The city of Gunung Sitoli on the island of Nias, Indonesia, lies in ruin after a massive undersea earthquake hit west of Sumatra late Monday.

May 29 letter from on the scene relief coordinator Dennis Cady:

Bill,

I am in Nias. Have been here for 2 days. We had a meeting all day yesterday and till 2:00 today with 105 men from 44 congregations. One, but not the only purpose, was for them to bring us data about their needs. We are starting to put all that together. They were uniform in that they wanted help rebuilding church buildings first. The ones who lost their homes, and many who haven't but who fear the constant tremors and quakes, are living in tents. Various relief groups have flooded the place with tents. As best we can determine at his point 42 church buildings suffered loss.....most total destruction or damaged beyond repair. Its too soon to tell more but I'll be on Nias till the 6th and will be in touch. Three schools are under construction, actually one is complete and paid for. School furniture is going out to one (I'll go along) the 31st.

A real problem is Laiya's (Local coordinator) health. He has been in 3 hospitals since the mid March. Is at home now but weak....in Medan. Please pray for Him. Thanks for your interest.

Dennis Cady

Click HERE to see Dennis Cady's photos from the Earthquake!

Tuesday, July 12 letter from on the scene relief coordinator Dennis Cady:

The relief work marches on. We have found that work load has at least a degree of sanity if we focus on one phase at a time. Initially it was immediate cash and some kitchen and household supplies. Then we built three schools (actually two are complete at this time) and agricultural projects in three locations, as well as several smaller projects. We are now concentrating on the damaged and/or destroyed church buildings. A total of 1600 church buildings were destroyed on Nias by the March 28th earthquake. Of the 45 congregations of the churches of Christ a few meet in homes. Those buildings that were just bamboo or wood with thatched roofs stood the quake pretty well. "Better built" buildings took a beating. We have surveyed each building and are in the process of supplying the materials to rebuild the buildings that members had built, to the same size and type of construction they had before the quake. Members provide the labor. If they choose to build back a bigger building, as some are doing, or in a different type of construction, the difference from what they had to what they will now have is their responsibility. We are using this opportunity, as well, to provide sheet metal for those buildings that had only thatched roofs, even if they were not damaged. In all 33 congregations are receiving this help at a total cost of $35,205. To my knowledge we are the only religious group that is doing this for the congregations with which we are associated. Denominational folks are noticing--as they are noticing all the relief work we do. The church is doing good in its response to the needs of the tsunami and especially earthquake victims. We expect the church building phase of things to wind down in another two or three weeks. At that time we want to turn again to building elementary school classrooms. Schools are meeting in tents in many locations and by 11:00 a.m. it is so hot in the tents they are letting out for the day. We are surveying the best locations and hope to build another eight school buildings. In most cases these are buildings of three classrooms each. We provide new desks (actually a table shared by two students) and chairs for each as well. In most cases we are building back schools where there are congregations of the church. We can't rebuilt all schools which lost buildings so we have to start somewhere. This is a way we can help members but not just members. This seems to be a good fit.

There will continue to be one-time needs that surface and we will help with those as they come our way and have merit. There are many non-governmental organizations on Nias and most are providing relief in one manner or another. I know of no other church that is doing anything close to what we are doing... and we will do more. The man who makes all this work go is Brother Karnius (Ceri) who is also one of the preachers for the new church in the main city of Gunung Sitoli. He has abilities unusual in Indonesian. He can juggle several things at once, is good with accounting for the funds spent and does as good a job as anyone could in sifting through the many appeals that come our way.

In addition to the Tsunami relief: In previous reports I have stated that there has never been a church of Christ in the main city of Gunung Sitoli. We have bought a property with a house on it. The house has been partially renovated and we had the first service there on July 10th. We don't even have a sign up yet. We handed out just under 200 flyers. Forty-three attended. Ceri's family of three, the other preacher Halawa and myself.......and 38 visitors, two of whom were Moslems. We were extremely pleased. The radio program is being listened to and people are appreciative of it. I personally know of over 40 who were baptized during the three weeks between my last visit and this trip, but I'm sure there were others. The preachers are aware that many (unfortunately probably most) of the people coming saying "I would like to be baptized" are doing so 1) with the hope of receiving some kind of help and 2) because the denominational building where the y went has collapsed and they don't want to have to help fund the rebuilding of it. They are turning away people who won't be taught, but those who will be taught are being taught the gospel and a lot of fruit is yet to come.

We continue to be very please with the way things are going. I will be so glad when the funds so generously given are used and we can get back to the evangelism and church planting that we know better how to do. We aren't going to be able to fix everything but we are sure helping in a lot of places. I anticipate going back in mid-September. We are thinking that the lion's share of the relief work will conclude by the end of the year. We need a lot of energy and A LOT of wisdom to complete the task. Please keep praying for everyone involved.

Dennis Cady, Nias, Indonesia