wfn.org | Church agency provides aid to Mozambique following cyclone

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.UMC.ORG>]

Feb. 23, 2000 News media contact: Linda Bloom·(212)870-3803·New York
10-21-31-71B{094}
 
By Daniel R. Gangler* 

(UMNS) -- Cyclone Eline ravaged Mozambique with gale-force winds and
torrential rains Feb. 22, just when relief organizations were scrambling to
meet already daunting needs in the wake of the country's worst flooding in
half a century. 

The already-high Limpopo River, on the border between neighboring Zimbabwe
and South Africa, was flooding vast areas. The flooding may have affected
some 800,000 people, and 67 deaths have been reported. Officials fear the
death toll and devastation could rise.

The new flooding was frustrating efforts to distribute food and water, and
thousands are now at risk from water-borne disease, malaria and hunger. 

The United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) airlifted 750 new blankets,
10,000 doses of oral re-hydration salts, 800 packs of mosquito netting,
1,060 bars of emergency survival rations, 65,100 servings of dehydrated
diced potatoes and two water-purification units to Mozambique. Each
water-purification unit can produce potable water from any contaminated
fresh water at a rate of 10 gallons per minute, or 10,000 gallons of safe
drinking water per day. 
      
UMCOR also will forward $80,000 to Mozambique to purchase needed medicines
and other items, and the agency is planning another shipment of relief goods
as well.

"We pray that our aid shipment will not be hampered by the effects of this
cyclone, but we are bracing for additional devastation and efforts," said
June H. Kim, an UMCOR executive. 

Baptist World Aid made an initial grant of $5,000 available to assist relief
efforts in Mozambique. The Mozambique Christian Council of Churches
requested that the Emergency Response Program of Church World Service (CWS)
provide $86,000 for initial relief. According to Rick Augsburger, director
of the Emergency Response Program, CWS expects a cooperative appeal with
Action by Churches Together, a coalition of Protestant and Orthodox relief
organizations.
 
The United Nations also plans to launch an interagency appeal, according to
Katrina Toll Velasquez, who heads the U.N. Disaster Assessment and
Coordination team. "There is intense contingency planning under way now,"
she said.

Mozambique's government has appealed for $2.7 million in immediate
international aid. The United States and European countries already have
promised more than $2 million. South Africa has provided military
helicopters to carry food and medical supplies into stranded communities. 

# # #

*Gangler is a writer for Disaster News Network. The original story can be
found at www.disasterresponse.net.      

*************************************
United Methodist News Service
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