Columban parish in Peru cut off by devastating floods

March 24, 2017 Media Release –

Flooding in Peru. In wake of the unprecedented flooding in Peru, Columban Fr Kevin McDonagh in his parish in Samanco near Chimbote [420 kms north of Lima], has been cut off from the outside world. He is managing ok, but the situation is getting precarious for the people.

The worst is not quite yet over as rain is still expected over the next few weeks, with some of it moving south. The challenges ahead are enormous in terms of reconstruction, etc. There is little bottled water available, but fortunately there is water flowing again in Lima though with low pressure. It is worrying to think of so many people without clean water especially in the provincial areas.

So far there are 75 known deaths and over 100,000 people who are homeless. That figure will be multiplied when help reaches all the areas that have been incommunicado since the flooding began. It is mind boggling. We had bad flooding in 1982, and we all thought it was terrible. But that was child’s play in comparison to now. The question is how much more can the people take. Their response and solidarity so far has been nothing short of heroic. Even in the midst of all the suffering, we are seeing Peru and Peruvians at their very best. It is inspiring and heartbreaking all at once. These people are really heroic.

Please, we are asking for prayers and positive thoughts in solidarity with the people of Peru in these times of suffering, especially those most directly affected.

In Christ,

Fr Kevin O’Neill

Superior General

Missionary Society of St Columban 

'Flood Kitchen': Holy Week floods in Ba, Fiji, a Columban parish

This report was sent during Holy Week by Fr Donal McIlraith, an Irish Columban who has been in Fiji for many years.

The April flood in Ba was higher than the January one. When floods come we usually open our Church basement and the Fiji Government designates it as an evacuation centre. People usually try to cook for themselves with bits of firewood they find lying around. The 30 March – 2 April floods were the highest ever recorded and so we decided as a parish that we should transform the School canteen, conveniently located near the Church hall, into a food kitchen.

Fr Donal McIlraith; Serafina Ranadi is on the far right.



Columban Lay Missionary Serafina Ranadi is presently visiting Ba, her home parish, in between assignments and was working with us on as a member of the parish staff. We asked her to take over the Kitchen. Amelia, the sacristan, and the Catholic families who lived nearby especially the Vunisinus, the Mullers and the Dotons, and Francis Pepe, agreed to assist. The flood was at its highest on Friday. By Saturday it seemed to have ended but severe rain on Saturday night flooded the town again. It was when we saw ourselves completely surrounded by water on Sunday morning that, after Mass, we decided to move with the food kitchen, our numbers had also swollen to over 100 and it was going to be difficult to feed that many.

Fr Donal McIlraith welcoming Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama 



The parish provided the raw materials and Serafina and her team got underway. We managed to provide three meals a day for everyone. On Monday the government brought us some food which we gratefully received. Individuals also donated clothing and cooking gas while some other faith groups delivered cooked meals.



On Tuesday we had an unexpected guest, the Prime Minister of Fiji, Frank Bainimarama. He was visiting the evacuation centres of the West to see things for himself and came and spent an hour with us. Unfortunately Serafina missed him. The night before we had had a frantic call from the Cross walkers to provide food at the Raviravi church, a centre for our Indofijian community. Every year in Fiji, the youth carry crosses from different parts of the island to a Retreat Centre, the Ashram, during Holy Week. As you can imagine, the floods had thrown their schedules. We had been unable to contact the Raviravi people and decided that instead of cooking lunch for 100 we should cook for 200 and take the food out to Raviravi. Serafina had just left with Columban Deacon Taaremon Matauea to take the rice and curry and water to the walkers when the Prime Minister arrived.

Prime Minister Frank Bainaimarama chatting with Fr Donal McIlraith

Many of our guests were from hill villages such as Navala near Ba. They had come with crops, fruits and vegetables to sell and were caught in town by the floods. All transport was cancelled and many roads were also damaged. Slowly things returned to normal and as the roads open up, they will all leave the basement and we will close the Kitchen.

Pakistan Flood Disaster

The floods in Pakistan  seem to have slipped out of the news but millions are still suffering there. The video is a collection of photos sourced from Caritas Australia and UNICEF and put together by the Columbans in Australia and New Zealand.

Technical difficulty: I'm not sure how to get the video to fit properly. But if you have RealPlayer you can download the video and watch it there.

Columban Sisters' response to flood victims in Pakistan

Columban Sisters' Rapid Response

on Your Behalf to the Flood Victims of Pakistan.

What happens when the adrenalin subsides and one has to face the reality?

This report posted on the website of the Columban Sisters on 4 September is also available on the website of the Columban priests in Ireland.


For weeks our adrenalin was pumping, wondering if the Mighty Indus would invade our house and surrounding area in Latifabad No. 7, Hyderabad, Pakistan or not, as it was branded as a 'red alert area' because it is low lying. Like everybody else who could afford money, we bought in non-perishable foods that would take us through the disaster and also helped many people to stock up rations for themselves in their homes. We cleared our ground floor but at least we had time to plan, as the floods arrival would be gradual so we had time on hands to wait and see, yet we were 'paralyzed' in the 'not knowing'.

Our Columban Congregation, families and friends kept vigil with us by phoning and texting us and we knew that we were not alone.



Looking for 'signs to see which way to go' is in us all, and as one looked at last Sunday's Eucharist readings, August 29th there was clear direction give all over the pages.


The gospel reading said:
'When you give a lunch or a dinner, do not ask your friends, brothers,relations or rich neighbours, for fear they repay your courtesy by inviting you in return. No, when you give a party, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame and the blind; that they cannot pay you back means that you are fortunate, because payment will be made to you when the virtuous rise again'.


Today is the day to move! This is an invitation for dinner


The Psalm (67) also had a message:


'When your people were starved you gave them new life.
It was there that your people found a home
Prepared in your goodness, O God, for the poor'.

The poor were to be invited.

These echoes were like a light shining in the darkness all around us, pushing us into action. Now it was time for us, Columban Sisters, Marie, Roberta, Perlita and Rebecca, together with some of our team members, Jawed Munawer, our Team Manager and Mujeed to leave our security behind and as we crossed the Mighty Indus we saw the power of its merciless torrents flash by, swallowing up everything in its sight. Some months ago we had a festive day when flowers were thrown into the Indus as an expression of respect and of showing the people's love for the River and here these past weeks we experience her destruction! How can she turn on her people like this?



On the highways and byways we sought out those who had genuinely lost all. These were to be our friends invited into the banquet of God's love.  They were everywhere… some begging for their daily bread, women with flocks of children around them distressed and despairing, babies in arms undernourished out under the sun with no shade but a tilted charpoi (string bed) which is moved around to protect them from the glaring sun.  It is still monsoon time and when it is raining they have no cover except for a hand made razai (bed-spread) to give them shelter and in turn shade from the sun and heat. Men were trying to fend for their families and many of these women now exposed to the elements may never have seen outside the four walls of their homes as many families in Interior Sindh keep 'purdah' (curtain).  This means they live literally behind the curtain and being exposed to the stares of those zooming along in cars on the super highway they cannot be but traumatized.

 



Eventually we focused on one group of very needy people on the Super Highway as our starting point. It was a painful sight to see. These people came from Larkana which is a distance of about seven hours away and it took them days to get here as their villages were completely flooded. They shared their story with us and our team manager, who could speak their language, Sindhi, made an assessment of their needs which consisted of: tents, food, children's clothes, pots, water cooler and water.



Thanks to the graciousness of you our benefactors we were able to move into action immediately. That evening, Sunday, cooked food was served to 109 people as they had had nothing to eat for three days. These people are the gentle of the Beatitudes and have experienced the let down of false promises from NGO's as they look for their daily food.


Monday was a day full of team spirit and on Tuesday we brought them their tents, non-perishable food stuffs, water and water coolers to quench their thirst under the scorching hot sun. There we found a young woman with her new born baby boy smiling at us and the baby yawning not realizing its horrendous circumstances. Also we came by an eighty year old woman begging for a water cooler. The young and the old are the most vulnerable under such conditions. One lady asked us if we were fasting because it is Ramadan, the Muslim fasting season but we said 'no, we are Christians' and immediately she wanted to make tea for us. Such hospitality!



Wednesday the rains arrived and our team manager and co-worker took torches to the families as they are out in the 'desert' fearful of snakes and other such creatures stealing in to visit them at night! They were grateful. Now for the first time they were under tents and as the rain lashed down on top of them they prayed for us all for being with them in their time of need. These tents were thanks to Jawed, our Project Manager who acted promptly and succeeded in getting and delivering them on time.



Thursday. Eid, the Muslim Celebration after the Ramadan fast will be on September 11th. It will be a season of newness like Easter is for us Christians. An appropriate gift would be clothes and so we as team decided to give them material so that they can sew their own clothes which is the norm here in Pakistan. We felt this would be therapeutic for them to lift them out of their depression and be active in their rehabilitation process. In preparation for this we bought three hand sewing machines: two for women and one for men.


Friday: Shops are open today as it is the last Friday before the end of Ramadan and so our people are coming in to Hyderabad to shop for the various coloured clothes that are part of their traditional dress.


As they return to their camps they will be given the three sewing machines, materials with their accessories and fresh vegetables with their accessories…garlic, chilies, ginger etc…. for taste!


Thank you for making it possible for us to reach out to these traumatized people. Some call this flood a slow sunami as one third of the country lies under water and twenty million are displaced. Our effort is like a drop in the ocean but we will continue to seek out those most in need…all we are, are your hands, heart and feet here in Pakistan and may the Lord bless us all in our efforts.


To be continued . . .

Update from Columban Fr Tomás King on floods in Pakistan

Pakistan: A brief update on the situation in Thata Area

by Columban Fr Tomás King, 5 September 2010

Father King is the Columban Mission Unit Coordinator in Pakistan. He is from Ireland.

The attached photos of the relief work being carried out in Kotri area are from Fr Mohan Victor OFM .

Children and the elderly are the most vulnerable

Greetings to All,

There is still serious flooding in Sindh (where Columbans are working), as you probably see from from TV pictures. The good news is that the water level though still very high is receding near the Kotri barrage on the opposite side of the river from Hyderabad city. (Columbans are working in the Diocese of Hyderabad). Hyderabad is safe and is out of danger. But further south, waters continue to flood from the river near Thatha. This has flooded the towns of Sajawal which is in Badin parish. Waters have reached to within 50 kms of Badin city and thankfully at this stage it looks like it will escape. The government has set up relief camps around Badin city.

Preparing a simple meal

Nearby is Jati, a small parish which is administrated from Hyderabad parish. It is where Columban Fr Robert McCulloch (an Australian) does some of his ministry and Fr Sabir Sadiq, a diocesan priest based in the Cathedral parish in Hyderabad. For the past week before the flood waters arrived to engulf the town of Jati and the surrounding lands, Father Sabir has being helping with the evacuation. The crops and homes of his family and all Christian and Muslim neighbours have been lost. They did manage to get their animals out. Tragically, when people were evacuating through the flood waters, four young children of one family were drowned when they fell into deep waters. So far their bodies have not been found. Jati people estimate that ti will be at least two weeks before they can begin to move back, as the flood waters are expected to linger that long. Most of the Christian community in Jati have evacuated to relatives in Karachi.

He lost everything, home, land and crops

 
Emergency relief and medical help are being provided from many sources. These include the parish team in Kotri parish led by Fr Mohan Victor OFM and staff of St Mary's Girl's High School in Hyderabad and the students. Columban Sisters and their team, Fr Felisiano Fatu (a Columban from Tonga) and the Badin parish team, Sr Rosey Yaqoob FMCK in Sukkur parish and the outreach team from St Elizabeth's Hospital in Hyderabad with Fr Robert McCulloch are working feverishly in emergency work. All of these have received funding that have come from Columban sources. This relief work will continue for some time. According to the Prime Minister this first phase of relief work will continue until end of October. That is a brief summary of the present situation.
 
Sincere thanks for your generous help and support.
 
Peace
 
Fr Tomás King on behalf of all the people you have helped.
 
 

Family waiting for help

Loading up relief supplies

Father Mohan OFM planning distribution

So happy to have received assistance

All that remains now

Where to now?

Heroism in Manila floods

People are stranded in Cainta, province of Rizal , eastern Manila

Last Saturday tropical storm Ketsana ('Ondoy' in the Philippines) brought devastating floods to Metro Manila. Today's Philippine Daily Inquirer carries the story of 'Muelmar Magallanes, a powerful swimmer who braved rampaging floods to save more than 30 people, but ended up sacrificing his life in a last trip to rescue a baby girl who was being swept away on a styrofoam box.

'Family members and people whom Magallanes saved hailed on Monday the 18-year-old construction worker a hero, as his body lay in a coffin at a makeshift evacuation center near their destroyed riverside village in Quezon City.

'“I am going to be forever grateful to Muelmar. He gave his life for my baby. I will never forget his sacrifice,” said Menchie Peñalosa, the mother of the 6-month-old girl whom he carried to safety before being swept away himself.'

'Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends - Wala nang pagmahahal nahihigit pa sa pagaalay sa sariling buhay alang-alang sa mga kanyang mga kaibigan (Jn 15:13).'

Aida De Leon grieves in Pasig City , east of Manila

The same report tells how Judge Ralph Lee 'From 4 p.m. to midnight, . . . combed the neighborhood 10 feet under water for trapped residents, each time loading at least three people on his machine [a Jet Ski]and taking them to a bakery on high ground at the Palmera 4 subdivision, where his rescue effort was centered.

'He personally took 32 people, mostly women and children, to safety.

'“It probably took me around 20 plus trips to do that,” Judge Lee said.

'“In the evening, the residents were able to help me rescue more people when the rubber boats came … We had no light except a flashlight provided by a homeowner,” he added.

'With his son Ram and other homeowners, the effort brought some 100 people to safer ground.'

Full story here.

An aerial view aboard a Philippine Air Force chopper shows devastation brought by Tropical Storm Ketsana in Cainta, province of Rizal , eastern Manila

Residents are evacuated by police boats during flooding in Cainta Rizal, east of Manila

A Philippine Air Force aerial shot shows damaged houses in Marikina City , Metro Manila. More than 70 people were killed, Manila was blacked out and airline flights were suspended as a powerful tropical storm battered the main Philippines island of Luzon

Residents wait to be evacuated from a partially submerged house during flooding in Bocaue, north of Manila

Thousands of people in the Philippine capital and nearby towns were marooned by flash floods after a strong tropical storm hit the main island of Luzon , disaster officials said

Residents cross a flooded street with the use of a rope in Quezon City

A boy is lifted onto the roof of a building to escape the flooding in the Quezon City suburban of Manila . Nearly a month's worth of rain fell in just six hours Saturday, triggering the worst flooding in the Philippine capital in 42 years, which stranded thousands on rooftops in the city and elsewhere

Residents clamber on electric wires to stay out of floodwaters while others wade neck-deep in Cainta Rizal, east of Manila

A victim of floodings is rescued in Pasig City , east of Manila . Authorities rushed rescue and relief to thousands of people who spent the night on the roofs of their submerged houses in Manila and surrounding provinces

Commuters wade through waist-deep floodwaters after heavy rains dumped by Tropical Storm Ketsana (locally known as Ondoy) on Saturday, Sept. 26, in Manila