he struggle to recover from the devastating earthquake in El Salvador continues, says Carlos Guandique, acting country director for the Adventist Development and Relief Agency/ El Salvador. He reports that ADRA has mobilized more than 2,000 volunteers, including nine doctors and 18 nurses.

Initially the medical teams provided emergency treatment for broken bones and abrasions. Now many survivors suffer from respiratory problems. Working in Santa Tecl, Los Chorros, and Armenia (a village that was 70 percent destroyed), the volunteers are providing emergency food such as beans, rice, potatoes, corn flour, tortillas, oranges, and bananas, Guandique says.

According to the latest information available, more than 682 bodies have been recovered with many more people reported missing. More than 2,500 are injured, and thousands homeless as a result of damage to more than 46,000 homes and complete destruction of more than 16,000 other homes. An earthquake registering 7.6 on the Richter scale occurred January 13 at 11:33 a.m. local time. The epicenter was located about 65 miles southeast of San Salvador. This region has been cut off completely because of blocked roads. One example of the devastation was Santa Tecla, near San Salvador, where mudslides buried almost 4,700 homes and damaged another 16,000.

Additional information about ADRA's response to this catastrophic situation can be found on its web site at www.adra.org.

An internationally recognized non-governmental organization, active in more than 120 countries, ADRA was granted general consultative status by the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations.

ADRA is an independent humanitarian agency established with the specific purpose of individual and community development and disaster relief. Without regard to age, ethnicity, or political or religious association, ADRA assists more than 19 million children, women, and men annually.

Oregon Handbell Choir Shares
Music in U.S. Inaugural Festivities
Among scores of musical groups participating in the inauguration festivities for U.S. president George W. Bush was the Ring of Fire hand-bell choir from the Tualatin Valley Junior Academy, an Adventist school in Hillsboro, Oregon.

The 13-member hand-bell choir, the only musical group from the Pacific Northwest to receive an invitation, performed at three inaugural events: the parade, a tribute to American authors, and an inaugural ball. Ring of Fire is the first hand-bell choir ever to participate in the inaugural parade, says director Jason Wells. The Review will carry a major feature on the group in an upcoming issue.

GC Forms Adventist World Television Taskforce
In a move to further expand the Adventist Church's emphasis on evangelism and growth, an Adventist World Television Taskforce was established by the Administrative Committee of the church's General Conference.

The taskforce will assess the viability of setting up an organization to combine the existing event-oriented satellite ministry of the Adventist Global Communication Network (AGCN) with yet-to-be- created on-going television programing aim at international viewers.

In introducing the initiative, General Conference president Jan Paulsen said that it expresses "a desire of the world church to broaden its satellite television ministry and allow the existing and new opportunities to complement each other." He also said that "we are not looking at it as a television station-purchasing initiative. It will be important for us to evaluate the potential use of television by the world church internationally and broadly in the future."

"Television is a significant contributor to evangelism, education, and training, and an instrument of our mission as a church. We desire to broaden this ministry to the advantage of the church's mission," said Ted N.C. Wilson, a General Conference vice president, who was named chair of the taskforce.

In light of 50 years of Adventist television ministry, the taskforce will look at creative opportunities to proclaim the gospel in years the future. The taskforce will work in the context of achievements and experience of varied media ministries, as well as international and lay initiatives in television programming.

Adventists in several parts of the world operate media production centers, television studios and broadcast facilities. During the past five years, AGCN has established a network of more than 12,000 downlink sites, largely in local churches, and brought numerous satellite television programs to virtually all continents of the world.

The taskforce, whose membership is made up of church and lay media professionals, including representatives from AGCN, the General Conference, "It Is Written" and Adventist Media Productions, will prepare a concept proposal to establish the Adventist World Television organization, its program production and delivery mechanism. -–Adventist News Network

Middle East Leaders Meet Lebanese President
General Emile Lahoud, president of Lebanon, received a delegation of Adventist Church leaders in the Presidential Palace in Beirut to discuss issues relating to Middle East College, situated in the capital.

Reinder Bruinsma, Trans-European Division secretary; Sven H. Jensen, Middle East Union president; Levon Maksoudian, East Mediterranean Field president; and Svein L. Myklebust, Middle East College principal, were among the delegation who updated General Lahoud on the history, beliefs, and mission of the Adventist Church. The group presented several requests–-including recognition of Middle East College as a university.

In his welcome Lahoud underlined the richness of having many different faith groups in Lebanon and assured their rights to freedom of worship. Lebanon is known in the Middle East as the home of various religious persuasions with equal rights including Sunni and Shiite Muslims, Druse, Maronite, Catholic, Orthodox, and evangelical Christians as the major groups. He also responded positively to the requests raised and offered hope of a favorable outcome. ––Adventist News Review

News Notes
The Oakwood College Aeolians choir made a brief appearance on the ABC TV's Good Morning America program on Friday morning January 12.

Douglas Clayville, associate secretary of the Southern Asia-Pacific Division, was recently elected as an associate secretary of the General Conference. Clayville replaces Don Sahly, who became director of the Leadership Training Council.

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