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May 6, 2008—Catholic Relief Services (CRS) is supporting the emergency relief and response efforts of the Caritas Internationalis network in the most affected areas of Myanmar after Cyclone Nargis brought a deadly tidal surge across the low-lying coastal areas of the country on Saturday.
The latest reports of 60,000 dead or missing and 1 million homeless demonstrate dire conditions in which basic food, shelter and water are urgently needed. Assessments on the level of devastation are still underway as communications remain difficult and news trickles out of the country.
People stay under their house after cyclone Nargis hit the town of Phyar Pon near Bogalay, southwest of Yangon May 8, 2008. Photo by REUTERS/Stringer (MYANMAR)
"Cyclone Nargis could not have happened in a worse stretch of land. The surge hit in the low lying coastal areas. With the tidal surge at 12 to 15 feet, presumably thousands of people living along the Delta were simply washed away," says Pat Johns, director, CRS emergency response team.
Significant support is critical to ensure life-saving assistance reaches the most vulnerable people quickly. The Caritas network will coordinate with local and international agencies to determine how best to provide help where it is most needed.
The storm hit Saturday morning, May 3, in the Irrawaddy Delta region, an area populated by 24 million people. Nagris toppled infrastructure in the largest city, Yangon (Rangoon), and destroyed tens of thousands of homes across the area. The government of Myanmar has formally appealed to the United Nations for assistance.
CRS has supported long-term development programs and emergency relief efforts, including in response to cyclones and severe natural disasters, in the Southeast Asia and Pacific region for more than 60 years. How You Can Help
CRS Food Experts Warn of Impending
'Cascade of Hunger'
By Elizabeth Griffin
This is how Haiti's poor describe the burning sensation associated with chronic hunger: like drinking bleach or battery acid.
The Haitian Creole phrases klorox and asid batri are being heard more often on the streets of the Western Hemisphere's poorest country lately as the skyrocketing price of food — part of a global crisis — pushes more people to the brink of starvation.
The rising cost of food staples around the world is making national and international headlines. The crisis is prompting economists, agronomists, finance ministers and heads of state to come up with immediate and long-term solutions so that more widespread price increases are averted and increasing discontent is mitigated.
"What we are seeing is unprecedented," says Catholic Relief Services food aid expert Lisa Kuennen-Asfaw. "If immediate needs are not met, and if resources and policies supporting increased agricultural production are not put in place soon, we are heading for a cascade of hunger the world over." read more
Pope Benedict XVI Urges International Cooperation on Climate Protection
As the world commemorates the sixtieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Holy Father addressed the United Nations on Friday urging the international community to recommit itself to this declaration which “express[es] the just aspirations of the human spirit, and constitute the ideals which should underpin international relations.”
Linking questions of “the environment, of resources and of the climate,” with “questions of security, development goals, reduction of local and global inequalities” the Holy Father urged “international leaders to act jointly and to show a readiness to work in good faith, respecting the law, and promoting solidarity with the weakest regions of the planet.”
“I am thinking especially of those countries in Africa and other parts of the world which remain on the margins of authentic integral development, and are therefore at risk of experiencing only the negative effects of globalization. In the context of international relations, it is necessary to recognize the higher role played by rules and structures that are intrinsically ordered to promote the common good, and therefore to safeguard human freedom,” the Pontiff continued.
Pope Benedict called for scientific and technological advances to be at the service of humanity: “international action to preserve the environment and to protect various forms of life on earth must not only guarantee a rational use of technology and science, but must also rediscover the authentic image of creation.”
Pope Benedict acknowledged that to help resolve these problems, a "greater degree of international ordering” must continue to advance despite “a time when we experience the obvious paradox of a multilateral consensus that continues to be in crisis because it is still subordinated to the decisions of a few, whereas the world's problems call for interventions in the form of collective action by the international community.”
The U.S. Catholic Bishops and the Catholic Coalition on Climate Change will continue to advance the Holy Father’s call to finding real solutions to the impacts of climate change on the poorest people at home and abroad. Such advocacy will engage the Catholic community and other stakeholders in the climate change debate and will encourage action to reduce greenhouse gas pollution and adaptation strategies by policy makers, individuals, businesses, and governments. In this way the Catholic community will honor the Creator by caring for Creation.
U.S. Bishops Address Upcoming National Election
BALTIMORE- The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) overwhelmingly approved a statement called Faithful Citizenship: A Call to Political Responsibility from the Catholic Bishops of the United States. The statement urges Catholics to be involved in public life and to use the values of their faith to shape their political choice. It was approved at the bishops’ general meeting in Baltimore, November 12-15.
“In this statement, we bishops do not intend to tell Catholics for whom or against whom to vote,” the bishops explain. “Our purpose is to help Catholics form their consciences in accordance with God’s truth. We recognize that the responsibility to make choices in political life rests with each individual in light of a properly formed conscience, and that participation goes well beyond casting a vote in a particular election.”
The church’s role in helping Catholics to form their consciences is a central theme of the document. “With this foundation,” the bishops explain, “Catholics are better able to evaluate policy positions, party platforms, and candidates’ promises and action in light of the Gospel and the moral and social teaching of the Church in order to help build a better world.” read the document (pdf)
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