Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Rome (Agenzia Fides) – “It has been an authentic disaster. First of all, for the loss of life in the tragedy: there is an extremely high death toll. Then also, for the destruction caused by the cyclone; in addition to the houses, the cyclone heavily hit the agriculture industry with the loss of livestock, tools, the flooding of fields, systems of irrigation destroyed...” Archbishop Paul Zinghtung Grawng of Mandalay, President of the Bishops’ Conference of Myanmar, told Fides during his visit to Rome for the Ad Limina Apostolorum visit.
According to the United Nations, 134,000 people have died or been displaced by Cyclone Nargis, that on May 2, struck the Irrawady Delta region in southern Myanmar. 2.5 million people have lost their homes. There is also a great fear of epidemics.
“The Catholic Church quickly began working to offer its collaboration and aid,” Archbishop Grawng said. The Archbishop held a meeting on May 8 with a team of experts, in order to prepare a program of emergency response and sent a message to all the parishes of the Archdiocese asking the faithful to contribute donations for the purchase of food and first aid materials.
“We are organizing aid throughout the country. Our contribution has reached all the dioceses of Myanmar and we are helping to distribute the international aid that arrives. We are also receiving help from the volunteers that arrive from different parts of the world, giving them a sense of direction when they arrive to the distraught areas.”
“Our priests, religious, and laity with medical experience (doctors and nurses) are helping the people not only in their physical, but also in their psychological recuperation.”
In spite of the great tragedy that has struck the country, the President of the Bishops’ Conference of Myanmar has not lost the hope of being able to continue the work of evangelization in the country, for example “that which is carried out among the tribes that live in the mountains. It is not an easy task, but for some time now the various populations of the country have had a greater opportunity to meet and get to know each other. Thus, it becomes easier for someone who does not know Christ to come in contact with those who bear witness to the Christian faith with their lives,” Archbishop Grawng concluded. (LM) (Agenzia Fides 28/5/2008 righe 32, parole 386)
