[December 26th Tsunami] Mercy Ships Update On Tsunami Response Efforts

From Mercy Ships

August, 2005 – Garden Valley, Texas: Mercy Ships responded quickly to the 26 December Asian Tsunami shipping almost $400,000 worth of donated relief supplies within days of the disaster. As the scope of the devastation became clearer in the weeks that followed, Mercy Ships made a long-term commitment to the region and developed a strategy for sustainable development.

Noting that more than 23,000 fishing boats had been lost to the tsunami in Sri Lanka alone, Mercy Ships determined to provide 77 “Mercy Boats” to idled fishermen in the devastated region. As a down payment on Mercy Ships long-term commitment to the area, the first 15 fishing boats were delivered within weeks of the disaster. Mercy Ships will eventually provide 65 fishing boats to Sri Lanka and 12 to Thailand. Partnering with a coalition of 10 interested churches and charities, Mercy Ships will provide 12 fishing boats to families in Thailand’s Khao Lak province.

In keeping with Mercy Ships strategy for sustainable development, the boats are being provided through a micro-enterprise project. Fishermen receiving a Mercy Boat will eventually repay 50% of the vessel’s cost to a Sri Lankan cooperative. Those proceeds will then be reinvested in future community development projects.

“The purpose of this loan repayment is to encourage greater sense of ownership and accountability among the beneficiaries to promote self-reliance rather than dependency,” said Soo-Jin Lee, Director of Mercy Ships Asia. Loan repayment funds will pay for educational tuition assistance and fish catch collection and distribution centers.

At a recent presentation ceremony, 12 new Mercy Boats were delivered to fishermen in the Trincomalee district of Sri Lanka. Lee addressed the recipients and others gathered at the boat presentation, saying “Through the generosity of many donors, Mercy Ships is honored to present these new fishing boats today. Three of these boats are made possible from the hard work of thousands of teenagers from the 4-H (Heads, Hearts, Hands and Health) Club in Texas who washed cars, sold cakes and bracelets to purchase these boats, engines and nets. Two boats were donated by the Rotary Club in South Wales (UK) and two by the Rotary Club of Australia. So, although you may be living in a small village in Sri Lanka, these donations demonstrate that we all live in the global village called planet earth. Above all, these new boats remind us that the sea is always a source of God’s faithful provision for you and your families.”

Another project Mercy Ships will facilitate in Sri Lanka is the ‘Hope Angel’ Mobile Clinic project for two years. It will be managed and staffed by Sri Lankan medical and administrative staff.

Mark Thompson, Director of Mercy Ships - Mercy Teams, just returned from an assessment trip to Sri Lanka and Thailand. In partnerships with relief agencies already at work in the area he arranged to deploy short-term, non-medical Mercy teams to the region in the next 18 months. Mercy Ships is now accepting team applications from churches and civic groups interested in sending construction teams to the disaster area.

In other news from the disaster area, Mercy Ships also donated funds to re-establish an English and Computer Center to benefit students in Indonesia. Donated funds were used to facilitate the purchase of computer hardware and software and the hiring of Indonesian training staff.

Partner/donors have responded so generously to the Asian Tsunami disaster, Mercy Ships anticipates having sufficient funds in hand to fund all planned development projects in the region by the end of 2005 and will not solicit further donations beyond that point.