The John Ray Initiative in the UK has produced an excellent series of Briefing Papers over the years. The latest, #47 by Robert White, should be of particular interest to creation care practitioners:

So-called ‘natural disasters’ such as floods, earthquakes and volcanic eruptions affect huge numbers of people every year. Yet these very processes make the Earth a fertile, habitable place. It is almost always human actions, or lack of action, that turn natural hazards into disasters. Those in low-income countries, the poor and the marginalised, suffer most and are the least able to rebuild after disasters. A Christian perspective recognises the reality of the brokenness of this world caused by human sinfulness, coupled with the certain hope of a new creation where there will be no more disasters and where all creation will reflect God’s glory.

More details and the full paper (free!) are available from the JRI website here.

Last May 22 the Nyriagongo volcano in the Goma region of Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo erupted suddenly. A local organization, the Center for Intercultural Missions and Research led by LWCCN member Eraston Kighoma was on the scene. They have sent us a detailed report of their response. The full document can be read or downloaded here in PDF.

Here’s a brief glimpse:

To the Levites sons of Korah who were responsible to offer worship in the temple Asaph tells that “As they (those whose strength are in the Lord) pass through the Valley of Baka (valley of bitterness or suffering and pain), they make it a place of springs; the autumn rains also cover it with pools” (Psalms 84:4-6)

If there have been opportunities to call the church to action, the sudden eruption of the Nyiragongo volcano on May 22th, 2021 was one of them. Its lava suddenly covered Mutaho villages and a major part of Buhene neighborhood leaving families homeless and in urgent need of basic livelihoods, care and shelter. Because the Buhene community had experienced an ethnic clash few months before the eruption, there are people who had not benefited from humanitarian help as they were hindered to live in established camp. CIMR ministry response , therefore, bore a holistic character as, in addition to feeding and accommodating families and individuals at the center and in Eraston’s home during the two weeks –eruption and earthquakes, the team provided a food kit and a blanket to a group of people which were found still left out (the elderly peoples and widows), provided pastoral care session to all beneficiaries, equipped 73 Christian leaders on the Christian response to the crisis in the midst of a conflict context and lastly, having pointed families to IGA as sustainable way to own their family livelihoods, is accompanying three most affected homeless family toward restoration.

Keep in mind that this is a region already torn by war for decades. Let’s keep Eraston and his community in our prayers.

This event would be a leading news story around the world if it had happened in the US or Europe: a cargo ship carrying a veritable witches’ brew of toxic chemicals catches fire and eventually sinks, dumping fuel oil and cargo onto some of the world’s most beautiful beaches, endangering human livelihoods and sealife together, It appears that the ship caught fire on 19 May, and finally sank yesterday.

From the Guardian:

Plastic pellets have also poured out from the ship’s containers, washing up on the beaches. The navy has been called out to clean the burnt wreckage and debris.

But other effects cannot be easily cleaned – or even seen. The ship was carrying a whole array of hazardous chemicals: nitric acid, used for explosives; epoxy resins, used for paints and primers; and ethanol and lead ingots, used for manufacturing vehicle batteries.

There were other products, too: caustic soda, lubricating oils, aluminium byproducts, polyethene used for grocery bags and packaging, cosmetics and even food items, according to Hemantha Withanage, an environmental scientist and executive director of the Centre for Environmental Justice in Sri Lanka.

One container, Withanage noted, is named Environmentally Harmful Substances. “What are these substances? We don’t know. Authorities haven’t told us yet,” he said. “But why are they keeping this information a secret?”

The sinking of the ship means the probable leaching of these chemicals into the ocean. “And that’s a serious risk to our ecosystem,” he said, explaining that it could lead to death and contamination of the corals, fish, turtles and other marine life that abound off the country’s coasts.

Pray for our friends in Sri Lanka, and all those affected by, and working desperately to clean up this mess.