World Council of Churches Voices Solidarity with Haiyan Victims

Together with all member churches of the fellowship, Christians and people of all faiths around the world, we pause and pray for those who have been affected by this disaster.

While the official death toll is not certain, Philippine officials say the toll could rise to 10,000 lives lost as a result of the storm.  Already more than half a million people are homeless and thousands more have been injured.

Through our partner ecumenical organization, ACT Alliance, many WCC member churches from around the world are responding to this unfathomable disaster.  And even as rescue, recovery and clean-up proceed, there is the threat of another storm moving toward the region.

We pray for the safety of all involved in the clean-up and rebuilding and for those survivors of the storm who lost loved ones, some in the most dramatic way, where their children or family members were literally swept from their arms.

We recognize in these cataclysmic events that it is most often the poor who suffer and have the most difficult challenge to rebuild their lives with few resources.  We call upon aid agencies and governments not to forget the poorest, from whom the little they had has been taken away.

Source: WCC