Catholic Nias Island where funerals continued Wednesday, March 30, after a devastating earth quake which officials said claimed at least one thousand lives. Most of the deaths from Monday night’s 8.7-magnitude earthquake in the Indian Ocean were reportedly on Nias, about 120 kilometers (75 miles) south of the epicenter. An Associated Press (AP) news agency reporter saw how a Christian, Datot Mendra, prepared to spend the night lying next to his wife.
On Wednesday he was to bury her along with his sister and two other relatives. "What will I tell my children?" the 55-year-old restaurant owner was quoted as saying. "I can’t face it. My faith in Jesus is helping me through this."
BODIES IN SHEETS
Mendra’s wife was reportedly among some 20 bodies wrapped in white sheets, candles flickering at their heads, laid out on the street outside the Santa Maria church in Gunung Stili town on Nias. Experts said the quake was likely an aftermath of the December 26 earthquake and resulting tsunami, although locals stressed Monday’s night was more powerful.
One in three buildings, including churches, were apparently seriously damaged in the latest earth quake, leaving many Christians destitute and in need of aid, reports from the area suggested. "Frankly, following the December tsunami, most of the aid from governments, the United Nations, and secular relief organizations [did] not make it into the hands of minority Christians in Indonesia," said Christian Freedom International (CFI) President Jim Jacobson.
"That’s why donations from private charities, churches and individuals are so vitally important," added Jacobson, in a statement monitored by BosNewsLife. CFI said it had a container of blankets, tools, clothing, cooking utensils, soap, medicines and other aid for Nias scheduled for shipment next week.
MORE DEADS LIKELY
The December 26 Indian Ocean epic earthquake and tsunami, which killed more than 126,000 in Indonesia’s Aceh province on Sumatra and thousands more throughout the region left 340 dead and 10,000 homeless on Nias, reports said. Monday’s quake was likely to dramatically increase the number of homeless and dead, aid officials claimed.
"Portions of Nias, located near the west coast of Northern Sumatra in Indonesia, were ravaged by the December 2004 Tsunami. Now, the area reels from another earthquake," added Dan Carpenter, president of World in Need, an Angleton, Texas-based subsidiary of Christian aid group New Life International.
Carpenter stressed that the island, with a population of roughly 600,000, had "the worst base level medical care of any area that I have ever visited." He said hit organization was building a hospital, while World in Need would provide medical equipment and support relief and construction supplies.
CHURCH LEADERS CONCERNED
The latest earthquake also added to a sense of urgency among Church leaders to combine efforts in what they call the "post tsunami" period. Indonesia’s former minister for human rights, Hasballah M. Saad reportedly welcomed the establishment of the Foundation for the Nation Association, a group set up by Protestant and Catholic groups to deal with social and educational issues.
He denied allegations that the mainly Muslim locals in the tsunami ravaged Aceh province refused assistance from Christian groups, the Catholic oriented AsiaNews news agency quoted him as saying. "The issue was intentionally created by certain groups to isolate and to make the Acehnese suffer more," he reportedly said.
Easter gave a moral boost for suffering believers, Reuters news agency reported from Banda Aceh where Christians packed churches Easter Sunday, three months after colossal waves shattered their lives a day after Christmas.
CHRISTIANS STILL CELEBRATE
"Today is a victorious day. It is a time to be thankful and set aside our sorrow and fear," churchgoer Pintaria Boru Karo said after distributing food following the packed Easter prayer at Banda Aceh’s main Protestant Church, Reuters reported.
Yet a few blocks away, in the city’s only Catholic church, the congregation reportedly prayed for 37 parishioners who lost their lives in the tragedy. Benjamin, a parishioner who only gave one name, told Reuters there was still much to do before he could open his photo shop again but he vowed to be strong.
"My store was damaged and looted so getting back into business is hard. But I have faith and as Jesus has carried the cross for us, I must also be able to put up with this," he reportedly said.
(With BosNewsLife News Center, reports from Jakarta, Nias Island, Banda Aceh and BosNewsLIfe Research).
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