A massive international relief effort has been launched following the January 26 earthquake in Gujarat, central India, in which an estimated 100,000 people died. Many hundreds of thousands more have been left without food and shelter.

There has been a “horrendous amount of suffering among the general public,” says Ron Watts, president of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in southern Asia. “The death toll is mounting hour by hour as they are digging out the rubble.”

Edwin Charles, communication director for the Adventist Church in the region, has requested that believers around the world continue to pray for those caught up in the disaster.  Many survivors are “sleeping out in the open for fear of another large quake,” says Charles. “To add to their misery, the night temperatures are close to freezing.”

Staff at the Adventist hospital and nursing school in nearby Surat continue to treat victims. “The staff has shown exceptional courage during and after the earthquake,” says a report from hospital administrators Kala and Earnest Prasad. “They chose to stay beside the seriously ill patients, risking their lives even as other patients were being shifted out. Patients and relatives appreciated their courage.”

Watts says that no loss of life among the Adventist Community has been reported. However, among the many buildings damaged was the nurses’ dormitory at the Adventist hospital in Surat, forcing hospital staff and students to move to on-campus housing. The Adventist administrative office and school in Ahmadabad was also damaged by the shocks and may need to be rebuilt.

Administrators at the world headquarters of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, located in Silver Spring, Maryland, USA, voted January 30 to contribute funds to the ongoing relief effort in Gujarat.