wfn.org | CWS Responds to Florida Wildfires

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

National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A.
Contact: Wendy S. McDowell, NCC, 212-870-2227
Internet:  news@ncccusa.org

69NCC7/17/98                   FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
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EDITORS: When listing organizations receiving funds for 
humanitarian response to the Florida wildfires, please 
include:

CHURCH WORLD SERVICE, Attn. Florida Wildfires, #976231, 
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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CWS COORDINATES FAITH-BASED RESPONSE TO FLORIDA WILDFIRES

 NEW YORK, July 17 ---- Even though needed rain soaked 
Florida over the weekend, the situation in areas affected 
by this month's wildfires continues to remain uncertain and 
Church World Service (CWS) is helping to put programs into 
place that will provide for long-term emotional, spiritual 
and economic needs.

"Flickers of flame and chimneys of smoke are still 
visible as one drives through Flagler County," reported 
Disaster Response Specialist Jody Hill of Lutheran Disaster 
Response and Florida Interfaiths Networking in Disaster 
(FIND) /Florida Council of Churches - a CWS partner.  Ms. 
Hill  recently brought religious leaders together to 
discuss a faith-based strategy and has performed a damage 
assessment.  "These fires, though remaining `contained' by 
rain, fire-fighting and state-of-the-art technology, are 
all but impossible to extinguish, or even access.  
Residents remain alarmed and traumatized."

"It is clear that this is a community which has lost 
its sense of trust, its sense of security," Ms. Hill 
explained.  "This is a community in terror.  But this 
community has not lost its `sense of community.'  I 
continue to be impressed by the commitment and involvement 
of faith groups."

CWS is helping to develop such faith-based recovery 
programs, which emphasize case work, advocacy and spiritual 
care, particularly for people whose rebuilding and 
replanting needs will go unmet by federal assistance.  CWS 
is seeking $100,000 from its member communions to initiate 
the kind of coordinated effort necessary for a sustained 
interfaith response. 

-more-

69NCC7/16/98
FLORIDA WILDFIRES/Page 2

Ms. Hill explained that initial recovery efforts by 
the faith community have been carried out by individual 
churches and denominations but as unmet recovery needs 
continue to surface, a sustained interfaith response will 
be necessary.  Long-term recovery takes time and includes 
spiritual and emotional healing as well as physical 
rebuilding, she said.

Based on a preliminary damage assessment, Ms. Hill 
recommended that an inter-religious recovery effort focus 
on:
  Development of local interfaith recovery programs 
focused on case work.
  Case worker training.
  Workshops for clergy on long-term spiritual care.
  Legal assistance and insurance advocacy for 
disaster survivors.
  Mitigation efforts including education, rebuilding 
and replanting.

 Ms. Hill and CWS Disaster Resource Consultant Paul 
Binder already have been involved in "Equip the Caregiver" 
workshops.

"The reality of the devastation, viewing it first 
hand, is beyond words," Ms. Hill said.  "Pictures cannot do 
justice to the experience of seeing and smelling these 
remains.  I empathize with these families' losses."

Despite the wide geographic range of the fires, only 
367 homes and 33 businesses were damaged, according to the 
Federal Emergency Management Agency.  FEMA stressed that 
the longer-term economic impact of the disaster will be 
ongoing drought conditions and loss to businesses from 
closures.

However, in addition to housing and commercial 
buildings, the fires have damaged citrus fruit trees and 
continue to threaten the state's peanut crop - posing 
potential long-term economic problems.

The losses are particularly difficult for those in 
rural areas, where many residents live in mobile homes, are 
uninsured and live miles from a fire department.  Ms. Hill 
stressed that the unmet needs in Florida are likely to be 
considerable and that much depends on whether or not there 
is sustained cooler, wetter weather.  "Without significant 
rains, these initial losses could be only a sample of what 
Florida could be facing," Ms. Hill said.

Ms. Hill also reported that people affected by the 
fires "have difficulty thinking about mid-term and long-
term recovery efforts" because "fires have a different kind 
of physical, psychological, and spiritual effect than do 
hurricanes, tornadoes or floods."

Jody Hill can be reached at: (352) 796-6921; (352) 
799-3295 (fax); (407) 353-6275 (cellular); 
jodyhill@juno.com (e-mail).
 
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