grateful for your moral support.”
An update from Jeffrey Mensendiek Monday morning said his wife and family would be going to Kyoto due to concerns of radiation exposure in Sendai, what he called “a very serious situation.”
“Sendai is in turmoil,” he said. “Young people are evacuating. Most people at church are elderly. Without water and electricity, they are experiencing so much trouble in their daily life that for them the biggest priority is to get through the day with the basic necessities.”
Mensendiek indicated the possibility that the Emmaus Center, where he works, will become an information center for relief and recovery efforts. “We are still in the process of surmising the situation, gathering information and deciding how and when to accept help from those who are dying to help,” he said.
Sanders also received an email from Luzares Tuesday morning in which she says, “The enormity of the crisis is truly overwhelming.”
Luzares continues, “This morning I woke up, logged on to Facebook and clicked on a link that my daughter sent me – a sung prayer for Japan from someone from Serbia, I think, and I could not stop but let the tears flow. Just a few minutes ago as I was eating a bowl of noodles for lunch I remembered all those without food and water in this land of plenty and I could hardly continue. A few drops of tears blended with the soup.”
Expressing gratitude for the “outpouring of sympathy and expressions of caring from the world,” Luzares concludes, “God is still speaking … my heart needs to listen. Closely.”
Church World Services:
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Following the 9.0 earthquake and powerful tsunami that struck Japan overnight, global humanitarian agency Church World Service reports its emergency response staff are monitoring the unfolding situation around the Pacific Rim, where CWS has programs.
In Indonesia, where Church World Service has extensive operations, a tsunami of about 10 centimeters was detected in the North Sulawesi and Maluku islands.
Although the Indonesian meteorology and geophysics agency has now lifted the tsunami alert for Indonesia, CWS Indonesia staff report say they are staying in contact with two of the agency’s local partners in North Sulawesi who say that communities who have been under tsunami alerts were advised to take precautionary measures and many people have done so. Wave heights of up to 8 feet had been expected in some of those areas.
Church World Service’s Bangkok office is following the situation in Japan and across the region, while in Hawaii, where tsunami waves have reached the islands, CWS’s domestic team is monitoring that situation, working with local contacts in Hawaii.
Further reports, assessments and emergency response as needed will be issued as the situation unfolds.
