wfn.org | CWS Responds to Hurricane Pauline

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CWS Responds to Hurricane Pauline in Mexico
National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A.
Internet: wendym@ncccusa.org

Contact: Wendy S. McDowell, NCC, 212-870-2227

NCC10/29/97  FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

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EDITORS: When listing organizations receiving funds for 
humanitarian response to Hurricane Pauline on the Mexican 
coast, please include:

CHURCH WORLD SERVICE, Attn. Hurricane Pauline, #7635H, P.O. 
Box 968, Elkhart, IN 46515. Phone pledges or credit card 
donations: 1-800-762-0968.

CWS works in more than 70 countries, including the U.S., in 
disaster relief, human development and refugee assistance.  
It is a ministry of the National Council of Churches.
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CHURCH WORLD SERVICE RESPONDS TO HURRICANE PAULINE
Directs Support to Indigenous Communities in Rural Areas

 NEW YORK, Oct. 29 ---- Two weeks after Hurricane 
Pauline ravaged Mexico's western Pacific coast, Church World 
Service (CWS) is providing basic food, tools and rebuilding 
materials for indigenous people in isolated rural areas.

 A total of 600,000 people in the states of Guerrero and 
Oaxaca were in some way affected by the storm, one of the 
worst to hit Mexico's western Pacific coast.  The official 
death toll stands at 217 and the Mexican Red Cross estimates 
that more than 2,000 people are missing.  Some 300,000 
people remain homeless and important crops were destroyed.

 Although most government support and assistance from 
other humanitarian organizations has been directed to the 
tourist areas of Acapulco in Guerrero and Huatulco in 
Oaxaca, CWS is planning to work with rural, and primarily 
indigenous, communities in the region, especially those in 
neglected isolated areas.  The indigenous population 
includes the Amuzgo, Mixteco, Tlapaneco, Nahua, Huave, 
Zapoteco and Chatino ethnic groups.

Assistance will be administered by CWS Regional 
Representative Samuel Lobato, who is based in Mexico City, 
in cooperation with the Catholic Archdiocese, indigenous 
organizations such as the Guerrense Council, and the local 
NGO network.  CWS support will include: reconstruction 
materials to build temporary homes; basic food such as corn, 
beans, rice and powdered milk; 18,000 blankets; tools 
including shovels, pickaxes, hammers, saws and nails, and 
the rental of three helicopters for six days to transport 
emergency food and materials.

The initial CWS appeal is for $300,000, of which 
$106,580 will purchase blankets and $193,420 will go to 
other needs described above.

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