A Christian Response to Crisis Situations
The church and disasters
In difficult times of disaster the church is called to do its role:
To be "moved with compassion" at the sight of human misery around us.
The church in Antioch provides a good model of holistic ministry. When
the famine in Judea took place, every believer in Antioch: "the
disciples, each according to his ability, decided to provide help for
the brothers living in Judea." (Acts 11:29)
The church is uniquely placed to provide effective relief in time of
disaster. Why?
1. The church is already `on the ground' and able to react
immediately in the disaster area.
2. The church (despite some parochial tendencies) is a reliable
screening body to identify people in needs in the community.
3. After relief operations, the church can serve as a natural
infrastructure for follow-up. Relief agencies come and go but the
local church remains.
The church involved in social assistance (relief or development
assistance) can be a powerful witness to Christ. The common testimony
of churches, which had participated in relief, was their growth in
terms of increased Bible study attendance and church membership. When
the gospel is not only preached but also demonstrated during relief
many respond.
?? The issue of `rice Christians'. There is always the danger to use
relief as `baits' for catching souls from poverty. We need to be
conscious of the risk that as we are `demonstrating the gospel' by
provision of relief or development services that the beneficiaries
will make a false profession of faith to obtain the help that they
desperately need.
As churches we need to be extremely sensitive to this issue. The
emphasis on receiving salvation in the Scripture is freedom; God's
great desire is for willing disciples. Joshua example of free choice
is wonderful: `But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then
choose for yourselves this day to whom you will serve… But as for me
and my household, we will serve the Lord' (Joshua 24:15)
Jesus himself was aware of this danger and at one moment he told the
crowd who were the beneficiaries of the feeding program for 5.000
people: `I tell you the truth, you are looking for me, not because
you saw miraculous signs but because you ate the loaves and had you
fill' (John 6:26)
Whatever the dangers, they should not paralyze the Church to inaction
but rather to creatively face them to deliver the needed services for
the good of the people around us and the glory of God.
Disasters and meanings
Disasters: natural (earthquakes, floods, droughts, or volcanic
eruptions) or man made (war, revolution, major displacements of
people or diseases) are to be expected in this fallen world. Most of
them are clearly pictured in the Bible. These have happened with
Israel or with the nations around them as a direct consequence of
their fail to obey God's Law.
A special category is the one predicted by Jesus in Matthew 24, Mark
13 and Luke 21. Although these are not special in themselves, they
are all parts of the period that characterize the age until the
Jesus' return to earth in His glory.
In Luke 21:13 we read: `This will be your chance to tell the Good
News'. This means that disasters (crisis) are one of the contexts,
and indeed one of the forces, which help spread the Gospel of Jesus
Christ. When Christians react to disasters in the way that Jesus
indicates, it becomes evidence of the truth of the Gospel.
History shows that this view is true. During persecutions (Acts 9) or
the Roman Empire migration, Christianity spread very quickly and soon
became the state religion of the most civilized world.
Principles of Christian disaster relief involvement:
1. Our engagement in disaster must be efficient and effective, meeting
real needs in a God-honoring way
2. Relief efforts must be done with genuine care and compassion and total
respect for the people in their culture
3. The relief worker's life style and manners should evidence the fact
that the Good News is true
4. We shouldn't attempt to discriminate in distribution of the suppliesv
5. Explanations and verbalization of the Christian message need to be
adapted to the degree of knowledge of and favorable attitude to Jesus
Christ in the context where we work
6. We should always think about the long-term effects on the people in
their journey toward finding salvation and act now to encourage in their
progress in the future.
The disaster cycle
The disaster phases do not take place in isolation. There is a cyclical
relationship between all the phases. In the following lines we will
discuss each of these major phases.
The Recovery (Post-Disaster) Process
The main concern after a disaster took place should be recovery. The
recovery process begins with Relief and continues with Rehabilitation
and Reconstruction
Relief: follows immediately after the disaster event. This activity
seeks to satisfy the immediate and basic needs of disaster survivors.
Relief involves feeding, clothing, sheltering, medical care and
emotional security (counseling therapy). Sometime this process will
be directed at saving lives (in floods, earthquakes, etc) and
alleviating further suffering. It usually lasts days or weeks after
disasters. In case of long-onset disasters the period may last for
months or even years.
Basic needs and responses needs in relief process:
Security: the sense of lack of security is common in all disaster
events. Relief activities should be able to enhance people's sense of
security
Food: minimal food rations 2.000 Kcal/daily. There are also special
food needs of babies and pregnant/lactating women as well as sick
people. Lack of fruit and fresh vegetables could lead to vitamin
deficiency.
Water/Sanitation: possible the first priority in disasters sites;
especially drinkable water. Sanitation is also very important for
disease prevention.
Housing/clothing: housing in different facilities (camps, homes,
collective centers, etc) Clothing needs are always high in disasters.
Health: curative and preventive health care. The most vulnerable
groups are small children, old and sick. New programs needs to be set
to help deal with the trauma related emotional/mental health care.
Education: Important on the long-term crisis.
Income/Jobs: Important on long-term crisis.
Hope (love): the special place where the church could offer something
significant. It is an important factor both on long term as well as in
short-term crisis.
Rehabilitation: it seeks to restore the basic services necessary to
enable population to return to previous conditions. An example could
be providing seeds or enabling the re-starting of business.
Reconstruction: it involves the reconstruction of buildings, or other
public facilities destroyed during the disaster An analogy from every
day life may help in describing these steps: a person is involved in
an accident (a Disaster Event) and is taken to the hospital, placed
for the beginning in the Intensive care unit (Relief). Once his
condition is stabilized he is moved in the regular patient place
(Rehabilitation). As the healing process continues, this person is
allowed to return home but is not permitted to return to work during
convalescence (Reconstruction).
The Protection (Pre-Disaster) Process
We are not only to respond to immediate disasters, attention needs to
drawn on the protection for the future disasters too. This process of
protection includes mitigation and preparedness phases.
Mitigation: is the form of preventive action or risk deduction. The
essence of mitigation is to introduce safety measures that seek to
stop a disaster from causing damage or, more frequently, minimize the
extent of the damage. Many of the development programmes could also
be regarded as mitigation measures.
Preparedness: is helping the community to be ale to better cope with
the hazard when it occurs. This process includes planning measures
such as evacuation plans or contingent plans in case of refugee flood
imminence.
************************************
George and Nicoleta DUMITRASCU
Albania/Romania
