GFA Workers Wade Deep Into Devastation Left by Mumbai Floods
by Allie Martin
August 1, 2005
(AgapePress) - Twelve churches operated by Gospel for Asia have been destroyed by torrential rains and flooding in India. The death toll is expected to continue rising in the wake of last week's crippling floods in Mumbai (formerly Bombay), the financial capital of India.More than 36 inches of rain fell in just one day recently in Mumbai. No Gospel for Asia workers or students were hurt in the weather disaster, but the rains have flooded the first floor of a ministry Bible college outside the city.
GFA's president, K.P. Yohannan, says the poorer sections of Mumbai and the surrounding region were among the hardest hit. "Keep in mind 15 million people," he explains in an effort to describe the devastation. "Out of that, five million of the people are living in the worst of conditions in the slums," he says.
"The native reports said that over 1,200 people died," Yohannan adds. Meanwhile, he says several people in the area have called and told him they anticipate casualties in the thousands because "these millions of people who live in the slums have nowhere to go."
The ministry leader says more than 125 of GFA's pastors and students are walking through the floodwaters to share Christ's love with victims of the devastation. He notes that some of the ministry personnel are heading into the slum areas to aid the poorest of the victims, "trying to bring them rice and food items and drinking water."
Some of the Christians involved in these relief and outreach efforts have been overwhelmed by the suffering around them. "One of them called me on the telephone," Yohannan recounts, "simply just crying his eyes out. He said, 'I can't bear looking at the little babies in the arms of mothers, just crying, saying that they lost everything.' Their huts are gone, their food is destroyed -- they have nothing left."
Gospel for Asia currently oversees 14,500 missionaries serving in ten Asian nations. Yohannan encourages Christians in North America and other nations to pray for those ministry workers, students, and residents affected by the floods in India. He also urges believers who are able to give sacrificially to help with relief efforts.
Allie Martin, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.
