Even when aid workers can gain access, the military strictly limits the workers’ ability to help people. The report states:

Aiming in part at cutting off support for its opponents, the military has employed its four-cuts strategy to kill and injure thousands of civilians while destroying goods and infrastructure necessary for survival, including food, shelter, and medical centers.

One of the biggest tropical storms on record, Cyclone Mocha, wiped out entire villages in May.

“The need is desperate. There were thousands of homes damaged, millions of people affected,” AMG International’s Brian Dennett says.

Even if foreign aid workers cannot reach people in need, local Christians can. AMG partners with churches throughout Myanmar to help survivors. More about that here.

A few days ago, “they were able to trek into the disaster area, bring food, water supplies, and other necessary things for these poor people,” Dennett says.

“They are telling us that no aid has made it in.”

A local church partner praying over a family in need after delivering supplies provided through AMG International.
(Photo courtesy of AMG International)

Believers deliver the Gospel along with relief supplies. Those who already follow Christ receive spiritual encouragement. “Many of those [displaced people] are believers we are in close contact with – pastors, ministers, and other Christian families,” Dennett says.

Send help and hope through AMG here.

AMG partners “want to provide temporary shelter [and] tarps for over 1,000 families in the coming days, and drinking water,” Dennett says.

“There is very little clean drinking water, so people are getting sick.”

Ask the Lord to meet believers’ needs so they can continue to help Cyclone Mocha survivors. The newest World Bank outlook describes a system “scarred” by the military takeover in 2021.

“The junta is not looking for (outside) support,” Dennett says.

“They have deepened their relations with Russia and China, who have been supplying them with military equipment. With that equipment, they’ve continued bombings and air strikes; it is just terrible.”

Local partners tell AMG the junta has carried out more than 350 airstrikes to date, torching 42,000 homes and 223 villages. Pray for an immediate end to violence in Myanmar.

Header image depicts Cyclone Mocha damages. (Photo courtesy of AMG International)

It’s on track to become the world’s longest-running tropical cyclone this weekend. The last record-holder was Typhoon John which churned through the Pacific Ocean for 30 days in 1994.

When Cyclone Freddy first hit Mozambique two weeks ago, it displaced 37,000 people. Child Evangelism Fellowship hosts a children’s ministry training institute in Mozambique. Lydia Kaiser, CEF spokesperson says, “Area churches and schools are housing displaced families and there’s news of yet another depression forming in the Indian Ocean.”

Cyclone Freddy (Photo courtesy of NASA/Suomi-NPP – EOSDIS Worldview, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=128877993)

Cyclone Freddy is on course to strike Mozambique again sometime Friday or Saturday.

Despite the storm, CEF workers are still gathering for children’s ministry training. The sooner they finish, the sooner they can reach more kids in Mozambique with Gospel hope.

Kaiser says, “Child Evangelism Fellowship workers have been able to continue in their 3-month training institute as flood waters threaten to submerge the access road. Eighteen students are being trained, bringing the national staff of CEF to 31 workers who are supported by SPAN, Sponsor-a-National program.

“National workers are fluent in Portuguese, the official language of Mozambique, and they are faithful to the ministry even when hardships like flooding and cholera outbreak happen. The current team of 13 workers disciple an average of 2,500 children a week by going from school to school each day and holding open air ministry. ”

You can encourage these Christian leaders in Mozambique as they share Jesus with children and support families through hardship. Learn more about CEF’s Sponsor-a-National program.

“The cost to sponsor a national worker translates into only several USA pennies for each child who is taught.”

Also, Kaiser asks, “Please pray for the institute to be able to complete the third and final month of training, and for the people of Mozambique that they will be spared from another violent weather system.”

Header photo of flooded access road to CEF’s institute in Mozambique following Cyclone Freddy. (Photo courtesy of Child Evangelism Fellowship)

Cyclone Tauktae’s winds got up to 130 miles per hour, making it the Arabian Sea’s fifth-strongest cyclone since 1998.

That same 48 hours, India also saw a two-day streak of the nation’s highest COVID-19 death numbers.

(Photo courtesy of Mission India)

Mission India runs Children’s Bible Clubs and Adult Literacy Classes in Gujarat state and some of their ministry partners were impacted by the storm. Bartholomew* with Mission India says, “Many of their houses are just completely wrecked. One of the Adult Literacy Class teachers’ homes is made of tarps and just couldn’t stand up to the heavy winds. Another was made of wood and, as you can imagine, a bunch of sustained water [was] negatively impacting the wood.

“We’ve just seen so much damage to homes. Not just obviously our program and our partners, but many, many people in that area.”

Authorities tried to evacuate 200,000 people in Gujarat along the coast. But the pandemic and social distancing complicated the evacuation process.

Bartholomew says, “You just heap this on top of a massive outbreak of COVID, you’re trying to evacuate and take care of people. But how do you do that really well and quickly when, as we all know, COVID spreads very quickly en mass? So there’s a large struggle going on right now.”

“Typically, the western side of the country doesn’t see these strong cyclones. Wind gusts got up to about 130 miles per hour so this was pretty substantial. I don’t know how long we’ll be paused. But it’s certainly impacting our ability to facilitate these different programs that we have going on in that region.”

For now, the ministry has paused its programs in India’s west coast area. But Mission India hasn’t paused its purpose to be the hands and feet of Jesus.

(Photo courtesy of Mission India)

“Our biggest thing right now is our Relief Kits,” Bartholomew says. “For $40, you can give a family of four enough food for four weeks and provide hygiene items to help them…get through COVID and hopefully prevent them from contracting the disease. But also now, as you can imagine, this totally disrupts a lot of people’s lives in India and the west coast there. So being able to provide a Relief Kit to those areas is crucial.”

To support a Relief Kit for $40, donate to Mission India here!

And Mission India wholeheartedly believes prayer is the first work of missions. So as they continue distributing Relief Kits, Bartholomew asks for prayer over India.

“They’re still seeing over 260,000 new cases of COVID each day. And we believe that is still severely undercounted. And unfortunately, now it’s going into the rural villages who have even less access to healthcare. So you can imagine trying to figure out how to get oxygen to a rural village that has no hospital; in some cases, no doctor. How do you do that? How do you take care of people?

“So pray for the nation of India at large, but also specifically for this west coast of the country as they walk through this difficult time of COVID [and] now a cyclone that’s torn apart many areas.”

Header photo courtesy of Mission India.

*Name changed for security purposes.

Vincent Michael of FMI says, “Indonesia is made up of a group of islands called the Greater Sunda Islands and the Lesser Sunda Islands. And the Lesser Sunda Islands is where this latest flood happened: in the southeast part of Indonesia.”

Tropical Cyclone Seroja drenched several islands with rain, triggering landslides of hardened volcanic lava. The storm displaced over 8,000 people.

It’s rare for a cyclone to hit Indonesia so directly. But Michael says these types of flooding events have grown more common in recent years. “Infrastructure and flood prevention has always been a nightmare in Indonesia, and probably always will be. But in a relatively poor country where they don’t have a lot of money for infrastructure projects, it is going to be all the worse.”

How to pray

Pray the people caught in this disaster would receive the resources they need. Michael says, “There are churches in most regions in Indonesia, whether they’re large, influential churches or small churches. Pray for the Christians in these regions, that they can reach out and use this as an opportunity to show the love of Christ to those who are suffering.”

Additionally, pray for the future of these kinds of disasters in Indonesia. Michael says, “Pray for the government of Indonesia as some of their metropolitan centers are really swelling. Pray that God would give them wisdom on how to plan for infrastructure in those instances. Because they do have a difficult job.”

The header photo shows a scene from the aftermath of the flooding. (Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain)

Goni is the 10th storm to hit Vietnam in 2020; four storms and one tropical depression made landfall in October alone. It’s the highest amount in Vietnam’s history, VN Express reports, and the season isn’t over yet.

“During the past several weeks, there have been typhoons and flooding happening in many places in Vietnam,” a Vietnamese pastor* says.

“The most serious typhoon and flooding just happened on the 28th of October; [it destroyed] many houses and crops, and hundreds of people died.”

Typhoon Molave on October 27, 2020.
(Image credit: NASA via Wikimedia Commons)

Back-to-back storms throughout October triggered torrential rains, widespread flooding, and landslides affecting at least 1.5 million Vietnamese people, the UN reports. Typhoon Molave exacerbated underlying issues when it made landfall last Wednesday as a category one storm, damaging 92,000 houses and killing at least 36 people.

Help and hope in Jesus’ name

Vietnam cracks down on people who follow Jesus, but that isn’t stopping believers from sharing Christ’s love. “Many people need help. That’s why our churches and Christian community, we are donating money to buy food and supply clothes, medicines, trying to help them to rebuild their houses,” the pastor says.

The latest UN update calls for $40 million USD to meet flood survivors’ immediate needs.

Ask the Lord to help Vietnamese Christians see Gospel opportunities. “Please pray we have the wisdom to approach the non-believers among the areas [of] the disaster,” the pastor requests.

“Some people, when we help them, they have some questions: ‘we don’t know each other, [why are] you helping us?’ At that time, we can share the love of God to them.”

Pray also for church leaders as they navigate government restrictions. “Many house churches are not recognized by the government,” the pastor explains.

“They may face some problem with the local authorities. But, they have their ways to help the people, slowly and one-by-one.”

Find more ways to pray for Vietnam here. If you’d like to support disaster response efforts, visit our partner page to learn who’s working in Vietnam and how you can help.

Header image is a representative stock photo courtesy Stéphane Vermeulin via Unsplash.

Last week, Cyclone Amphan ripped through India and Bangladesh, destroying millions of homes and crops. The two countries evacuated over 3 million people before the storm hit. Officials have confirmed 84 deaths.

Amphan making landfall overt the Sundarbans. (Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)

Vincent Michael of FMI says the death toll from this storm has been lower than expected, but he wonders if it will continue to rise in the coming days. “The last cyclone that had really catastrophic effects on Bangladesh, in terms of the loss of human life, would have been in 2007. Cyclone Sidr made landfall in Bangladesh . . . the death toll for that one was about 3,500 lives lost.”

Amphan was a stronger storm than Sidr but lost a lot of its strength before making landfall. It also landed at the Sundarbans, a lightly populated area. Nevertheless, Michael says, “It had a pretty devastating impact on the infrastructure of Indian Odisha, which is where Calcutta is located. Then (it moved) into Bangladesh, in the province that we would call Khulna, which is the westernmost province of Bangladesh.”

How to pray for Bangladesh

Michael says COVID-19 had already disrupted supply lines for food and medicine in Bangladesh. “You pile on a national disaster of this magnitude, and the supply chain for life-sustaining services, particularly food and medicine, is on everyone’s mind.” FMI contacts say people need these resources the most right now.

The path of Amphan. The storm moved north toward land as its intensity diminished. (Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)

The mass evacuations made social distancing very difficult, Michael says, “COVID-19 has actually been eclipsed in this region right now. They’re dealing with the most urgent needs: getting that food and medicine to those who need it the most.”

Michael says when a natural disaster strikes, Christians have a chance to show their hope in Jesus and the resurrection. “It’s a time for their hope in Jesus Christ to shine and stand in stark contrast to those who don’t have that hope. Our prayer at FMI would be for our partners to show their neighbors who don’t yet know the Lord Jesus a stark contrast between the way they handle the calamities of this nature and the way that those around them have. [Pray] that would be an attractive force.”

Damage done by Cyclone Amphan. (Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)

Before making landfall, the storm dissipated slightly to the equivalent of a category 2 hurricane. The storm first landed at the Sundarbans, a forest reserve that sits on the border of India and Bangladesh and is home to 96 protected tigers.

With 165 mph winds and 16-foot waves at landfall, Amphan damaged many old and poorly constructed buildings.

Social distancing measures prompted by COVID-19 have made evacuations very difficult. Peter Mazumder with Asian Access says of Bangladesh, “More than one and a half million people are in the cyclone center now and they are in a safe place. But at the same time, they are a little bit scared about going to the cyclone center because of the coronavirus [social distancing].”

A satellite image showing the Sundarbans. (Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)

Mazumder describes the already bad situation in Bangladesh due to the COVID-19 outbreak. “The coronavirus situation is now day by day. Our infected people are increasing every day, almost doubling. The death rate is increasing because the social distance is not being maintained.” He says travel for religious festivals has caused some of the spread.

How Asian Access is helping

The damage done by the storm means many people will find themselves in need of aid. Mazumder points out that Asian Access already had been working in the region, providing supplies for COVID-19. “We just distributed food and hygiene during the lockdown period. When they came to know about this cyclone, they immediately contacted me to get the real picture. We are a very good global family.”

Mazumder asks Christians to pray for Bangladesh and India as COVID-19 clashes with a cyclone. Pray especially for Asian Access workers as they try to minister in the middle of two catastrophes. “Please pray that God may protect them, in spite of this difficult situation, and that they may be able to see God’s hand in their lives. We need your prayer.”

Amphan near its peak on May 18. (Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)

Second Cyclone Hits Mozambique

In this life-threatening situation, the only way aid is deliverable to isolated and island communities is by air. That’s where Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF), operating as Ambassador Aviation in Mozambique, is helping.

When word reached MAF that another cyclone was aiming for Mozambique, the organization dispatched a disaster response (DR) team to assist their Mozambique program. MAF began conducting assessment flights on Saturday, April 27, just two days after Kenneth hit.

Northeast Mozambique, Cyclone Kenneth (Photo courtesy of Mission Aviation Fellowship)

“Right after the storm passed we went up to Pemba and we did aerial assessment footage just to help people see the scale and the scope of the damage. And what was different about this cyclone, it was almost like a tornado. There’s a very tight band of damage, but it’s substantial damage probably 20 to 30 villages just pretty much flattened,” says John Woodberry, MAF’s Global Disaster Response Manager.

MAF reports the assessment team determined the cyclone “created a narrow band of destruction”, and described the damage as horrific. This team witnessed firsthand decimated villages and areas with significant damage “on the islands of Ibo and Matemo, the mainland coastal area directly west of Matemo, and the area of Mucojo farther north.”

Heavy rains following Cyclone Kenneth temporarily paused some relief operations. MAF had assessment flights and relief flights planned for Sunday, which were postponed. Then on Monday, the organization sent a relief flight to deliver tarps which did “reach the island of Ibo”.

MAF Delivering Aid

MAF is focusing on delivering aid to the islands just off of Mozambique’s coast. Woodberry says most villages on the coast are accessible by vehicle. Still, each day is different.

Northeast Mozambique, Cyclone Kenneth (Photo courtesy of Mission Aviation Fellowship)

“It’s a dynamic situation with still some of the lingering weather. We’re paying attention because a lot of the rain can cause flooding. So, areas that we think now you can get to by road focusing on islands and areas that are really a challenge for agencies to support, there might be new areas that are super isolated. And so, we’re focusing on where can we be best used to bring the greatest impact and help because DRs is all about speed and saving lives,” Woodberry says.

MAF hopes to fly a medical team to islands along with food and shelter soon. Currently, the organization is focusing on the needs of those isolated. One of the most immediate needs is shelter.

People have no structures for protection, food stocks are gone, and medical care is urgent. MAF is working with organizations like World Food Program and the Mozambique government to deliver these urgent needs.

“We’re working with partners that are involved in that type of work. The challenge is a lot of people are still very involved down south because of Cyclone Idai down in the Beira area. And so, [the] capacity to do two cyclones in a month in the same country is stretching a lot of agencies. So, people are doing what they can,” Woodberry says.

Would you Pray?

If you would, please pray for those suffering in Mozambique. Pray for organizations like MAF to have access to hard-to-reach areas to deliver relief aid and transport medical teams. Pray that those serving the Mozambicans suffering from Cyclone Kenneth would truly be the hands and feet of Jesus. And please, pray that despite the changing situation, aid and God’s hope and love would still reach those in need.

Header photo of Northeast Mozambique, Cyclone Kenneth. Photo and caption courtesy of Mission Aviation Fellowship.

Audio Scripture Ministries’ Joshua Harrison says the situation in Mozambique is dire after Cyclone Idai’s devastation. “The damage is still being tallied and we’re still trying to see the full ramifications to the infrastructure. It will probably take a very long time before things are normal in Mozambique.”

Idai cut a swath through almost 3,000 square miles of Mozambican farmland. Those who survived the storm now face starvation.

ASM is doing what they can to respond. “We’re trying to encourage people to replant to try for a second harvest, and we’re asking for God’s mercy and help with that — that people would be able to get a second harvest even though it’s late in the season,” Harrison says.

“We’re helping put together some seed packets with 25 pounds of seeds per family with corn, black-eyed peas, bean seeds, a hoe, a bush knife, and an audio Bible — just trying to provide what families might need to get a second start and to have that hope and encouragement in this time of great need.”

(Photo courtesy of ASM)

ASM’s audio Bibles are especially useful for Mozambicans who are oral learners. Also, their solar-powered nature means the audio Bibles aren’t incapacitated when extreme weather takes out a community’s power grid.

“We continue to hear the testimonies of those who are hearing God’s Word in their own heart language, and how that can affect the whole entire family as they’re hearing the hope of God’s Word, even amidst the difficulties they’re facing.”

Harrison shares, “We heard a story of one of our Compassionate Care patients who was listening to God’s Word in her own language through her audio Bible even amidst the cyclone. Even as she was waiting for help, she was listening to God’s Word through her own audio Bible.”

The ASM team in Mozambique just received a new shipment of 2,000 audio Bibles to distribute along with seed packets.

(Photo courtesy of ASM)

“However, it is just a drop in the bucket,” Harrison says. “I mean, looking at the 400,000 to 500,000 people who have been displaced, it will be very easy to quickly distribute those where they’re needed, and we will soon be needing more. So we are praying that we would be able to soon provide another 1,000 audio Bibles or perhaps more because the need is very real.”

Several NGOs are helping in post-Idai recovery, but they will eventually leave. ASM served in Mozambique long before the storm struck, and they will be around long after other organizations pull out.

In addition to distributing seed packets and audio Bibles, ASM is also providing medical assistance. ASM’s Compassionate Care Coordinator Dara Vanden Bosch has been traveling with Doctor Rute — a Mozambican doctor and pastor — to reach people in rural areas who need urgent medical care.

Harrison asks, “Please continue to pray for our team as we prepare audio Bibles for distribution, that we would be able to place them where they’re most needed. There are such incredible needs right now and we have a limited number.

“Secondly, [pray] that God would really open the floodgates for our fundraiser for more audio Bibles for Mozambique in this time. We know that physical health is important and having our daily bread is very important, but having long-term spiritual sustenance [and] having the truth of God’s Word is paramount.

Seed packets with an audio Bible distributed by Audio Scripture Ministries in Mozambique. (Photo courtesy of ASM)

“I would also ask for prayer for Doctor Rute and for Dara Vanden Bosch as they travel and care for patients in rural areas that have been very heavily impacted by Cyclone Idai. We are trying to spread our teams out as much as possible and reach as many people who are in need as possible during this time.”

Just $65 gets one audio Bible and seed packet into the hands of a Mozambican family affected by Cyclone Idai.

Click here to support audio Bibles in Mozambique with ASM!

“The Mozambicans are such resilient, strong people,” says Harrison. “When they can put their trust and hope in God and hear His promises in their own language, it makes it so much easier to cling to the Lord’s promises.”

Header image courtesy of the NOAA.

Relief Efforts in Mozambique

Mission Aviation Fellowship, operating as Ambassador Aviation in Mozambique, is a first responder in the country. MAF’s Global Disaster Response Manager John Woodberry says the cyclone has brought more devastation than what was initially expected.

Since cyclone Idai hit, MAF has been working with the National Disaster Management Institute of Mozambique to do aerial assessment, identify the extent of the disaster, identify the greatest needs, and gather critical information regarding how and where to respond. Since it is the responsibility of Mozambique’s government to respond to the disaster, MAF is working with them and other non-profits to provide help.

One of the challenges MAF faces during its relief efforts is isolation. People are stranded and hard to reach.

Aerial photos from Cyclone Idai in Mozambique. The cyclone made landfall on March 14, 2019 in Mozambique. (Photo/caption courtesy of Mission Aviation Fellowship)

“We are finding people on tufts of ground, roofs of houses, wherever there was land. Animals, snakes, people all would get into the tree or the little tuft of land, and using food provided by the World Food Program, we started dropping food at different places. But we’re a part of a larger response now and we’re blessed to be able to serve and help those suffering in Mozambique,” Woodberry says.

Rick Emenaker, a MAF pilot responding to the disaster in Mozambique, has seen first-hand the destruction from Cyclone Idai during survey flights to photograph the damage and determine where to provide rescue efforts.

“We saw many people on rooftops and others clinging to trees. The floodwaters had completely submerged homes. These photos really opened the eyes of the world to what’s going on,” Emenaker says.

Partnering to Serve

MAF has partnered with Mercy Air, Food for the Hungry, Samaritan’s Purse, and others to respond to the crisis. Aircraft can deliver supplies, such as tents, food, and medical equipment, but Woodberry says helicopters and boats are needed to get to where people are affected. Through Mercy Air, MAF is using a helicopter to meet needs. MAF is also using its Cessna Caravan—a ten passenger aircraft—for survey flights and as an air-bridge for people. They’re also bringing tents to Beira, which is surrounded by floodwaters. BBC News footage from a survey flight shows extreme flooding in Mozambique.

Following Cyclone Idai in Mozambique in 2019, Mission Aviation Fellowship and Mercy Air worked together to deliver aid and conduct survey flights. (Photo/caption courtesy of Mission Aviation Fellowship)

“We’ve been partnering with the helicopter operator for some of the food drops and tent drops. It’ll do a sling load of a bunch of tents and stuff like that. But the water is slowly starting to recede and so we’re hopeful in a week or so some of the roads will open up again, but that remains to be seen,” Woodberry says.

It was nearly harvest time when Cyclone Idai struck. Not only have people lost their homes, but they have also lost their food supplies, stock animals, crops, and livelihoods. Woodberry says people are moving into Internally Displaced Person (IDP) camps for temporary shelter and food, but, the “long-term needs are going to be astronomical in helping people return and be able to build on land where it’s safe to do, replanting crops.”

Until then, people are packed together in tight quarters, creating a breeding ground for disease and cholera. Per the BBC, reports of cholera in Beira surfaced on Friday and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) has noted an increase in malaria, too.

Get Involved

MAF plans to serve in Mozambique during this disaster until its services are no longer needed. However, the organization relies on donor support to provide help in times of need. Will you give to help MAF “respond and deliver rapid life-saving supplies” and to transport people as needed?

To financially support MAF’s response work, click here.

“Pray for wisdom, that God would open doors for help to rapidly arrive. You can pray for the people of Mozambique. Whatever challenges we’re having, we really do not have challenges compared to those who’ve lost homes, those who’ve lost family members, those who are hungry. So, you can pray for the suffering, those people, and that doors would be open, that help will come, and the tangible love of Jesus Christ will be shown,” Woodberry asks.

Header photo courtesy of Mission Aviation Fellowship.