January 11, 2007, Miami, Florida…[Libna Stevens/IAD]
Seventh-day Adventist Church leaders at the Inter-American Division headquarters ask church leaders and members across the region to pray for fellow Adventists in the island of Montserrat as volcano threatens to affect yet again what’s left of the Adventist community there.
“We ask for your prayers on behalf of our people in Montserrat,” said Pastor Israel Leito, president of the church in Inter-America, yesterday during a committee meeting.
“The infrastructure of the church there has suffered tremendously before and they need your prayers,” he added.
The church’s infrastructure was terribly affected in Montserrat when a large eruption in 1997 of the Soufrière Hills volcano destroyed six of its seven churches, two schools, several properties and took the lives of two church members. That destruction left two thirds of the island uninhabitable including the capital city, the islands airport and crop areas.
Pastor Eugene Daniel, president of the church in the Caribbean Union, or region, says that they are very concerned for the nearly 500 remaining church members who are worshiping in one church left on the island. He says that the island has been warned of a possible evacuation.
According to Pastor Daniel before the 1997 eruption the church membership in the island was over 12,000 but most relocated to Antigua and other neighboring islands.
“The church is prepared to respond in assisting those in need,” Pastor Daniel said. “The plan in mind is to temporarily assist in the evacuation of church members and community members to new locations with the help of the Adventist Development and Relief Agency in the region,” he added.
ADRA Inter-America is prepared to jump in and assist with funds, says Wally Amundson, its director. An Emergency Refuge Center to house 100 people was built shortly after the 1997 eruption Amundson adds. Amundson said the center it’s functional with a full kitchen and supplies to assist those in need for relocation.
Since it’s first eruption in 1995, causing pyroclastic flows and mudflows, the Soufrière Hills volcano has become one of the most closely monitored volcanoes in the world.
Montserrat is located in the Leeward Islands in the Caribbean Sea, measuring approximately 10 miles long and 7 miles wide and is an overseas territory of the United Kingdom.
