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DISASTER RELIEF STAFF
Click on an underlined name or title to contact them by e-mail
STATE OFFICEDick TalleyState Disaster Relief DirectorRae JonesAdministrative AssistantVOLUNTEER STAFF
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Earthquake Facts· The largest recorded earthquake in the United States was a magnitude 9.2 that struck Prince William Sound, Alaska on Good Friday, March 28, 1964.
· Before electronics allowed recordings of large earthquakes, scientists built large spring-pendulum seismometers. The largest one weighed about 15 tons. There is a medium-sized one three stories high in Mexico City that is still in operation.
· The average rate of motion across the San Andreas Fault Zone is 2 in/yr. This is about the same rate at which your fingernails grow.
· The hypocenter of an earthquake is the location beneath the earth's surface where the rupture of the fault begins. The epicenter of an earthquake is on the surface of the earth, directly above the hypocenter.
· The world's greatest land mountain range is the Himalaya-Karakoram. It contains 96 of the world's 109 peaks of over 24,000 ft. The longest range is the Andes of South America which is 4700 miles in length.
· It is estimated that there are 500,000 detectable earthquakes in the world each year. 100,000 of those can be felt, and 100 of them cause damage.
· It is thought that more damage was done by the resulting fire after the 1906 San Francisco earthquake than by the earthquake itself.
· Each year the southern California area has about 10,000 earthquakes. Most of them are so small that they are not felt. Only several hundred are greater than magnitude 3.0, and only about 15-20 are greater than magnitude 4.0.
· There is no such thing as "earthquake weather". Statistically, there is an equal distribution of earthquakes in cold weather, hot weather, rainy weather, etc.
· From 1975-1995 there were only four states that did not have any earthquakes. They were: Florida, Iowa, North Dakota, and Wisconsin.
· Alaska is the most earthquake-prone state and one of the most seismically active regions in the world. Alaska experiences a magnitude 7 earthquake almost every year, and a magnitude 8 or greater earthquake on average every 14 years.
· The interior of Antarctica has icequakes which, although they are much smaller, are more frequent than earthquakes in Antarctica.
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Cookie Crumbs
LET US HEAR FROM YOU
If you have any suggestions, comments or ideas for future issues of the TBM Newsletter, click on the link below and let our Editor hear from you.
TBM-DR Newsletter Editor
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C.S. Lewis said, "a man's spiritual health is exactly proportional to his love of God." Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you your heart's desires. Psalm 37:4
The Lord says, "I will rescue those who love me. I will protect those who trust in my name. When they call me, I will answer; I will be with them in trouble. I will rescue them and honor them. I will satisfy them with a long life and give them my salvation." Psalm 91:14-16
No eye has seen, nor hear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him. 1 Corinthians 2:9
God is not unfair. He will not forget how hard you have worked for him and how you have shown your love to him by caring for other Christians, as you still do. Hebrews 6:10
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ANAGRAMS
Anagrams are words that when all of its letters are rearranged a new word or phrase can be created. Sometimes the new words are amazingly descriptive of the original word. For example:
· God save us all =
· Heavy Rain = Hire a Navy· Statue of Liberty = Built to Stay Free
· Eleven plus two =
Twelve plus one
· Astronomer =
Moon Starer
· Debit Card =
Bad Credit
· Goodbye =
Obey God
· Weather =
Hear Wet
· Presbyterian =
Best in Prayer
· Dormitory =
Dirty Room
· No Admittance = Contaminated
· Shoplifter =
Has to Pilfer
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Financial Support
TBM appreciates your prayers and support of our Disaster Relief ministry. Without your financial support we would not be able to help so many hurting people in their hour of need. You may mail a gift to TBM at 5351 Catron, Dallas, Tx 75227 or give by credit card through our website at: www.texasbaptistmen.org. If you have any questions about a financial gift please call Mickey Lenamon at 214-828-5177.
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Building Dedication
Was A Huge Success
 | Mickey Lenamon was
Master of Ceremonies |
November 20, 2010 was a great day for the dedication of the new Robert E. Dixon Equipping Building. Hundreds of volunteers and friends attended the ceremonies. Lunch followed the dedication.
A number of booths were set up to display the activities of many of the ministries of Texas Baptist Men. The Disaster Relief Feeding Unit, a Water Purification demonstration, the Retiree Builder's Workshop, Royal Ambassadors, and the Prison Ministry were among those displaying photos and offering literature.
The building is now eighty-percent completed. With high roll-up doors, the large eighteen wheelers will now be able to pull straight through and park without jockeying around support posts and other obstacles. This is a huge advantage when equipment is needed in a hurry. Previous mobilization might take hours instead of minutes to have our equipment rolling.
A safe-room for all of the communications equipment, with its own auxiliary generator, will let TBM stay in contact with teams in the field all over the world regardless of weather conditions here in Texas.
 | | Leo Smith reviewed a timeline of TBM progress over the years |
One of the highlights of the ceremonies was the introduction to us of the Haiti National Amputee Soccer Team. They just returned from Argentina where they played the Russians, in their first International Competition...the World Cup of Amputee Soccer. TBM is supporting the team. The team is scheduled to play four other nations, moving forward to the playoffs.
The December issue of the newsletter will contain many more photos from the dedication ceremony, the people, and other activities.
It was truly an inspiring experience to learn of the Christian outreach TBM has had over the years, and the help so many provide in both time and financial support.
 | | Bob Dixon and John LaNoue kept the crowd on the edge of their seats with funny stories of past activities |
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 A MESSAGE FROM DICK TALLEY
Thanksgiving
Greeting
Many people look forward to this particular holiday simply because the majority, if not all, of their family members will be together. It is a time of happiness and catching up on the lives of the others. This is a Thanksgiving tradition that never goes out of style. For many people, this is also a holiday to simply remember to be grateful, and givwethanks to God for all of the blessings they have received. This is the true meaning of Thanksgiving.
All of us at TBM join in wishing each of you a joyous Thanksgiving, and a wonderful time with family and friends. |
William "Bill" R. Bell
July 30, 1947 - October 29, 2010
William "Bill" R. Bell passed away on October 29, 2010 in Amarillo, Texas. Bill had been an active and integral part of the Paramount Baptist Church Disaster Relief Team and Texas Baptist Men. He had completed both Yellow Cap and Blue Cap training and participated in callouts involving primarily cleanout and chainsaw but was always available for whatever was needed. He was a trained "climber" and was responsible for most of the maintenance and sharpening of chains for the Paramount Chainsaw Unit. Bill was always among the first to volunteer and there was never any task or problem that he could not complete or solve. Since 2005 Bill had participated in more than 50 disaster events involving callouts to two (2) countries and eleven (11) states and had been deployed more than 300 days. Bill was a great friend and will be greatly missed |
Children Helped On American Samoa Following Tsunami
From Tracy Barber
TBM Disaster Relief Child Care Coordinator
American Samoa VOAD (Volunteer Agencies Active in Disaster) asked NAMB to provide a Crisis Intervention Team for Children. The tsunami that struck Samoa in October of 2009 had traumatized many of the children and the AS VOAD reached out to NAMB for help because NAMB had been in Samoa doing water purification and rebuilding. Crisis intervention was a new area for DRTCC (Disaster Relief Temporary Child Care). NAMB put together a five-member team from GA, MS, and TX. As the team began to plan the supply list for this new venture we wondered what supplies we would need and where we would acquire them. A few years ago Texas Baptist Men DRTCC put together a fly-in child care unit that has been sitting in the Dixon building warehouse. I was able to take four extra checked suitcases of these supplies to American Samoa. God provided for our needs before we knew what they were.
The Children's Crisis Intervention Team worked with eight AS VOAD caseworkers. Each day we went to two villages. We worked with around 500 children and adults during our time in the villages. There were many adults who participated in the activities with us. The music, stories, drawing, and games were all designed to allow the children to express their thoughts and feelings surrounding the events of the tsunami. In some of the villages the children were doing well emotionally. In some that had more severe damage, we encountered children who were still struggling with the events that had transformed their lives the day of the tsunami.
I will always remember the six year old girl who wouldn't speak, but whose fourteen year old cousin told me that "The waves took away her little brother." The children drew pictures of where they were when the tsunami came. Most of the pictures had the waves covering their houses, schools, roads, school buses, cars, and churches. The drawing that is imprinted on my mind is that of the eleven-year-old girl who drew herself, her mom, and her baby sister in the mountains and then drew a body under the waves. She wrote next to the body that the tsunami killed her sister.
There are six Southern Baptist churches in American Samoa. They are a part of the Hawaii Pacific Baptist Convention. Three of them are Samoan, one is Chinese, one is English, and the other is Korean. We were able to worship in two of these churches during our time on the island. Their church facilities are basic, but the Southern Baptist people of American Samoa are vibrant in their worship and dedicated in their devotion to Christ. Happy Valley Baptist Church has a private Christian school that reaches out to the children of American Samoa. Many of their teachers are volunteers from the US Mainland.
We left a suitcase of supplies for the six churches in American Samoa. I do not understand how four TBM suitcases supplied our needs for a week with the children, supplies for each of the eight caseworkers to continue the work, and six suitcases of supplies for the churches. God multiplied the supplies and provided an abundance for every place He intended them to be used.
Where God guides, He provides.
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Looking Back
Saragosa
May 30, 1987
On Memorial Day weekend in 1987, a tornado struck Saragosa, a small community of 350 people 100 miles southwest of Odessa. Death touched almost every family. The storm killed 30 people and injured 140. Sixty of the 107 houses in Saragosa were destroyed.
Within a few hours, the American Red Cross asked for our assistance. Jerry Bob Taylor, Texas Baptist Disaster Relief director responded by loading his pickup truck with food and water from the Circle Six Ranch Baptist Encampment, and with a crew of four volunteers from the Westside Baptist church in Odessa, headed for a Red Cross shelter in nearby Balmorhea.
At the Balmorhea High School they set up lanterns and began cooking with the natural gas powered stoves in the cafeteria. At daybreak, they served breakfast to about 100 displaced persons. A local chapter of the Red Cross then took over the food service responsibilities.
TBM was asked to coordinate the rebuilding of the town. 720 volunteers took part in the rebuilding effort on Labor Day weekend. 30 homes were repaired, two new homes had been turned over to their owners, and 19 were about 80% completed. After that weekend, TBM hired professional builders to complete the work on the homes that remained unfinished.
Natural disasters will continue to happen, but TBM is ready "Anyway, Anytime, Anywhere."
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Earthquakes
Shake, Rattle & Roll
Earthquakes occur all over the world, though some areas experience more quakes than others.
The seismic waves created by an earthquake take three basic forms. The "P Wave", or Primary Wave, is one that moves through rock formations and bodies of water, compressing and expanding the rock as it progresses.
The second wave type is the "S Wave". As it moves through the body of rock it shears the rock sideways at right angles to its direction of travel. Surface movement, up and down, is experienced
And finally there are "Surface Waves. Often referred to as "Love Waves" and "Raleigh Waves", these waves can be felt as a very smooth and regular rolling motion, or as slowly increasing movement followed by a sharp decline.
In very large earthquakes all of these waves may be present...some felt in one direction from the epicenter, and others in another direction.
Knowledge about these wave patterns is vital in determining the exact location of an earthquake's epicenter. Seismologists have been able to determine the average travel time of P and S waves. By measuring the time it takes for the waves to travel to the observatory, the distance to the epicenter is easily determined. Accuracy is increased when measurements at more than one observatory are compared. Other methods are used to determine the depth of the epicenter below the earth's surface, and to measure the amplitude or force of the quake.
A universal method was needed to measure the magnitude of an earthquake, so that one in California or Texas could be compared with one in Indonesia. The first earthquake scale originated in 1931 by K. Wadati in Japan. His scale was later refined by Charles Richter in California.
The Richter Magnitude Scale:
2.0 -2.9: Not felt
3.0-3.9: Often felt but rarely causes damage
4.0-4.9: Noticeable shaking, noisy, significant damage unlikely
5.0-5.9: Can cause major damage to poorly constructed buildings. Slight damage to well-constructed buildings
6.0-6.9: Can be very destructive within 100 miles of epicenter
7.0-7.9: Can cause serious damage over larger areas
8.0-8.9: Can cause serious damage in areas several hundred miles across
9.0-9.9: Devastating in areas several thousand miles across
10.0+: Never recorded
Scientists are learning more about earthquakes every day. Measurement techniques are improving, and the ability to accurately predict earthquake activity is becoming more refined. As the use of more and more remote seismic equipment is utilized, such as at dams and bridges, with direct connects to central observatories, property damage and major loss of life will be reduced as a result of early warnings and evacuations.
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