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CAPTAIN TED HORWOOD (center), The Salvation Army international emergency relief team leader, talks to a tsumani survivor amidst the rubble of her home. |
Recently, an all-day meeting was held at IHQ, chaired by the chief of the staff, and attended by the territorial leaders of the six territories affected by the tsunami, along with the international secretaries and emergency disaster staff. Representatives of funding territories were also present. The goal of this historic meeting was to shape the nature of the Army’s response in South Asia and determine exactly what it can and must do to sustain the recovery effort and then move into the rehabilitation stage.
The Salvation Army will continue to provide food, shelter and spiritual support as it works among the homeless, the hungry, and the hopeless in the tsunami-ravaged communities—just as it has throughout its 125-year presence in the region.
“Rebuilding the future starts today,” said Captain Ted Horwood, the Army’s international emergency relief team leader in Sri Lanka. “Thousands of homeless can look to the future with hope. This morning, the government of Sri Lanka gave The Salvation Army two parcels of empty land in the hardest hit part of the country.”
The two sites, totaling 334 acres, are near the village of Galgodawatte, and will enable the Army to build 1,000 homes. In this district [Galle], 53,000 people lost their homes.
During the next two weeks, the Army will move those currently living in crowded schools into hundreds of tents erected on the land; at the same time, the Army will plan and then develop permanent housing.
Monetary donations to
support the reconstruction may be made by calling
1-800-SAL-ARMY or online at:
www.salvationarmy.org