The Catholic Standard and Times

Natural disasters
Catholics’ generosity to CRS
brings hope to victims

By NADIA POZO
CS&T Staff Writer

It has been a year of natural disasters throughout the world, testing people’s faith and generosity. But the human solidarity demonstrated in the outpouring of responses to so many crises have given hope to those who work in relief efforts.

That is no less true for Kevin Hartigan, the director of Catholic Relief Services for South Asia, who sat down with The CS&T during a recent visit to Philadelphia, to discuss what he has seen in the countries where he works.

Hartigan, who has been with CRS for more than 12 years and is based out of New Delhi, India, was particularly moved by the overwhelming response of donors following the disastrous tsunami on Dec. 26, 2004.

“The people are still showing an enormous amount of gratitude,” Hartigan said of those in India and Sri Lanka, where he has been leading CRS relief work.

“As a representative, I’m at the receiving end of … gratitude that really belongs to the dioceses and parishes that gave so much assistance,” he said. “I wish there was a better way to give back that depth of gratitude to the people who gave.”

In India and Sri Lanka, permanent reconstruction is underway, and slowly, people have returned to their livelihoods.

The generous support CRS has received — particularly from Americans — has been budgeted for use over five years, Hartigan said.

In much of the tsunami-affected world, the first phase of assistance — providing temporary shelters, restoring fishing and farming communities, and rehabilitating schools, — has been completed, although the process is taking more time in Indonesia because the devastation there was greater and more severe, he said.

For the most part, focus now is on constructing permanent homes and buildings.

“We’re building thousands of homes for thousands of people, many of whom were squatters, or lived in shanty towns before the tsunami, and will now get a small home for the first time,” Hartigan said.

He noted that in Sri Lanka “there are a lot of issues to clarify, in terms of the legal title of land, that have slowed us down,” but added that those issues have not arisen in much of India, where “there are clearer government policies.”

Hartigan also noted that the epidemics that had been feared by health officials in the region did not occur, because health-care assistance and shelter were provided quickly after the tsunami.

“The biggest obstacle is getting people back to work,” he said.

“The fear [of another disaster] will always be there, but certainly it’s much less present now,” Hartigan said. “You can see that in people’s willingness to go back to the sea. Fishermen are all back, and life along the coastal area has returned.”

Still, Hartigan acknowledged that much has happened that people will never recover from, and those who lost loved ones — especially children — are permanently grieving. The initial shock, coupled with the emergent need to help in the relief work, itself, has subsided, and many people are now focusing on the long-term process of restoring their lives.

As the first anniversary of the tsunami approaches, local churches and communities prepare to commemorate the lives lost with solemn interfaith celebrations that will bring together Christians, Muslims, Buddhists and Hindus, Hartigan said.

Asian earthquake
Another recent disaster that has affected Hartigan’s region was the earthquake on Oct. 8 that shook Pakistan, India and Afganistan — affecting some of the poorest Muslim areas. Hartigan said he has been moved, witnessing the Islamic people’s hospitality in the midst of great personal suffering.

“These are people who, when their homes and their communities have been completely demolished, insist on making you tea or offering you meals,” he said. “There’s a very strong norm of hospitality, although these are very conservative, Muslim, tribal societies that are usually quite closed off to the outside world.”

CRS’ focus now for the earthquake victims is to provide them with protection against the winter’s bitter cold.

The earthquake leveled two towns, which is where the majority of deaths occurred — estimates place that number at more than 90,000.

In rural communities, more homes and structures were lost than people, but most of those who did die were children. “At nine in the morning, most rural people are not indoors, except for teachers and children in schools,” Hartigan explained.

In the first few weeks after the earthquake, CRS distributed 9,000 pieces of plastic sheeting for use in shielding people from the rain; now the organization is providing winter tents, and reconstructing at least one room in any existing residence to protect the victims from the winter.

CRS is also assisting with sanitation and helping to repair water systems, as well as reestablishing primary — and some secondary — schools.

“Virtually all schools were destroyed, or are unfit for use,” Hartigan said. “There’s a great concern to get the kids back in school, partly so that they don’t lose the school year [but] mainly to get them back to some sort of normalcy.”

Catholic Relief Services has set up tent schools for the time being.

For reasons that include the recent devastation caused in the United States by hurricanes — this year saw four major hurricanes, and three category five hurricanes, including the disastrous Katrina — the organization has not received enough financial support for long-term reconstruction that will be necessary in the wake of the earthquake, Hartigan said.

“Americans have been extremely generous this year, and we’ve appreciated the assistance,” he said. “But the financial help we are getting for the earthquake is being used up pretty quickly on the winter-ice shelters.”

All of the world’s aid organizations are experiencing the same difficulties in terms of funding, Hartigan added.

“The tsunami was such a violent phenomenon that very few people survived, but with the earthquake, it not only killed an enormous number of people, but also badly injured an enormous number of people,” he said. “It has left a lot of amputees, so there are going to be a lot of long term needs.

“Moving forward, we need to find funds to rebuild schools, reconstruct homes and provide medical assistance to the handicapped,” he said.

Hartigan believes that the Pakistani earthquake provides Catholics, especially American Catholics, with a rare opportunity: “It’s an opportunity to reach out and show solidarity with a very poor Muslim population, in a region where there is a lot of international and national tension.

“It’s a real opportunity for breaking down interfaith barriers,” he added, “and it would be a shame not to take full advantage of that.”

To learn more about the work of CRS or to donate to the CRS earthquake relief efforts, visit www.crs.org or call 800-736-3467.

Contact Nadia Pozo at npozo@adphila.org or (215) 965-4614