LDS Church Responds to Earthquake in Chile

Leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are determining how the Church can be of most assistance in the wake of one of the most powerful earthquakes of the last century. With over half a million Latter-day Saints living in Chile, the Church has a substantial presence.  There are well over 100 Mormon missionaries in the country.  They were well prepared for the quake through the guidance of the Holy Spirit given to their mission president.  All safe and accounted for, they were able to render assistance to their neighbors almost immediately. 

“We, along with the rest of the world, are watching with concern as reports from the massive earthquake in Chile continue to unfold.  As with any disaster, immediate details are difficult to confirm.

“We have confirmed that all of the Church’s missionaries in Chile have reported in and are safe, including the two elders on the Juan Fernandez Island.” (This is an update from a report earlier today when some missionaries had not reported in).  

Latter-day Saints are counseled by their leaders to store food, water, clothing and fuel against unpredicted emergencies, and this helps them weather such disasters and again be ready to help their neighbors.  Local leaders and members began relief efforts shortly after the quake distributing food and water already located in Concepción. Early reports indicate that one Church member has died.

Church leaders have identified that food, water, tents, blankets, hygiene kits and sleeping mats are needed to assist people in the affected region. Representatives of the Church in Chile have been in contact with the country’s Interior Ministry to determine how the Church can most appropriately assist in relief efforts. Emergency response personnel at Church headquarters are poised to provide assistance as appropriate.  Leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Chile delivered six tons of food from local bishops’ storehouses to the city of Talca on 2 March to help meet needs in several cities north of Concepción.  A second shipment of 20 tons of food is expected to reach Concepción on 3 March. Two additional shipments of food have been sent to affected areas to the south of Concepción.

Most Latter-day Saint meetinghouses in Chile fared well in the quake, though many are filled with dust. At least three meetinghouses suffered extensive structural damage, and another was severely flooded. A house that also served as a meetinghouse was swept away in the tsunami triggered by the earthquake.  Those wishing to donate to the Church Humanitarian Aid Fund can do so here. Resources from the Church Humanitarian Aid Fund make it possible for the Church to conduct humanitarian activities all over the world. One hundred percent of all contributions are used to help the needy.

Mormon Church Provides $4.25 Million in Aid to Haiti

In the first month following Haiti’s devastating January 12, 2010, earthquake, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints provided an estimated $4.25 million in assistance, with plans for ongoing relief and recovery support for the ravaged Caribbean nation.

Relief efforts have included providing food, relief supplies, shelters for displaced Haitians and medical teams to treat the injured and ailing.

The LDS Church has shipped 28 truckloads of relief supplies — including nine air shipments — to Haiti.

Food and relief supplies included 208,834 pounds of food, 16,070 water-filtration bottles, 12,840 hygiene kits, 11,760 blankets, 4,000 first-aid kits, 2,304 newborn kits, 1,696 tents, 1,319 tarps, 600 quilts and 25 medical supply modules.

Other items range from gas-powered cooking stoves to mattresses.  Additionally, five truckloads of food and relief supplies were driven across the island from the church’s Caribbean area facilities in the neighboring Dominican Republic, while local church leaders were authorized to use fast-offering funds to purchase food and water in the first days immediately after the quake.

Nine of the Port-au-Prince LDS meetinghouses have been used as emergency shelters, with up to 9,000 people total — not just LDS Church members — seeking assistance or staying on the meetinghouse grounds.  The Church has also provided food, relief and some cash assistance to a number of nongovernmental organizations, including CARE, Food for  thePoor, Red Cross, International Relief and Development, Islamic Relief and Healing Hands for Haiti. Local church leaders also have provided additional assistance to Haitian charitable organizations.

The church has sent several first-response medical teams, totaling 17 doctors and three nurses, with specialties including trauma, orthopedics, family practice, emergency room and critical care.  Two mental health counselors also assisted at the shelters. Additional medical and mental-health professionals have since gone to Haiti to continue the assisting and assessing needs. [1]

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Haitian Latter-day Saints

“Those who are members [of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints] begin with a gift not easily duplicated—and that is they see themselves differently.  This is the secret, the very key to escaping the culture of poverty.

“They see themselves not as helpless or hopeless, but on a spiritual journey of growth, children of God with a destiny that lies far beyond the broken hovels.  They have testimonies, understand the scriptures, talk with insight about the meaning of their lives.  They have as President Ezra Taft Benson used to say, not just been taken out of the slums, but have had the slums taken out of them.

“They have vision.  They see themselves differently than do their fellows. While Haiti seeks to build a new infrastructure, the Haitian Latter-day Saints have a personal foundation that is unwavering and firm.  An infrastructure in their nation will follow the building of an internal infrastructure based on a sure foundation.

“We have never met better people than among the Haitian Latter-day Saints, nor seen former missionaries who were so in love with the people they had taught and baptized.

“We have never seen miracles more lavishly given from the Lord than among the members in Haiti who are coping with such difficult odds.

“Beyond that, the Church works to promote education and leadership among the people.  Those who have everything given to them, without expectation of work and effort, grow heavy and dull-eyed with apathy and expectation.  In contrast, the Church is there to bring food and shelter in an emergency, but it is all toward the end of ultimately developing the people, their self-sufficiency and their eternal nature.  They are taught to help themselves, become someone who can be counted on, someone who is productive.

“We remember being in Ghana at the time of the temple dedication, learning about the huge numbers of unemployed Latter-day Saints there, the many that were sunk below the poverty line.  We were told by priesthood leaders there that the goal for the area was to be self-sufficient in fast offerings and be able to cover the needs of their own poor.  That is a high expectation, indeed, but not an unrealistic one, as the ability of people to stand is developed by their membership in the Church.”  (Meridian Magazine Report.)

Mormons Remember 1985 Fast for Ethiopians

2010 is the 25th anniversary of an especially successful and heartwarming humanitarian aid project funded by members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  Leaders of the LDS Church visited a feeding camp in Ethiopia which housed 120,000 refugees.  30,000 more were trying to be admitted.  The people were hollow-eyed and starving.  The Church had called upon its members to hold a special fast and to donate the money that would have been spent on meals to the starving people in Ethiopia.  Latter-day Saints fast on the first Sunday of each month, anyway, and then donate the money saved on skipped meals to the Church for the support of the poor.  That day is called “fast Sunday” by members of the Church.  This special fast brought in donations of $6 million US dollars from Latter-day Saints worldwide.

Elder M. Russell Ballard, then of the Presidency of the Seventy and now a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, and Elder Glenn L. Pace, then managing director of the Church’s Welfare Department and now of the First Quorum of the Seventy, were in Ethiopia to determine how best to use the money donated. 

“While the Church has always responded to the suffering caused by various disasters, the Ethiopian famine triggered a more methodical and organized effort than had been experienced before,” Elder Pace said.  Church leaders held sacred the funds raised in the fast, as well as a second fast held in November 1985 that raised an additional $5 million. To expedite its Church’s humanitarian endeavors, the Church began to form relationships with humanitarian organizations to help those in need.

In the 25 years since that fast, the Church has sent $1.1 billion in assistance to 167 nations. That includes 61,308 tons of food, 12,829 tons of medical supplies, 84,681 tons of clothing and 8.6 million hygiene, newborn and school kits.

And each year the Church’s ability to assist others increases as other humanitarian organizations (many with which the Church now partners) have become acquainted with the Church, said Presiding Bishop H. David Burton. “They know our integrity. They know that when we commit, we follow through. I think we have earned a place among the very best of the non-governmental organizations around the world.”

Today, members may provide support for humanitarian work by donating online, donating through LDS Philanthropies, by giving items to the Deseret Industries or by serving at some of the hundreds of established Church welfare facilities located around the world.

The Church guarantees that every penny donated to the humanitarian fund is used for the care of the poor and the needy.

Aid for Samoa Continues to Pour In

150,000 pounds of relief goods have been shipped from Salt Lake City to Samoa to help with relief efforts there, after a tsunami devastated parts of the island on September 29, 2009.  The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will continue to provide help, now even looking at homes that will need to be rebuilt.

Because of the structure of the Church and its lay clergy, members automatically know how to organize to help in an emergency.  All worthy males hold the priesthood, organized into quorums, and men and women are assigned to watch over assigned families on an ongoing basis.  When a general emergency occurs, members are able to assess the needs of the community quickly and get information passed up the line to priesthood leaders and then to the central leadership of the Church.  The humanitarian aid and welfare organizations of the Church rely on contributions of time and funds from church members.  These efforts are also ongoing, so that there is a constantly maintained supply of emergency goods ready to be shipped to disaster areas at a moment’s notice.

Within two hours aid was already arriving locally as coordinated by local Samoan priesthood leaders.  A Church-chartered DC-10 aircraft filled with relief supplies took off from the Salt Lake City International Airport Oct. 6 and arrived in Western Samoa that same day.  The bulk of the air shipment consisted of essential provisions needed by victims who were, in some instances, left with nothing besides the clothes on their backs: food, hygiene items, clothing, bedding, mosquito nets, wheelchairs and crutches.  The Church partnered with Islamic Relief to cover the cost of chartering the cargo plane.  Islamic Relief has developed a relationship of trust and friendship with the Church while working together in the aftermath of catastrophes such as Hurricane Katrina.

When the air shipment arrived in Apia, Samoa, a team of workers that included full-time missionaries unloaded the massive payload, placed the various items on trucks and moved them to the Church’s warehouse in Samoa (formerly Western Samoa). Items in the first wave of the relief shipment were then transported to affected regions to be distributed by the local priesthood leaders to members and others in need. The remainder of the supplies were warehoused and will continue to be distributed to those in need under the direction of priesthood leaders.

Canned, boxed and bagged food items from the shipment included corn, peaches, rice, pears, beef stew and dried milk (LDS Church News, October 17, 2009).

Samoans living in less impacted regions appear to be returning to their normal, daily routines, he added. The missionaries continue to be utilized in more troubled areas.

LDS Aid in Tsunami-Stricken Samoa

In October, 2009, an 8.3 earthquake occurred in the sea southwest of Samoa and American Samoa.  Since there are a large number of Latter-day Saints on the islands, local Saints and church leaders first tried to locate every member.  Emergency response was then coordinated between the Church and local congregations.  About 150 people died in Samoa, American Samoa and Tonga, 26 of whom were Latter-day Saints.  All Mormon missionaries on the islands were accounted for and found to be safe.

Latter-day Saint authorities in Samoa and New Zealand have continued to devote substantial energies to organizing humanitarian relief locally for the battered islands of Samoa and American Samoa.

Latter-day Saints throughout unaffected areas in Samoa have been gathering supplies and are continually shipping these to the impacted communities. Aid is to be given to all people in need, regardless of their religious affiliation (MormonTimes.com).

In American Samoa, at the request of the government, church meeting houses have been opened to residents who lost their homes in the disaster.

In Tonga, the tsunami crushed the small northern island of Niuatoputapu, destroying most of the homes in its three villages and leaving roughly 90 percent of its 1,019 people without shelter and clothing. Survivors reported that the waves reached the boughs of the coconut trees and obliterated the island’s hospital, bank, government offices, telecommunication facilities, jail and airport buildings. Nine people died and four were critically injured.

No Latter-day Saints were killed in Tonga, although some lost their homes and all their possessions.

Church members on Tonga’s main island of Tongatapu provided relief for the people of Niuatoputapu. On Thursday, Tongatapu’s 12 stake presidents broadcast a message on local Tonga radio inviting church members to donate food, clothing, cooking equipment, pillows, blankets and other necessities.

Church members were invited to drop their donations at their local churches, where full-time missionaries helped load them into trucks. At first light Friday, dozens of trucks began transporting the goods to government warehouses. From there, military trucks transported them to the nearby wharf, where they were loaded into a French ship, which will carry them to Niuatoputapu.

Government leaders on all three islands were impressed with the speed and coordinated efforts of the LDS Church and its members and expressed gratitude for the help.  Rebuilding efforts will also receive the continuing attention of the LDS Church.  The Church is still continuing rebuilding efforts in the tsunami-stricken regions of Indonesia and Thailand, even though the disaster occurred several years ago.

http://newsroom.lds.org/ldsnewsroom/eng/news-releases-stories/church-update-on-pacific-earthquake-and-tsunami-crisis

Click here to read a personal account of the devastation in Samoa.  This article has many before and after photographs.

LDS Response to Typhoon Morakot in Taiwan

August 21, 2009 — LDS Newsroom Blog

The deadliest storm to hit Taiwan in 50 years, typhoon Morakot surged through earlier this month, killing 141 people and leaving hundreds more missing. Roads to dozens of villages also remained blocked, and thousands of people were living in disaster relief shelters.

In addition to helping church members with immediate needs, the Church is working with government and other agencies to provide relief.  Food, water, hygiene supplies, generators, pumps and other relief supplies have been purchased or rented to assist families and individuals in the community. Donations from Church members of rice, water and other daily necessities have been collected and distributed.

Church buildings are being used as staging areas for cleanup projects.  More than 1,000 Church members from across Taiwan have joined with missionaries to assist in cleanup efforts in affected areas.  Nearly 50,000 Church members in 100 congregations live in Taiwan. There is also a Church temple there.

LDS, Islamic Leaders, share relief efforts

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has partnered with Islamic Relief USA to provide assistance in the wake of the December 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.  The partnership continued with emergency relief response following the May 2006 Indonesian earthquake.  In July, 2009, leaders of Islamic Relief USA met in Salt Lake City with LDS Church leaders.  Together, they toured church humanitarian aid facilities.  Abed Ayoub cited recent talks with the Jordanian government, saying that the LDS Church was highlighted. 

Islamic Relief USA is part of the larger Islamic Relief Worldwide family of charities.  The worldwide entity recently celebrated its 25 year anniversary.  The USA branch has been operating since 1993.  Islamic Relief is one of 1,500 registered non-government organizations and charitable agencies across the world that partner in humanitarian efforts with the LDS Church.

After the 2004 tsunami, the Church provided immediate relief by supplying water, food, hygiene kits, medical supplies, body bags, blankets, and clothing.  Long-term assistance by the Church is still ongoing, with home construction, the construction of schools and clinics, water and sanitation systems, and other projects under way.

In May, 2006, Islamic Relief provided a jumbo jet to transport $1.6 million worth of relief supplies provided by the Church after the Indonesian earthquake.  Islamic Relief was impressed that there were no strings attached to the generous donation of aid.  “[There was] no price tag and no attempts at conversion,” said Ahmad El Bendary, Senior Advisor for Islamic Relief.  “The Church has been welcomed with open arms because of their neutrality.”

The “Third Pillar” of Islam is called the principle of zakat, or the principle of charitable giving.  Muslims donate 2.5 percent of their annual savings, 10 percent of their investment net profits, and a third of their crops to charitable projects.  Mormons donate 10 percent of their income to the Church, and a monthly donation to the poor.  There are also separate funds for education benefits and humanitarian aid that Mormons routinely donate to through the Church.  In addition, Mormons donate many hours of labor to the Church’s humanitarian efforts.  Said Diana Sufian, a senior humanitarian consultant for Islamic Relief, “This is God’s work, whether it be in the language of Islam or the language of the Mormons.  It’s a moral obligation.  We can do it — so we must do it.”

From Deseret News.com

Mormons Partner with the U.S. Navy

Atlantic Ocean 1 July 2009 

Volunteers from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are working alongside the United States Navy and other relief organizations as part of a humanitarian and medical training mission that is blessing the lives of thousands.

Aboard the USNS Comfort , a full-service medical hospital ship, Latter-day Saint volunteers are among those making stops in seven different countries in the Caribbean, South America and Central America on a mission called Continuing Promise 2009. At each stop, medical personnel and volunteers perform much-needed surgeries ranging from cleft palate reconstruction to cataract repair.

Dr. Susan Puls, Latter-day Saint volunteer medical coordinator, was asked to secure the volunteers for the mission in just two short weeks.  Miraculously, medical volunteers from among church members appeared very quickly.  

The ship is spending between 10 to 12 days at each of seven destinations: Haiti, Dominican Republic, Antigua, Colombia, Panama, Nicaragua and El Salvador.

Patients needing surgery are flown aboard the ship by helicopter where they are treated and remain for a short recovery. Meanwhile, additional volunteers travel to the shore in a 40-passenger boat each day to set up temporary clinics in schools and community centers. There they provide a variety of medical services to those who otherwise cannot afford it. To date, Continuing Promise 2009 personnel and volunteers have treated 56,000 people and have performed nearly 1,000 surgeries. Over 90,000 operations and procedures will be performed before the mission ends 31 July 2009.  In all, more than 40 Latter-day Saint volunteers will serve aboard the Comfort.

Full-time Church missionaries serving in the nations visited by the Comfort act as interpreters and help coordinate logistics. In the Dominican Republic alone, 25 full-time missionaries provided translation for doctors and other medical practitioners at on-shore clinics.

In addition to coordinating volunteers, the Church has donated nearly 250 pallets of humanitarian relief supplies, including medical resources, vitamins, hygiene kits, newborn kits, school kits, orphanage supplies, quilts, toys, first aid kits and blankets. These supplies have been donated to various organizations throughout the participating countries.

The Journey of a Peach

The journey of a single peach through the hands of thousands of Latter-day Saint volunteers to the mouths of a hurricane-torn family is proof that through small and simple acts of service the Church can collectively accomplish something large.

LDS Church News published a story called “Behind the Box,” describing the unselfish service of thousands of Latter-day Saints (Church News, Sept 27, 2008).  Local members cared for peach trees on the Church-owned farm in Ogden, Utah.  The peaches were delivered to a Church cannery in Lindon, Utah, where they were cleaned and processed by additional volunteers.

The cans emerged from the Lindon cannery with a Deseret label, not for commercial distribution, but for the welfare needs of the Church, and for humanitarian aid efforts.  The canned peaches were transported to “Welfare Square” in Salt Lake City, where additional Mormon volunteers packed them into “food boxes.”  The food boxes were then shipped by truck to Texas.

In Texas, the food boxes were unloaded and distributed to hurricane victims in the greater Houston area.

“The Church has 138 storehouses located around the Western Hemisphere; 108 of those storehouses are in the United States and Canada and 128 are operated entirely by volunteers. Food items for the storehouses are produced at canneries and other facilities across the United States.

“Each year, 14 Church canneries produce 12.6 million cans of food. In addition, Deseret Bakery produces 453,594 loaves of bread, Deseret Pasta produces 938,505 pounds of pasta and Deseret Soap produces 2.6 million pounds of soap. Deseret Dairy produces 9.8 million pounds of milk, 1.5 million pounds of powdered milk and 727,251 pounds of cheese.

“The Deseret label represents compassion, hard work and high quality,” said Brother Lifferth. “It is the only brand that money can’t buy,” he said, noting that the products are not sold but distributed to the poor and needy and victims of disasters.”

Ward Relief Society Humanitarian Aid Project

The Women’s organization of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon Church) is called the Relief Society.  Charity work is central to the organization, which is over 5 million strong.  Women meet together every Sunday as part of the typical sabbath block of meetings to learn about the Savior and principles of the gospel.  Four times each year, a ward (like a parish) will have an evening meeting for an enriching activity, and often these meetings are oriented towards performing humanitarian aid projects.  The North Mapleton Utah 8th Ward often sponsors welfare projects, and one was held on June 10, 2009 at the North Mapleton Stake Center in the cultural hall.  An area was designated for the assembling of quilts to be sent to disaster areas.  Tables were moved together end to end to create an assembly line to put together hygiene kits for disaster relief.  Refreshments were served, and the ladies enjoyed the cameraderie associated with such an events.  Such meetings and projects are ongoing in the Church on ward, stake, and all-church levels.

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