austraLasia 973
Asia quake: Relatives and past pupils have lost their lives.
TIRUCHY/PHUKET: 27th December '04 -- As reports trickle in from various areas around Southern and South East Asia where the undersea quake and tsunami have caused such devastation, it is clear that relatives and in some instances past pupils of the Salesians and the Salesian Sisters have lost their lives, while others have lost all that they possess.
The reports continue to say that there are no known injuries or loss of life within SDB or FMA communities, though it has been difficult for the SDB Tiruchy Province, due to lack of communications with the coastal region, to be in touch with some confreres who had visited home over the festive season. The provincial there indicates that some of his confreres have lost their relatives in the tragedy. The FMA Thai province indicates that some of their past pupils from the South East of the country have lost their lives.
Fr Theophilus, provincial of INT (Tiruchy), says that Salesian houses near the coast are fully involved in rescue and relief work, providing food, clothing and shelter where possible. He has appointed a disaster committee to work out further steps to provide for their people in need.
Fr Anthony Pinto, Salesian Superior of the newly created Sri Lanka Vice Province says that most of his communities are close to the coast, but on the West coast of that island, which did not bear the full force of the tidal wave. His concern and that of his communities, is for the people they serve, just about all of whom have suffered loss one way or another, and especially for the children who have lost parents and the many more parents who have lost children.
Fr John Lissandrin, provincial secretary in Thailand, tells us that the Stigmatin Fathers and the Sisters Servants of the Sacred Heart of Mary Immaculate (this latter group are part of the Saleisan Family) are providing what help they can in the immediately affected areas of South west Thailand. At Krabi , the Stigmatins have placed the Church and other buildings at the disposition of the homeless, and are providing food, drinking water and clothing, as well as coffins to bury the dead. He quotes local figures of 896 dead and nearly 8,000 injured along the coast including towns such as Phuket, Phang Nga, Krabi, Trang, Ranon and Satun.
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