Eddie Pettit, commander of the South Carolina Disaster Relief medical unit and member of the SCDR task force, was one of two Baptist Global Response (BGR) leaders meeting in Tokyo last week with Japanese Baptists regarding a Southern Baptist response to the March 11 earthquake and tsunami in Japan.
BGR is an international relief and development organization and key partner in disaster relief situations with the International Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention.
Pettit and John Hayes, of Alabama Disaster Relief, are meeting this week with BGR Asia Rim director Ben Wolfe; Pat Melancon, disaster management specialist, BGR; and Japanese Baptists. The purpose of the meeting is to assess needs and create a report for Southern Baptist response.
“Eddie is considered among the best of the best when it comes to getting into a country and evaluating disaster relief response,” said Cliff Satterwhite, director of South Carolina Disaster Relief. “For Southern Baptists, South Carolina and Alabama will be the lead state conventions for future response efforts.”
On March 21, through a state disaster relief network telephone briefing, it was reported that the Japanese government “doesn’t really want a lot of help from the outside and can manage disaster response on its own. They are going to be very selective and controlling who works where and what volunteers are allowed to do. Private volunteer organizations, like BGR, are asked to wait and respond to help when called upon.”
However, Southern Baptists may be able to serve through Japanese Baptist partners, but even then, Satterwhite said, a response will be “very measured, including very qualified volunteers. Unlike Haiti, Japan is well-equipped in terms of disaster response.”
Also, in the telephone briefing, it was reported that Gerald Burch, retired IMB missionary, has initiated contact with the Japan emeritus missionaries for prayer support. It was also reported that donations, mostly online, include about $80,000 through IMB and $50,000 through BGR.
On March 11, a 9.0-magnitude, mega-thrust earthquake occurred off the east coast of the Oshika Peninsula of Japan. The earthquake triggered destructive tsunami waves of up to 33 feet that struck Japan minutes after the quake, in some cases traveling up to six miles inland, with smaller waves reaching many other countries after several hours. Estimates of the earthquake’s magnitude make it the most powerful known earthquake to hit Japan and one of the five most powerful in the world since record-keeping began in 1900.
BGR executive director Jeff Palmer said March 21 in an email that a reported 367,141 people are living in 2,300 evacuation centers, and about 10,000 per day are returning to their areas as power and water is restored.
Satterwhite said that South Carolina Baptist disaster relief teams are “standing by, ready to respond when asked, as we have in other parts of the world, to help bring light to an area hit by darkness for the kingdom’s sake.” – SCBC