Pacific

Displaying items by tag: Pacific

Thursday, 30 July 2020 21:15

Australia: national day of prayer

The National Council of Churches has called on all Christians across Australia to set aside Sunday 2 August as a day of prayer, worship and optional fasting, as the state of Victoria in particular continues to battle with the pandemic. The council’s president, Bishop Philip Huggins, said in a letter to member churches, ‘We all know the impact of the pandemic here and overseas, including on some of our own loved ones. At our council meeting this week, we directors all shared our vivid and poignant current reflections. What we can offer again now are our prayers together. Hence this encouragement to you all. It is comforting when we know we are all praying together to our Saviour. From our various traditions, there are prayer resources, ancient and contemporary, which we have been offering already.’

Published in Worldwide
Thursday, 09 April 2020 21:09

Pacific: Cyclone Harold’s devastation

Cyclone Harold, a category 5 cyclone, hit the Pacific nation of Vanuatu on 6 and 7 April, ripping off roofs and downing telecommunications across large parts of the north and west of the country as it tries to fight the coronavirus outbreak. There have been hurricane-force winds, heavy rainfall, flash flooding, properties flattened, and trees torn down. Luganville, with a population of 16,000, was ravaged. Communications to Vanuatu’s two largest islands are cut. Vanuatu is in a state of emergency, with borders closed to international arrivals, a curfew, and gatherings of more than five people banned. Some restrictions were lifted to allow people to gather at mass evacuation centres (see) On 8 April Harold flattened homes and flooded towns in Fiji. Emergency officials are scrambling to establish communication with outlying islands. Harold killed dozens in the Solomon Islands before destroying Vanuatu, and is expected to hit Tonga within days.

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Friday, 21 February 2020 07:20

Australia: United Prayer Rising

In South Korea, in 2016, generations from across the nations converged to fast and pray and believe God for the birthing of new, youth-led prayer and mission movements. After the UPRISING in Korea, young people have owned the vision and taken the zeal for united prayer to their respective regions and nations. The ‘waves’ have rolled out; there is now UPRISING in the Philippines, South Africa, Mongolia, Bolivia, Malaysia, Europe, Canada, Chile, Mexico, and California. On 14-18 July, in Sydney, Australia there is a calling for another United Prayer. The theme will be: ‘From the Womb to the World.’ and an estimated 1,500, young and old, will attend a four-day destiny-engaging event at the Rosehill racecourse, with even more expected to be present in the Solemn Assembly in Sydney. The organisers hope that many more will join them in catalysing waves of youth-led global prayer and mission movements at the UPRISING.

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Thursday, 16 January 2020 20:37

Australia: faith and fires

Australia's prime minister, a Pentecostal, has said, ‘I have always believed in miracles'. Millions have been praying. Recently the crews battling Australia’s wildfires have seen a break in the weather. Cooler temperatures and mild winds have caused the fire’s behaviour to change, so firefighters are now fighting not fleeing. Please join 24-7’s online prayer, ‘God of all comfort, give strength to the emergency services fighting fires, the medics tending the sick, and the pastors conducting funerals and binding up broken hearts. We ask you to give wisdom to politicians as they seek to respond effectively to this crisis and begin to review long-term environmental policies in light of this disaster. Forgive us, Lord, for the damage we do by exploiting our environment and failing to care for your creation. You “cover the sky with clouds and supply the earth with rain”.’ For the full prayer, see

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Thursday, 09 January 2020 19:45

Australia: devastation not over

Thunderstorms are bringing some relief for firefighters battling deadly wildfires across Australia's drought-parched east coast; also, authorities have worked to trace the source of the fires, arresting two dozen Australians for potential arson. Meanwhile, as the flames consume tens of thousands of acres, Christians are issuing a call to prayer. While the rain has brought welcome relief to Australian communities and the fire crews, the unprecedented devastation continues. Fires have consumed more than 32,000 square miles - eighty times more than the wildfires that swept through California in 2018. ‘While we were fighting the front of the fire to the south, it came in from the east,’ said Balmoral resident Justin Kam. ‘While we were fighting to the east, it came in from the west. You don't really have too much of a chance when that happens.’ Pray for thunderstorms to continue and winds to blow flames away from communities.

Published in Worldwide
Friday, 03 January 2020 09:23

Australia: continue to pray

New South Wales declared a week-long state of emergency in response to escalating bushfires. Ask God to give strength and wisdom to Australian military aircraft and vessels and to US and Canadian ‘specialist aviation resources’; may there be clear, unconfused communication between different agencies fighting fires and saving lives. Ask God to bless those providing humanitarian assistance, upholding them in all they do. Pray for wisdom and sensitivity to those carrying out evacuations of whole communities in the coming days. May God protect the thousands of volunteers deployed to help struggling emergency services. May He comfort those who once lived in the 1,200+ destroyed homes. Thousands are fleeing a vast ‘tourist leave zone’ in the largest relocation ever. May calm minds replace panic and fear. Pray for cut-off towns where supplies are running low and people are living in fear of flames spreading across their communities. May God bring wind direction changes and rain to take the worst of the fires away from towns and farms.

Published in Worldwide
Thursday, 19 December 2019 21:48

Tornadoes, fires, floods

Tornado activity is not rare in the United States at this time of year, but the impacts and width of recent storms are notable, creating more fatalities in one day than from tornadoes in the past three Decembers combined. Pray for those who have lost homes, possessions and loved ones in parts of Louisiana ransacked with 160 mph winds. Please continue to pray for Australians living in areas under a total fire ban amid dangerous record-breaking heat and wild winds. 100 wildfires are still scorching 5.3 million acres and covering Sydney in toxic smog. In Malaysia, by 18 December over 10,000 flood victims had been evacuated and taken to 100 relief centres. Pray for the people with disabilities, the elderly and children affected by an extreme unabated monsoon season with flood waters reaching 2.5m deep. See

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Thursday, 12 December 2019 22:55

New Zealand: White Island volcano eruption

At White Island, a privately-owned tourist destination, a volcano violently erupted on 9 December. A live feed showed several visitors inside the crater before the stream went dark. 47 tourists were there when it erupted: currently eight are dead, and eight more are missing. It is possible that not all the 31 patients in hospital will survive; 27 have at least 30% of their bodies burnt, and many have inhalation burns. Questions are being asked about why tourists were allowed to approach New Zealand's most active volcano three weeks after seismologists raised its alert level. Pray that the current police investigation receives honest answers to these and other questions arising.

Published in Worldwide
Thursday, 12 December 2019 22:46

Australia: thousands in climate change rally

20,000 angry climate change protesters turned out in Sydney on 11 December, attacking Australia's leaders in their speeches and chants as bushfires suffocated the city with ‘lethal’ thick smoke. A firefighters’ union representative said that the fires are ‘the worst fires we have had in decades. Our members are saving lives, property, wildlife, stock and pets, but they are spread thinly as they are also responding to their regular work. The NSW Government has failed. We have got no water because the state and the country are in drought. We need a government that takes action.’ Australia is on high-alert as temperatures soar above 40C and smoke haze blankets the cities setting off fire alarms.

Published in Worldwide
Thursday, 05 December 2019 23:01

Samoa: measles crisis

An exceptional measles epidemic in Samoa is attributed to a decision in 2018 to suspend  a vaccination programme after two infants died following vaccination. UNICEF has now sent Samoa 110,500 vaccines, and the government has issued extreme measures to secure ‘public safety’ as the crisis worsens. No vehicle is permitted on the road unless it belongs to an exempt service from the public sector or is being used to seek medical assistance from a medical facility. All inter-island travel between Upolu and Savaii is prohibited, except to get medical assistance. Everyone must stay at home to await the vaccination units being mobilised for the MMR vaccination plan. Public sector services exempt from closure include hospitals, morgues, fire and emergency services, police, search and rescue, and security. But people continue to avoid vaccinations, even as the country is shut down under strict emergency laws, in part due to high-profile foreign interference.

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