/07 Dec 2010

Consoling listeners after Cambodia festival stampede

In response to the recent Phnom Penh stampede tragedy and its aftermath, FEBC Cambodia and its Family FM programming staff have been reaching out to their grieving community.

With almost 350 killed and another 300 injured in the human stampede during the Khmer Water Festival celebrations, FEBC began to air special programming at 9am the next morning to discuss the tragedy and offer prayers and condolences to listeners.

A FEBC staff member says: “We visited one of the hospitals and took gifts of food and radios generously donated by some of our supporters. Patients were crowded into corridors, attached to drips. One or two allowed the team to pray for them. Please pray that God will move in healing power on those prayed for. One of the most distressing moments was encountering a woman who had been walking from one hospital to another, looking for her teenage son. Some of those who drowned may never be found.”

Prayer Points

  • Continue to pray for the people of Cambodia as they come to terms with the disaster caused by a stampede on the Koh Pich Bridge on 22 November. There is much fear in Phnom Penh. Altars have been set up all over the city which people think will appease the spirits of the dead and prevent further catastrophe. Pray against the spiritual powers that hold people in bondage.
  • Pray for the FEBC programming team, for sensitivity and wisdom in their programming in days to come. Pray for counselling programmes that we are organising; these will feature pastors and partners who specialise in that area of ministry. Pray that these programmes will be a real help to the injured, traumatised and bereaved.
  • Together with a local partner, a team from FEBC has visited one of the public hospitals to distribute radios and food parcels to victims of the disaster. Pray that many will tune into Family FM and through it discover God’s love for them.
  • Pray for the teams of counsellors from churches and organisations who have been visiting people in the hospitals. They say many are having nightmares and struggling with guilt because they trod on others in their attempt to escape from the crush.
  • The public hospitals here are overcrowded and the staff exhausted. Pray for those still working to deal with the horrific injuries suffered. Local groups including NGOs have rallied round to send in medicine and food. Please pray that enough aid will be received to treat all the injured and to manage their pain.
  • The disaster appears to have stirred up the church, both local and international, to a new level and intensity of prayer for the nation. Please pray with us for a fresh move of God in Cambodia.