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"We received the same answer all over," says Abe Ens, part of a four-person MDS assessment team which visited Quebec's flood-ravaged Saguenay region July 29-30. "They told us, 'thanks for the offer to help, but right now we don't know where we'd put you to work.'"
Ens, Chair of MDS Canada region, says the agency will stay in touch with disaster response officials in the region to see how and when help can be provided. "A final decision will have to wait until people can take stock of the enormity of the disaster," he says. "People are still in shock. It will take time for them to know what kind of help they need from the outside."
In addition to Ens, from Rheinland, Man., other assessment team members were Keith Wagler, vice-chair of MDS Canada region, from Baden, Ont.; Jean-Victor Brosseau, pastor of the St-Eustache, Quebec Mennonite Brethren Church; and Lyne Dufresne, a member of the pastoral team at the Joliet, Quebec, Mennonite Church.
The team focused their efforts on La Baie, a community of 21,000 people where around 250 houses were destroyed and over 350 damaged. While there they visited officials from the Red Cross, city hall and local clergy.
Ens says that the priority now for people in the region is clean-up. "It's hard to believe the mess--there are houses, parts of houses, trees and other debris all over the flood path," he says.
However, MDS was not asked to provide volunteers from outside to do clean-up since there are many local people who are available to help. "The flooding shut down many businesses, including the area's two largest employers," Ens says. "There are lots of local volunteers."
As for future reconstruction efforts, one factor which will affect the role volunteers can play is widespread unemployment in the construction industry in Quebec. "Some people are calling the flood 'a blessing in disguise' for unemployed people," says Ens. "We don't want to take away jobs by bringing in volunteers."
MDS will stay in touch with disaster response officials in the flood-affected region to see how it can provide assistance.
The floods came after torrential rains dumped between 150 and 270 millimetres of water in the Saguenay region, located around 220 kilometres northeast of Quebec City, on July 19-20. The floods killed ten people and displaced 12,000 others.
MDS release
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