Samaritan's Purse sending planeloads of aid to Indonesia to help victims of deadly tsunami

Donations needed to address urgent need for clean water, medical supplies, other aid

CALGARY, Oct. 2, 2018 /CNW/ - Samaritan's Purse is sending two planes, including its own specially equipped DC-8, to Indonesia with water filtration units, cooking kits, shelter tarps, and hygiene supplies for survivors of last week's catastrophic earthquake and tsunami that struck the island of Sulawesi.

An experienced Samaritan's Purse team, including a Canadian, has already arrived in Indonesia and is working with local partners and government officials to begin helping victims.

The death toll from the 7.5-magnitude earthquake and tsunami on Sept. 28, which triggered seven-meter-high waves that rolled over Sulawesi's coast and far inland, has reached 1,300. It is expected to increase because many people are still missing and trapped in collapsed buildings. The total number of Indonesian people struggling after the crisis, including those left homeless, is estimated to be more than two million.

"I was in Indonesia after the 2004 tsunami, so I know what survivors are going through," said Franklin Graham, president of Samaritan's Purse. "The next few days are critical, and we are doing all we can to rush help to those who need it most."

"This is a devastating event that will take years for the people in this region to recover from," added Bruce Piercey, Samaritan's Purse Canada's Asia regional director who is in Jakarta, Indonesia's capital city. "We will determine the most effective way we can meet urgent needs for individuals who have suffered tremendous losses and who are traumatized and feeling very overwhelmed."

In recent years, Samaritan's Purse has assisted victims of a wide variety of international disasters including hurricanes Harvey, Maria, and Irma in the U.S. and the Caribbean in 2017, Hurricane Matthew in Haiti in 2016, the 2015 earthquake in Nepal, Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines in 2013, and the 2011 earthquake/tsunami in Japan. We are now in the Philippines helping people whose homes and livelihoods were destroyed by last month's Typhoon Mangkhut.

In Canada, we have assisted victims of natural disasters including flooding in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Quebec, Ontario, Saskatchewan, southern Alberta, and British Columbia, plus wildfires in Fort McMurray, Alberta, and the B.C. interior. We are now in Ottawa-Gatineau providing physical and emotional help to victims of the recent tornadoes.

Donations Needed: Canadians can donate to Samaritan's Purse disaster relief work by visiting SamaritansPurse.ca or calling 1-800-663-6500.

About Samaritan's Purse Canada: Samaritan's Purse is a Christian organization that takes its name from Jesus Christ's biblical story of the Good Samaritan. Like that Good Samaritan, who found a beaten man and helped restore him, we aid victims of war, disease, disaster, poverty, famine, and persecution. Besides disaster relief, our work includes collecting and distributing gift-filled Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes, and providing safe water, vocational skills and agricultural supplies and training to families in the developing world. Learn more at SamaritansPurse.ca

SOURCE Samaritan's Purse Canada