About 265 people died from the last week’s floods and landslides that swept away villages in the south and that hit low-lying tea estates and rice fields, damaging tea factories and uprooting rubber trees.
The archbishop’s appeal, published by Vatican Radio, said that food and drinking water are needed, and that homes will have to be rebuilt when the waters subside.
Archbishop Gomis called on priests to involve the greatest possible number of faithful in “this moment of need.” Several parishes have already responded by organizing the collection of building materials.
Caritas and other Catholic agencies have allocated $14,000 for the relief effort.
