Anglican Communion News Service

(This article is based on a report by Jane Davidson of Anglican Journal)

The joint efforts of Church groups, including the Anglican Church of Canada, which swiftly responded to the earthquake disaster in El Salvador and Gujarat earlier in the year, are to center their attention on rebuilding the two areas and to help form emergency response groups.

The Primate's World Relief and Development Fund (PWRDF) staff member in charge of Asia and the Pacific, Ms Bern Jaguno, said that donations for earthquake victims are still coming in from Anglican parishes and individuals through the PWRDF. "We have not completed our tallies yet, but the amount will definitely be going up", she said.

Plans to send money for relief and to back up the readiness efforts in both El Salvador and the state of Guravaj in India by PWRDF are on the pipeline. By the end of February, PWRDF had provided $15,000 for emergency assistance to El Salvador and $25,000 to India through Action By the Churches Together (ACT). ACT is a worldwide alliance of churches and related agencies meeting human needs through coordinated emergency response system.

With the help of ACT several local community churches have established rescue brigades, outfitting old vans with first-aid equipment and second-hand rescue hardware, and dedicated their Sunday afternoons to practising their skills.

Lutheran World Federation (LWF) country representative, Rudelmar Bueno de Faria, said, emergency preparedness at a local level is essential. He said, "We can't keep a permanent staff waiting for disasters, so we have to have volunteers, trained people, ready to go on short notice".

ACT's Church Auxiliary for Social Action (CASA), operating in India has received a contribution of 1,000 metric tonnes of food grains and is launching a food for work programme. People clear roads, build roads and repair and build community infrastructures, an activity, which prevents them from migrating away from the area because of scarce food and jobs.

Disaster preparedness and planning are part of CASA's efforts to contribute to the reconstruction process. It also hopes to put up houses for the destitute in three villages of Bhuj Taluk of Kutch district and three villages of Jodiya Taluk in Jamnagar District, using local material, and accommodating climate climatic conditions of this desert-like: very hot in the day, very cold at night.

The earthquake has also affected the aquifers and water table. CASA said it would promote sustainable rainwater harvesting and dry land farming measures in the region.