One positive result of the tsunami is that our Caritas national organisations and their ties with communities are strengthened. They’ve been able to use that strength as a gateway for other integral human development efforts.
Tsunami affected communities in Sri Lanka.
Caritas organisations from India, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Thailand joined confederation members from around the world, Church and other religious leaders in Sri Lanka 3-5 December to remember victims of the 2004 Asia tsunami.
COERR, the Catholic Office for Emergency Relief & Refugees, part of Caritas Thailand, helps about 10,000 of the refugees, working in all 9 camps, where it focuses on children who are living alone, are orphaned, living with relatives or otherwise in a vulnerable positions.
COERR, the Catholic Office for Emergency Relief & Refugees, works in refugee camps along the Thai-Myanmar border. Over 120,000 people from Myanmar live in the camps.
As South-East Asians increasingly migrate overseas in search of work, there is concern over the growing number of family members, particularly children, left behind in the home countries.
Most of the province of Nakhon Sawan has been under water for two months, as has Suphanburi, Chai Nat and Uthai Thani. Only the highest points, a few metres higher, stayed dry.
For weeks, Caritas has been helping families impacted by floods in Thailand. Now the floodwaters have arrived in the country’s capital. Father Bonnie Mendes, Regional Coordinator for Caritas Asia, is in Bangkok and reports on the situation.
As fighting on the border between Thailand and Cambodia continues, Caritas Cambodia together with the support of Caritas member Catholic Relief Services is aiding thousands of families who had to flee shelling.