Tsunami victims to get clean water from N. Texas group

[TexasStooge]

By MICHAEL REY / WFAA ABC 8

As the world struggles to understand the scope of the Dec. 26 tsunami disaster, the question is asked again and again: "how do we help?"

For one North Texas group, the answer is in the water. The Texas Baptist Men are sending a delegation to Indonesia this week to help provide fresh, purified drinking water for victims.

Now that waves have receded, disease becomes the killer - something the group's Dick Tally saw up close a decade ago in Africa.

"The day that I landed, they were burying thousands in mass graves because of the cholera and the typhus and the many things that were causing the deaths," Tally said. "Once we got the water flowing the death rate stopped."

The portable water purifier is the product of two North Texas companies.

"It is a complete water purification plant in a box, and it reaches a level of purity much higher than a municipal system might," said Aspen Water's Ed Atchley. "You're talking about being able to have as many as ten thousand people survive off of one of these systems."

For the Texas Baptist Men, 2005 already looks a lot like 2004.

"The entire state of Florida ... we worked in there, and we worked on all four of the hurricanes there," said Tally.

Texas Baptist men used this same pump in Florida, and they plan to deploy it in multiple locations across South Asia to help bring a glimmer of hope to victims who face a daunting struggle.

"Once I get these units up and running in Sri Lanka, I'll be heading to Jakarta to head up the rest of the teams coming in," Tally said.

[depotoo]

that's wonderful! how dreadful it must be there.