No members are reported to have died here when a 23-foot wall of water, called a tsunami, crashed over the coastline July 17 - killing as many as 3,000 people.
Local Church leaders in the country also reported that no missionaries were serving in the areas affected by the disaster.Papua New Guinea Port Moresby Mission Pres. Mosese Fehoko Naeata visited the damaged areas, determining how the Church could be of assistance to the thousands of victims, now left homeless. Thousands of people were also injured by logs and debris carried by the wave.
The tsunami, which followed an earthquake that struck about 12 miles off the island's northwest coast, left the villages of Malol, Arop, Otto, Warupu and Sissano Mission Station as barren strips of sand.
The majority of Church members in Papua New Guinea live outside the affected areas, in or near the capital city of Port Moresby - where there is one stake.
