Katrina's Aftermath

DateLine (8/30/05 – Ponce, Puerto Rico)

I know that you’ve probably seen the coverage of the devastating storm Katrina that hit the Gulf coast states of Mississippi, New Orleans, and Alabama. My heart goes out to the many people who have been affected by this storm. The level of destruction is unimaginable. To complicate matters the city of New Orleans appears to have slid into a state of lawlessness as looters help themselves to abandoned stores having lost all respect for the law and are using the excuse for the primal requirements for food and water as a reason for stealing clothes, appliances, and guns. Law enforcement personnel have had to abandon search and rescue missions in order to re-establish law and order

I’ve watched story after story on the TV of victims who survived the storm and either witnessed their loved ones perish or simply have no idea where they are. Here we are three days after the storm and authorities have yet to get their arms around realistic casualty rates, aid in the form of food, water, and medicine have not yet arrived, and any sense of normalcy is spoken of in terms of months. Some officials are not being overly dramatic and they are beginning to characterize this event as the greatest natural disaster to ever hit the United States.

How should a Christian respond? Where do we start? I happened to Google the following words “Southern Baptist disaster relief” and I was so pleased to find that Southern Baptist are already in high gear in relief work for the victims of Hurricane Katrina.

In the process I learned that Southern Baptists are the nation’s third largest relief agency. Response to Hurricane Katrina will be the largest ever for Southern Baptists with more than 1,000 volunteers and 100 mobile Disaster Relief units activated to hurricane and tornado ravaged regions of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia. For additional information about what’s being done and details about how you can contribute, please go to www.namb.net/dr. I know that you’ll be moved to join with fellow Southern Baptists as we are motivated by the love of Jesus Christ to meet the critical needs of Katrina’s victims.