Blog: Disaster Relief

More than four years ago Syrian refugees in search of mercy began fleeing to neighboring countries to escape unspeakable mayhem in their homeland. Early in the crisis, compassionate outreach was abundant for those broken souls, with Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey opening their borders, and through 2013, Israel provided field hospital medical care to at least 700 severely wounded and critically ill innocent citizens who were delivered to or collapsed at checkpoints.

Not so long ago, thousands of families in Syria and Iraq found their lives turned upside down. A need for safe harbor drove them to nearby Jordan. Within a year more than half a million were living in an unfamiliar land.

Dzia’s Journey

Dzia* was named after her great-grandmother, who came to Syria in 1915 during the Armenian Genocide, toting Dzia’s grandmother - an infant at the time - and two great-uncles at her side on the arduous journey. As a second generation Armenian-Syrian, recently Dzia found herself in a position eerily similar to her great-grandmother’s.

Many have known the corner of the world we call the Middle East as a place of consistent tumult filled with intermittent bursts of violence. This land harbors some of the most beautiful and intriguing sites for tourists and explorers, but foreigners are often warned to tread the ground gingerly for fear of getting caught in life-threatening violence. Currently, savage acts are holding the lives of the innocent in the balance as they cry out for relief...for an end to depravity and a beginning of a sustained way of life.

We finished our Disaster Relief Team Training on the beautiful island of Maui. The training went great and all who attended were excellent.

It was also fun.

April 25th, 2015 was a day that many Nepali people will not forget. The earth shook…and shook and shook and they wondered, “Is this the end?”

No other relief organization has reached this area yet.

Desperately needing tarps for shelter, their homes collapsed from the violent shaking, families gather hopelessly in destroyed villages.

“Everyone thought this is the last day of their life. Not only one time, but hundreds of times the quake hit and the earth shook,” shares Kiran Karki, National Leader of Nepal in his official report of the event. Not only has Kiran and his team been tending to their families, but their neighbors, as well.

While our staff is safe, there are many thousands who were not. Seven days after the earthquake hit, nearly 6,000 people were found dead and about twice that number were injured. Various news sources estimate once all the rubble is cleared, lives lost will total much higher.

“My children are traumatized by the sight of seeing many of our neighbors killed in the earthquake. Hundreds of our neighbors are camped out in our front yard.”

These are the words of our National Leader, Kiran as we talked on the phone a few minutes ago.

I am sure you are aware the 7.8 magnitude earthquake that shook Nepal two days ago has been followed by over 100 after shocks. In Kathmandu, our leader reports there is no one in the hospitals because they are sleeping in the open air. The roads are blocked; food and water are becoming very rare.