More than 550 families in the villages of Kolontar and Devecser are affected by toxic red sludge that burst from a nearby alumina plant reservoir in October. Nine people were killed, either by the flood itself or as a result of severe burns from the highly basic sludge. The flood caused 38 homes to collapse, covered the rest with red mud, and has damaged water sources. Nearly 200 homes have had to be demolished.
Neither of the Presbyterian Church’s missionaries were affected, though David Pandy-Szekeres, who lives with his family in Hungary, is following developments and told the Record the tragedy is being called “the largest industrial and ecological disaster that has ever hit Hungary.”
Presbyterian World Service and Development is supporting Hungarian Reformed Aid, the development arm of a long-standing partner, the Hungarian Reformed Church.
Volunteers are providing food items for the evacuated families, blankets, pillows and clothes for a public shelter, cleaning supplies, masks and coveralls for volunteer clean-up crews, and shelter for up to 200 people for six months in the heated holiday camps of the Hungarian Reformed Church.
Hungarian churches in the Presbytery of Westminster have launched a campaign to raise funds for those most affected. Presbyterians can help by making an online donation through PWS&D, or visit the Help Hungary Now website at helphungarynow.wordpress.com for the latest information. – PWS&D and AM
