GFA missionaries reaching out to Bengal cyclone victims

Gospel for Asia-supported missionaries are mobilising to help in the area devastated by Cyclone Aila, which pounded the Bay of Bengal on Monday, even as the fate of its missionaries and their churches is still unknown.

"I just contacted our leaders in Calcutta, and they report that more than 100 people died in West Bengal and 2,000 homes were destroyed," said Gospel for Asia President K P Yohannan. "There are 53 islands in the Bay, and we have churches on 37 of them. We don't know yet how much has been destroyed."

The country of Bangladesh and its neighbour, the state of West Bengal, India, were the hardest hit. Bangladesh is one of the world's poorest nations with 156 million residents. West Bengal is home to more than 81 million people, including an estimated 5 million illegal immigrants from Bangladesh.

"It is our God-given opportunity to respond to this suffering and demonstrate Christ's love," Yohannan declared.

International news reports indicate that the death toll in the region now tops 200 people, and there are an estimated 500,000 left homeless by the storm. Nearly 400 families who attend churches led by GFA-supported missionaries lost their homes in the storm.

"The devastation is very serious," Yohannan said. "Bangladesh was the worst hit. The death toll is rising, and nobody knows yet exactly how many have died."

The Indian city of Calcutta was especially hard-hit, according to Yohannan.

"This is one of the worst cyclones to hit Calcutta," he explained. "The entire city is paralysed because of fallen trees and traffic jams that have followed. The army has been called out to help."

Aila brought severe flooding throughout the region, forcing thousands of evacuations. The cyclone's 75 mph winds tore through the coast, completely destroying riverbanks, crops, and mud homes. The storm also triggered floods and landslides, destroyed fisheries and uprooted trees all over the area.

The Sundarbans district, which is situated next to Bangladesh, endured the worst of the storm. Entire villages were flooded with saline water, and both boats and homes have been destroyed.

Many people are still stranded by the storm, grouped on remaining structures in the area with little or no access to food or drinking water. Because the storm demolished electricity wires, residents have been left with no power.

Government authorities are calling the situation "desperate" and fear that salt water brought in by storm surges after the cyclone will contaminate the fresh water that is needed for farming. Farmers in the area have lost much of their rice crop, which was at the brink of harvest.

GFA-supported missionaries and workers are doing all they can to minister to the people affected by the cyclone.

"Our people already started working among the suffering people to provide temporary shelter, food and medicine," Yohannan said.

The Bay of Bengal has suffered many deadly storms before, with 15 of the world's 20 deadliest storms hitting the area. Cyclone Nargis, a storm that claimed 146,000 lives in Burma last year.