wfn.org | CWS SENDS BLANKET FUNDS TO CHINA

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

CWS Sends Blanket Funds to China
National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA
Contact: Wendy McDowell, NCC, 212-870-2227
Internet: news@ncccusa.org

80NCC8/13/98              FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

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EDITORS: When listing organizations receiving funds for 
humanitarian response to the China floods, please 
include:

CHURCH WORLD SERVICE, Attn. China Floods #976309, 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 52 
million.
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CWS SENDS BLANKET FUNDS TO CHINA IN WAKE OF SEVERE FLOODS

 NEW YORK, August 13 ---- Church World Service is 
sending $100,000 in Blanket Fund monies to assist with 
international relief efforts in the wake of severe flooding 
along China's Yangtze River.

 Action by Churches Together (ACT) International is 
appealing for $514,754 to support the relief efforts of The 
Amity Foundation, a long-time CWS partner and ACT member.  
Amity will be focusing its disaster relief work on 
assisting disaster survivors in Jiangxi, Fujian and Hunan 
provinces and will provide food, clothing, medicines and 
assistance for home reconstruction.  Amity plans to help 
the most vulnerable communities restore a selective number 
of schools and water and irrigation projects.  Amity has 
begun its relief work with the $100,000 from CWS and 
$25,000 from ACT's Rapid Response Fund. 

 Amity Officials report being shocked at the extent of 
damage.  Some 18 million housing units have been damaged or 
destroyed and 21.5 million hectares of farmland have been 
damaged.  In many places, this flood has been the worst on 
record, said Tan Li Ying, Amity's relief coordinator.  Some 
survivors are even comparing it to the floods of 300 years 
ago during the Qing Dynasty.

 More than 2,000 have died from flooding and officials 
say is the worst in 50 years.  Fully one-fifth of the 
population of China - 240 million people in all - is in 
some way affected by the flooding.  Ninety percent of those 
who have perished have died in landslides and mudslides.

"The needs are great," reported Tan Li Ying.  "As 
many houses were washed away in a very short time, the 
victims only had time to take very little with them."

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