wfn.org | Lutherans Responded to 30 Weather Disasters in 1998

[Brenda Williams <BRENDAW@ELCA.ORG>]

ELCA NEWS SERVICE

January 13, 1999

LUTHERANS RESPONDED TO 30 WEATHER DISASTERS IN 1998
99-01-04-MR

        CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Lutheran Disaster Response, a ministry of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod (LCMS), responded to 30 weather disasters in the United States, Caribbean and Guam in 1998, said the Rev. Gilbert B. Furst, director.  
        The number of disasters for 1998 is "the highest annual total in our ten-year history," Furst said.  Lutheran Disaster Response responded to 27 disasters in 1996 and 15 in 1997. 
        Response to a disaster is often characterized by the support of a local response team, providing emergency supplies, offering pastoral care and counseling, coordinating volunteer efforts in relief and rebuilding, and providing grants to victims.  This response is coordinated with other interfaith and community efforts.  	
        "Finances also present a major challenge for the church to serve well," said Furst.  "As of Nov. 1, 1998, income for domestic disaster response is less than 40 percent than it was during the same period in the previous year."
        "We are still responding to the 1997 blizzards and floods in the upper Midwest, and we are now beginning major new response efforts in Puerto Rico and Texas," said Furst.  
        Hurricane Georges tore across Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands before making its way through the rest of the Caribbean and to the Gulf Coast states in late September.  Flood waters from three major rivers in southeastern Texas caused significant damage to homes, churches and businesses in October.
        Lutheran Disaster Response personnel are also reacting to flash floods that swept through 13 counties in south-central Kansas in November.  
        "In Arkansas City, Kan., a rain-swollen river broke through a levee, flooding 300 homes," said Furst.  "In Butler County -- mostly the town of Augusta -- more than 1,000 homes were affected.  Due to the flash floods, most affected houses had major damage or were destroyed."  The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) reported that flooding in some areas was more severe than the devastating floods of 1993, said Furst.
        Congregations of the ELCA and LCMS have organized cleaning crews, opened emergency shelters and served hundreds of meals.  Resources for children were distributed, Furst said.  "Most of the survivors are low-income or elderly persons.  Many are at risk mentally, emotionally and physically."
        The flash floods occurred Oct. 30-Nov. 3.  "Twelve of the 13 counties have now received federal disaster declarations," said Christine Iverson, Atchison, Kan., local coordinator for Lutheran Disaster Response. 
        About 140 miles north of Sioux Falls, S.D., a system of expanding lakes and emerging groundwater pools from the Blue-Dog-Rush-Waubay Lake Basin is causing flooding and the loss of thousands of acres of farmland.
        "The waters are consuming the life and economy of Day County, S.D.," said Johanna Olson, assistant for Lutheran Disaster Response.  "Of the 700,000 acres of tillable land, 300,000 acres are under water.  The communities of Webster, Grenville and Waubay have lost $7 million in farming revenue for 1998.  Since 1993, it is estimated that farmers have endured a crop loss valued between $15 and $25 million."
        According to Olson, the economic impact upon these communities continues to compound.  "Crop loss means less work at the grain mill.  It means less being bought and fewer bills being paid at the hardware, lumber and grocery stores.  Loans loom larger at the bank."
        "This also means a significant revenue loss for the county government, slowly leaving it incapable of dealing with the crisis," she said.  
        On Jan. 1, 1999, Day County no longer had county ambulance service, nutrition programs, services for the handicapped or an extension service office.  The county can no longer afford these programs because it is not receiving sufficient income to sustain them, in addition to constantly maintaining and building up main roads, Olson said.
        "We come to the end of a tumultuous year of worldwide and domestic disasters," said Olson.  "We are astonished by disasters' immediate devastation, but rarely do we see or hear of their long-term effects.  It is the church's role not only to commit to long-term response, but to remind people throughout the country to be committed as well. 'Out of media' sight should not mean 'out of mind.'
        "We need to let survivors of disasters know they are not forgotten," Olson added. "People must know they can help and can provide assurance for survivors, through the compassion of their faith."

DOMESTIC DISASTERS:

Editors: When listing organizations receiving funds for aid to survivors of major disasters inside the United States, Puerto Rico or the U.S. Virgin Islands, please include:

Lutheran Disaster Response
P.O. Box 71764
Chicago, IL  60694-1764
800-638-3522

For information contact:
Frank Imhoff, Assoc. Director 1-773-380-2955 or NEWS@ELCA.ORG
http://www.elca.org/co/news/current.html