wfn.org | Re: Central American Churches Rally to Help Hurricane Victims

[Mennonite Central Committee Communications]

TOPIC: Central American Churches Rally To Help Hurricane Victims 
DATE: August 23, 1996
CONTACT: Emily Will
V: 717/859-1151 F: 717/859-2171
E-MAIL ADDRESS:  mailbox@mcc.org

August 23, 1996 
2)
CENTRAL AMERICAN CHURCHES RALLY TO HELP
HURRICANE VICTIMS

AKRON, Pa. -- Nicaraguan, Costa Rican and Guatemalan churches are
rallying to help victims of Hurricane Cesar, which slammed into parts
of Central America July 27 to 28.  Mennonite Central Committee
(MCC) has so far provided $13,700 Cdn./$10,000 U.S. to assist the
churches in their outreach.

Nicaragua and Costa Rica bore the brunt of the storm.

In Nicaragua, the hurricane raged through the Caribbean lowlands,
home to 70 to 80 Anabaptist churches.  The timing couldn't have been
worse, reports Bob Buxman, MCC Nicaragua co-director.  The area's
residents, mostly subsistence farmers, were harvesting the season's first
rice, corn and beans.   Nearly 28,000 hectares/70,000 acres of crops --
valued at $33 million Cdn./$24 million U.S. -- were destroyed.

Additionally, 20,000 people had to flee their homes; property damages
are estimated at $20 million Cdn./$15 million U.S.  Some 10,000
Nicaraguans are still stranded in 39 relief camps across the country. 
The camps are low on supplies -- food, drinking water and medicines.

The Anabaptist Emergency Commission -- consisting of representatives
from various Mennonite and Brethren in Christ groups in Nicaragua --
will distribute $4,100 Cdn./$3,000 U.S. worth of food and supplies to
meet immediate needs in the hardest-hit communities.

In Costa Rica, Hurricane Cesar killed at least 40 people and damaged
some 3,000 houses, as well as roads, bridges, aqueducts, hospitals and
schools.

MCC's partner in Costa Rica -- the interdenominational Council of
Churches for Emergency and Reconstruction -- has requested and will
receive $4,100 Cdn./$3,000 U.S. to help transport food and supplies
gathered by Costa Rican Christians to the affected areas.  The Costa
Rican Mennonite Church is also planning a response to the hurricane,
with food and material aid purchased with MCC's help. 

Hurricane Cesar brought on mudslides in Guatemala, in the Ixil
Triangle area where MCC workers Richard and Ruth Anne Friesen are
located.  The Guatemalan Primitive Methodist Church will receive
$5,500 Cdn./$4,000 U.S. to assist in rebuilding destroyed homes and to
purchase food for affected families.

"These Central American churches are an inspiring example of what it
means to be salt of the earth by reaching out to others in times of
trouble," says Ed Stamm Miller, MCC assistant secretary for Latin
America and the Caribbean.   

MCC anticipates providing another $13,000 Cdn./$10,000 U.S. to help
the Nicaraguan and Costa Rican Mennonite churches purchase seed for
farmers who have lost their harvests, in the hope that the farmers will
be able to plant a late winter crop.

MCC is requesting donations for this emergency relief effort.  Please
send contributions, marked "Hurricane Cesar relief" to MCC, PO Box
500, Akron, PA 17501, or to MCC Canada, 134 Plaza Drive,
Winnipeg, MB R3T 5K9.
                               -30-
esw23august1996

MCC photo available: Hurricane Cesar is not the first natural disaster
to which Nicaraguan Mennonites and Brethren in Christ have
responded.  In this 1992 photo, Pablo Bejarano, member of
Nicaragua's Mennonite Convencion Conference, helps rebuild a home
following a colossal tidal wave that doused the country's coast, killing
120 and leaving thousands homeless. (MCC photo by Bob Molsberry)