NTM's flight program adjusted to fly material aid to some flooded areas in Bolivia and missionaries are collecting used clothing to distribute among the disaster victims most affected.
"We're preparing medical help and food supplies for the areas most urgently needing it," wrote missionary Dan Gill, NTM Bolivia's contingency coordinator.
Flooding near the Amazon headwaters and nearer the Andes damaged the staple crops of the Ayore, Yuqui, Yuracare and Chimane tribal groups.
"The tribes [Trinitario and Ese Ejja] further downriver are just now getting the worst of the water and we're not sure how bad it will get," wrote Dan.
Two months of rain has also caused multiple landslides over the last several weeks, closing down major roads in the mountains. "For a time we were cut off from Argentina and Paraguay," wrote Dan on Wednesday, "but a detour has temporarily solved that problem."
With heavy equipment, Bolivian workers move the rock, dirt and mud obscuring sometimes as much as a kilometer of road. Tuesday one of the main roads to Cochabamba was reopened. But the landslides keep coming.
For Dan and his coworkers the biggest concern is the mid-to long-term affects on the tribal people. "There is bound to be a greater need for medical help with the decreased food supply, lack of potable water and increased mosquito-borne diseases."
NTM sent a missionary to a nearby town that is mostly under water. He will assess the situation to see how NTM can help.
The missionaries are asking the church leaders what kind of aid they need in the hopes of working together to remedy the problems the flooding left in its wake.
"As we get a better picture of the situation in each area where we're working, we'll seek to address problems with a long term view," wrote Dan. "That will include perhaps working with the people to replant some of their crops and seeking to diversify more some of their economic operations."
Pray for wisdom and the means for missionaries to provide strategic aid to the disaster victims, especially the tribal people.
Also, NTM has opened a Bolivia disaster relief account to receive donations of those desiring to help. For more information call 1-866-547-2460 or e-mail finance-office_hq@ntm.org
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