Response World-Wide
The lessons of the Northridge quake have been well-learned, not only by the City and County of Los Angeles, but also by the Volunteer Ministers in many other countries.
Kathy Evans, Los Angeles coordinator for Church of Scientology Volunteer Ministers Corps, introduces the program to new volunteers. When a magnitude 6.0 earthquake leveled sections of Quindio, Colombia, in 1998, Volunteer Ministers, including a team from the Los Angeles area, were there. In the town of Pijao, Quindio, the mayor, personally experiencing the relief available with assists, called in his entire office staff so they could also receive assists, thus enabling them to continue their work at the height of the crisis.
Mayor Guilardo Marulanda Florez later stated, “The effectiveness of the assists led to a formidable result of mental relaxation and relief that has made it immensely more possible for us to carry out our work.”
Volunteer Ministers also gave assists to truck drivers who had been slowed by exhaustion in their delivery of important medical supplies and food. After giving assists to a number of the drivers, the speed with which badly needed supplies reached the earthquake victims nearly doubled.
In a letter of gratitude to the Volunteer Ministers, Johan Alberto Arellancela, Director of the Operative Unit of the Pijao Red Cross, wrote, “I thank you in a very special way for the help you have given to my volunteers and to me personally, because the peace and physical and spiritual relief allows us to continue on with our difficult labor.” Arellancela urged the Volunteer Ministers to carry on with their good work.
The volunteers’ successes in Colombia mark both the ministers’ dedication and the effectiveness of the assists developed by Mr. Hubbard. Testimonials abound: A woman forced to use crutches due to hip injuries sustained during the earthquake, regained the use of her legs—without crutches—after assists. Another woman, terrified to return to her house, addressed the spiritual causes of her fear and was able to calmly return home and go on with her life. A traumatized young man who could not sleep after being buried for hours beneath rubble was able to sleep for the first time in days after receiving an assist. Those on the scenes of emergencies and disasters tell hundreds of similar stories.
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