Diocese of Colombo, Church of Ceylon, Sri Lanka
A Theological Reflection on
Disaster Response People of all communities in all nations face disasters from time to time. When we have a look back at the history of the world, we can identify many such disasters from time immemorial. With the huge development of mass communications in the late 20th century, scenes of disasters, even in the remotest corners of the world, are instantaneously brought into people’s homes today. Humans have tried to cope in various ways when faced with such disaster situations. The instinct to provide some immediate relief is a spontaneous reaction. There is hardly any time to engage in assessing the real needs of the victims. Whatever is available is given to assist them. From here, one moves to a much more organized relief and rehabilitation effort, followed by development and advocacy work. This type of organized response needs careful planning, assessment of real needs, taking into account relief delivery capacity, interventions and negotiations. If communities are equipped beforehand and systems are in place, then all humanitarian work carried out will be of quality and will preserve the dignity of the victims. Often, human responses to disasters are emotional if the communities are not prepared in disaster mitigation and management. Emotional responses will meet only part of the immediate needs, but will not assist the persons to transform their lives and communities. When the tsunami waves struck Asia on December 26, 2004, around 40,000 lives were lost in my country, Sri Lanka alone. There was chaos all over. People lost their lives, belongings and property. Infrastructure was destroyed. Many places of religious worship opened their premises to Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs). In one instance, I recall, residents of a town close to Colombo donated dinner packets to feed the displaced on December 26, but it was in excess. The organizers took the excess dinner packets to another town situated about 30 kilometers away where another group of displaced were housed. After feeding the IDPs in that town also there was excess food and that food was buried. Sri Lanka also lost a golden opportunity to rebuild the country. Had there been strategic planning and coordination, there is no doubt that the country would have been rebuilt quicker and better
What lessons can be drawn from the response mentioned above for future disaster responses? The Book of Nehemiah refers to the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem after being destroyed by the enemy. People too were taken into captivity. The people lost their dignity. Nehemiah was one of those captives. After some time, Nehemiah had a desire to rebuild Jerusalem. He informed the king of his intention. The king gave his consent as well as material assistance. However, Nehemiah realized that the greatest asset he had for the task was human resources, and without people rebuilding was impossible. 1.2 pastors and disasters