October 26, 2005

In response to the devastating Oct. 8 earthquake on the India-Pakistan border, HCJB World Radio sent a medical team from Ecuador Wednesday, Oct. 26, to assist workers from SIM International in an effort to help some of the neediest victims in the next two weeks.

Staff members from HCJB World Radio's Hospital Vozandes-Quito will join with medical staff from the U.S. who are en route to Pakistan. Other medical teams are arriving from South Korea, U.K. and South Africa. SIM and its partners' doctors are serving in remote areas affected by the 7.6-strength earthquake, with surgeons pulling 12-hour shifts to treat emergency cases.

SIM's Pakistan director said the Ecuador team will be assigned to serve in some of the worst-hit areas where people have received little or no aid. "I can't be specific about the location at this point," he stated in an email message. "But we will now be seeking to place the Quito team (and subsequent teams) . . . in rural areas."

SIM International Director Malcolm McGregor expressed gratitude for the HCJB World Radio team's quick response to the appeal for help. While SIM has been active in Pakistan for many years, it has not been involved in medical work there. In view of the immensity of the problem, SIM is participating with other medical ministries in the country to publicize the overwhelming n eeds and help coordinate deployment of volunteers.

"This is a reflection of the body of Christ responding from different parts of the world. It's the gospel in action," he said. "To share across organizations is what partnership is all about!"

The leader of the Ecuador team urged believers to pray "as we seek to serve Him in these challenging circumstances." The Quito-based multinational team (U.S., German and Ecuadorian) includes two surgeons, two family physicians, an anesthesiologist, a nurse and a doctor's wife. Last March he and a team from Ecuador treated both tsunami and earthquake victims on Nias Island, Indonesia, as part of a relief trip originating from Quito.

Asking for its partners to help support the emergency medical teams, the SIM website states, "All are working in stressful medical and living conditions. All have also left behind families and jobs to meet needs in the wake of the earthquake. Pray for stamina, health and safety. Pray that supplies and medicine would last, especially in the area of anesthesia and orthopedics.

"Looking beyond the current emergency treatment of casualties is a need for massive rebuilding," the SIM website added, referring to a local clinic destroyed by the quake that also damaged a girls' high school.

Meanwhile, medical supplies have been pouring in-much of it supplied locally in Ecuador but also from abroad. A U.S. donor answered a team member's request for supplies with, "Consider it done! And is there anything else that you need?"

McGregor added that relief efforts build on the long-term relationship between HCJB World Radio and SIM. "We've been doing a lot of partnership in radio ministry, and it's great to be extending it in another area, especially when you're under enormous pressure," he said. "As Christians we want to stand alongside Muslims when they are suffering a great deal and show them love in practical ways."

Officials confirmed that 54,000 people have died in the quake which hit the mountainous Kashmir region along the Pakistan-India border. Tens of thousands more were injured with up to 3 million left homeless in the quake zone. The World Food Program reported that some 500,000 people in remote areas have received no aid at all.

Sources: HCJB World Radio, SIM International, BBC