Response to Flooding in Ecuador

Strip away politics (rewriting the constitution, a neighbor's border incursion) and what summarizes Ecuador comes from a James Taylor song:

Oh I’ve seen fire and I’ve seen rain.

First the Tungurahua volcano increased activity again. Now Ecuador’s coastal plain is flooded due to heavy rains. President Rafael Correa has declared a state of emergency for the whole country.

La Niña is a climatic phenomenon which periodically affects the weather patterns of the world. In Ecuador, La Niña has been causing persistent and heavy rains for the last two months and may continue to do so until late April.

Floods are now affecting many areas of the country. The coastal plains are the worst affected. More than 13,000 people have been displaced from their homes, and it is estimated that over 3,000,000 people have been affected in some way by the flooding and heavy rains.

Here in Quito, we could complain about our house’s temperature remaining at about 60 degrees, but no, we won’t. We only need go and pack supplies for the flood victims to remind ourselves we have it very good.

At the former auto shop, the engine hoist chain-and-pulley assembly dangles overhead, but it is all manual labor that packs bags of supplies for people at the coast. A volunteer force has sent truckloads of bagged foodstuffs to flood victims. I have watched Ecuadorian youth work together with volunteers from Zeeland, Michigan to prepare the bags that provide for a family for one week. Then there are the regulars - our friends and neighbors, teachers from our kids' school, and several US college students studying in Ecuador.

New supplies arrive and are sorted each day as HCJB continues to make the need known on the radio. Small towers of tuna cans stand on a table amid bags of oatmeal, salt, and flour.

As volunteers pass the tables with heavy plastic bags, they grab cans of tuna (two large or three small) toss them in, grab two bags of oatmeal, move on . . . And on it goes. A New Testament and a tract are tossed in and then the bags are double sealed and loaded on trucks for the long trip down to Babahoyo, in Los Rios province.

There, we are involved in an intra-organization, multi-pronged effort to bring people hope amid the despair of their flooded homes. Evangelism is one of four thrusts, along with food distribution, medical help and water purification. Our friend, Hermann, says each time he’s delivered bags of supplies into the hands of desperate people, he’s had the opportunity to present the gospel to them.

The Ministry of Health undersecretary has now invited the same group to help to provide flood relieve in Guayas province and in Santa Elena, near the coastal city of Guayaquil.

“I understand that the Ministry of Health will supply medicines and possibly help facilitate the importing of medicines,” Hermann says.

I’ve seen sunny days that I thought would never end . . .

I only wish it were so for the people of Ecuador these days. And for the consecutive days of
sunshine that we have had, I'm thankful. Very thankful.

Flood photo and Flood Response video at Youtube (below) by Martin Harrison.

Youtube (Spanish-language version) here.

And the Youtube video in German is here.