wfn.org | NCCCUSA/CWS El Nino Response

[CAROL_FOUKE.parti@ecunet.org (CAROL FOUKE)]

National Council of the Churches of Christ in the 
USA
Contact: Wendy S. McDowell, NCC, 212-870-2227
Internet: news@ncccusa.org
Web: http://www.ncccusa.org and http://www.wfn.org

NCC3/4/98    FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

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EDITORS: Photos to accompany this story will be 
available soon.  Please phone the NCC Communication 
Department (212-870-2227) concerning your photo 
needs.

When listing organizations receiving funds for 
humanitarian response to El Ni¤o, including the 
storms in California and Florida, please include:  
CHURCH WORLD SERVICE, 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, the nation's 
preeminent ecumenical organization which includes 34 
Protestant and Orthodox member communions with a 
combined membership of nearly 52 million.
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IN THE WAKE OF EL NI¥O'S DEVASTATION, CHURCH WORLD 
SERVICE
RESPONDS TO MOST VULNERABLE IN THE U.S. AND 
WORLDWIDE

NEW YORK, Mar. 4 ---- As the El Ni¤o weather 
phenomenon wreaks havoc worldwide, including in the 
United States, Church World Service (CWS) is 
providing a community-based response to the most 
vulnerable people in areas where unmet needs are the 
greatest.

Last week, CWS launched extensive recovery 
efforts in the wake of the storms and flooding in 
California and Florida, drawing on already existing 
interreligious networks and developing new faith-
based organizations to distribute aid, coordinate 
volunteers and help the poorest and most vulnerable 
people with emergency and long-term assistance.

In recent months, CWS has responded to El Ni¤o-
related disasters in East Africa, Mexico and Latin 
America with blankets, food, medicine and aid for 
the reconstruction of homes and the reinforcement of 
river banks.

"The many ways we have been responding to the 
crippling weather caused by El Ni¤o, from our `El 
Ni¤o preparedness' appeal in September 1997 to our 
targeted appeals of recent months in Somalia, 
Mexico, Latin America and the U.S., reveal our 
philosophy better than any statement could," said 
the Rev. Dr. Rodney Page, Executive Director of CWS.

"We focus on vulnerable and isolated people, 
whose needs often go unmet," said Rick Augsburger, 
Director of the CWS Emergency Response Office.  "We 
also focus on the community level, by working with 
partner agencies."  The CWS response to Hurricane 
Pauline in Mexico is a good example of these 
emphases, Mr. Augsburger said.  "We sought $300,000 
to help the rural, and primarily indigenous, 
communities in the region, especially those in 
isolated areas who were being neglected by other 
international aid agencies," he said.  "CWS Regional 
Representative Samuel Lobato is working with the 
Catholic Archdiocese, indigenous organizations such 
as the Guerrense Council, and the local NGO network 
to supply food, reconstruction materials, tools and 
transport."

Other CWS efforts in response to El Ni¤o 
include:

  * The recent tornadoes that struck central 
Florida killed at least 38 people and destroyed 
more than 400 residences.  CWS has appealed for 
$500,000 to work with its partners, the Florida 
Council of Churches and its affiliate, 
Interfaith Networking in Disaster (FIND), to 
implement a four-part response plan.  The plan 
includes: Deploying volunteers to install 
temporary roofing; developing 
informational/training sessions to prepare 
clergy and lay volunteers to care for 
caregivers, to provide crisis counseling to 
disaster-affected families, and assist disaster 
survivors in applying for Red Cross and FEMA 
assistance; establishing local interfaith 
organizations to address long-term recovery 
needs, and launching a fundraising drive.
  * In California, the networks formed as a 
result of last year's mitigation and 
preparedness efforts by CWS Disaster 
Consultants have sprung into action as 
torrential, record-breaking rains fueled by El 
Ni¤o have pounded both northern and southern 
parts of the state.  CWS has appealed for 
$350,000 from its member communions for 
interfaith organization and training and seed 
money for the coordination of housing 
reconstruction for as many as 300 homes.  CWS 
Disaster Resource Consultant Dick Eskes of the 
Christian Reformed World Relief Committee said 
a major problem is the "diffuse" nature of the 
disaster.
  * El Ni¤o is taking an unusually heavy toll on 
Latin America, with heavy rains and flooding 
common in some areas, and drought in others.  
"There is a joke in Latin America now that La 
Ni¤a, the other gender, is responsible for the 
drought," said the Rev. Oscar Bolioli, Director 
of the Latin America and the Caribbean Office 
for CWS.  Bolivia, Ecuador and Peru have been 
particularly hard hit.  CWS has requested 
$54,000 from its member communions to help 
relief and development organizations in these 
countries to provide food, kitchen utensils, 
medicines, blankets, mosquito nets, water 
purification and fumigation products, 
reconstruction materials and tents for 
temporary shelters.  CWS is assisting peasants 
in isolated rural areas, including 37 
indigenous Guaranies del Itika Guasu 
communities in Bolivia which face the threat of 
hunger, as well as communities in marginalized 
urban areas such as Lima, Peru.
  * Responding to the worst flooding in nearly 40 
years in central and southern Somalia, CWS sent 
$30,000 in Emergency Blanket Funds to Joint 
Relief and Rehabilitation Services (JRRS), a 
CWS partner based in Somalia and Kenya, for 
some 5,000 flood survivors in Somalia's Juba 
Valley.  CWS sought an additional $100,000 in 
support of a JRRS request for anti-malaria 
drugs, food and relief supplies.  Compounding 
the disaster is the lack of local capacity to 
address needs.  Somalia is without a central 
government and is ruled by various warring 
factions.

CWS Emergency Response Office staff and 
consultants agree that El Ni¤o will continue to 
cause devastation in coming months, increasing the 
need for disaster mitigation in vulnerable regions.  
"A disaster of this severity and this long-lasting 
can be a real strain on resources," Mr. Augsburger 
said, "so we will be emphasizing training and 
preparedness to get the most from our resources."

For more information about the aforementioned 
areas and the effects of El Ni¤o, contact CWS 
Emergency Response at 212-870-3151 or via e-mail 
CWS_DROFFICE@ecunet.org  Updated information can 
also be found on the CWS internet web site: 
http://www.ncccusa.org/CWS/emre

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