Flood Disaster Relief

See, bottom of campaign for budget details...

The Story: How Events Unfolded

At about 4:00am, on March 31st 2017, in the Village of Kasansa we experienced a HUGE flash flood!!! So far we know of six people who were killed, and one person still missing.

Those who were killed by the flooding...

1.) Unborn Child (Mother Miscarried After Trauma of Trying To Rescue Herself From The Flood)
2.) Anjelina Justin (Baby Girl - 1 Week Old)
3.) Georgina Moses (Girls - 5 Years Old)
4.) Revenus Joseph (Boy - 11 Years Old)
5.) Jenifer Paskari (Girl - 12 Years Old)
6.) Zabera Paskari (Girl - 14 Years Old)

Most of the dead were found burried in the mud later in the morning, they were tangled in the mosquito nets that they were sleeping in unable to escape. 

Local Government Has Now Declared State of Emergency In the Area:
- Head Doctor For The District of Mpimbwe Has Joined Efforts At Our Clinic Along With Other Medical Professionals
- The Head Of Water Works For The District Has Also Arrived To Inspect Damages
- The District Commissioner Has Arrived To Meet With Victims (Most Likely To Be Followed By Regional Commissioner (aka Governor of Katavi Region).

In all the flood has destroyed more than 20 homes, it has injured scores (our clinic alone "Upendo Wa Mungu Dispensary" has treated some +45 injured people today) all on loan with the government promising to pay us back.

The entire property for the clinic has turned into something of an IDP camp. With many people living on the premises at this current time.  The property  our Clinic sits on was unscathed, and unaffected by the storms.  However, many of our staff for the clinic have been seriously injured as well, because the houses they were renting were destroyed. So instead of being able to help at the clinic, they too are being treated and the government has brought in addional staff to help with the overload of people.

UNFORTUNATELY for us and the five surrounding villages, our water intake that supplies our clinic and those five villages with drinking water has been completely destroyed. The dam we had built upriver (where the water is clean before coming in contact with people) has been completely destroyed.  All the metal pipes leading up to the water tank have been ripped apart or have been burried under the rubble and are now missing.  Our Clinic cannot run without water and right now we are looking at thousands and thousands of dollars to get water supplied back to the property and to all the villages.  Things are BAD and left untreated could cause a cholera epidemic.

Even more of a problem, though is that many, many people have lost EVERYTHING, including loved ones (many people who I know and care about). Some have said that they are never going to return to the village and will find somewhere else to move to.  

This has been the second time a flash flood has happened in the last three years.  Flash flood occur when there is an overabundance of rain, which cause landslides that block the river upstream.  Then like a dam, the water builds up until it bursts and all comes down the mountain, carrying huge boulders and trees.  The first time we had a flash flood, there was only one causality, as it was in the day and very few people were home.  This one happend in the middle of the night.  One of our nurses was struggling to escape her house and was snatched by the current, but fortunately for her a person rushed in and rescued her.  Others were not so lucky. 

Not only in the village of Kasansa, but in other surrounding villages; houses are gone, tons of livestock have been killed, farms buried in mud, bridges taken out.

I am all the way on the other side of the country and cannot get there in time, so I am having Fathili and Miroslav drive there to see what needs to be done, make an assessment on what needs to take place to help these people out, and take pictures of the damage to both our water intake and the damages inflicted on the village. They will need your prayers for safety, as they possibly leave tonight to travel to Kasansa.

Again things are VERY Bad, so please pray for everyone in Kasansa. Praise God though... there is a good clinic where people are being treated, where the dead are being held, and where many people have gone to seek refuge. Please keep all the staff of the hospital in your prayers as they are dealing as victims of the tragedy themselves, and trying to reach out to the people in their time of need.  Thank you for everyone who has helped to donate to get this clinic up and running.  

How You Can Help:

If you have been reading and are thinking... "How can I practically help?"  Then what follows will be of interest to you. 

This is where we need your help.  I have just received a full list of what is needed to fix our water situation.  It does not look good.  In order to help this village regain access to clean water, we will need $9,500 USD.  This includes 520ft of 4" gs pipe, all the fittings, valves, rebar, cement, etc. to rebuild the dam, get water back to the huge water tank feeding the villages, and then getting water back to our property.  

In addition to this I am looking at helping the 27 different families who lost their homes or their possessions or both.  I think the best way would be to help each family with 1 bundle of tin sheets or the equivalent value in other items that might be needed vs the tin sheets.  A bundle of tin cost about $110 USD.  It might not seem like much, but this would be huge for these families to receive help in this way.  In total we are going to need around $3,000 or to see this happen.  

So, our aim is to do thwo things.  1.) To restore running water to the villages.  2.) To provide each family with the equivalent of a bundle of sheet metal to help in their rebuilding efforts.  

So for this, you can either give through https://www.gofundme.com/cz7zex-flood-disaster-relief or you can give via a cheque (See the instructions in the footer of this email to know how to give via a cheque)

Again, without you, our efforts to help these people will come up short.  Please consider and pray about it, please act, so we can respond.  

If you would like to receive tax credit, please send your money via cheque to the following.  

All Contributions to MTP: by Check
Written out to "Missions Training Program"
Memo "Tori: Flood Relief"

Send to
Attn: Anna Choy
Smithtown Gospel Tabernacle
1 Higbie Dr.
Smithtown NY, 11787

If you do send a cheque please inform me as to how much it is at my email address:   [email redacted]

We really need you at this time to please come through and help us help the local people. 


- Sincerely, Tori Rasmussen