EARTHQUAKE SURVIVORS TELL THEIR STORY -COPING WITH THE AFTERMATH

Providing Hope Amid Despair

In times  of such crisis, Jehovah's Witnesses make efforts to help survivors not only physically but also spiritually and emotionally.   For example, immediately after the Colombia earthquake referred to earlier, the branch office of Jehovah's Witnesses there organized a local emergency committee. Thousands of Witness volunteers from all parts of the country donated food and money.   Soon, some 70 tons of food was sent into the affected area.

Often, spiritual support is most crucial. One morning after the Colombia earthquake, one of Jehovah's Witnesses noticed a particular dejected looking woman walking down a street in the devastated city of Armenia.  She approached the woman and offered her a tract entitled What Hope for Dead Loved Ones? 

The woman took the tract home and read it carefully.  The next time one of Jehovah's Witnesses called at her door, she just had to tell her story.   The earthquake, it turns out had destroyed several homes that she owned in the city, which had provided her with a good income. Now she was in poverty.  But that was not all. During the earthquake,m the house in which she lived with her 25-year-old son had collapsed, killing him.  The woman told the Witness at her door that she had never been interested in religion before but that she now had many questions.  The tract had given her real hope. Soon a home Bible study was started. 

Jehovah's Witnesses are confident that there will be a time when mankind will no longer be threatened by natural disasters, including earthquakes.  The following article will explain why. 

Next time:  EARTHQUAKE SURVIVORS TELL THEIR STORY - EARTHQUAKES, BIBLE PROPHECY AND YOU

From the Awake! magazine