wfn.org | Church World Service Responds to Maluku, Midwest Emergencies

[CAROL.FOUKE@ecunet.org]

National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA
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Contact: NCC News 212-870-2227

82NCC08/14/00                                                           
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CHURCH WORLD SERVICE EMERGENCY RESPONSE NEWS BRIEFS

CWS Assists People Displaced in Indonesia/Maluku Islands Emergency
CWS Responds to Tornado and Flooding in the Midwest

Indonesia/Maluku Islands Emergency

	Nearly half a million people have been internally displaced in Indonesia's Maluku (Molucca) Islands by violence between ethnic and religious groups.  

Church World Service is seeking $60,385 for a program of food and non-food assistance and psycho-social support for displaced persons who have sought refuge in Buton and Kupang.  In addition, 20 health and nutrition monitors will be trained.

	In Buton, through the health and nutrition monitoring program, approximately 665 children under 5 years of age, 169 lactating/pregnant mothers and 1,000 other women and children will be served.  In Kupang, an estimated 350 families (totaling about 1,500 people - about 58 percent of them women and children) will be served.

	Food packages (rice, vegetable oil, instant noodles, green beans and salted fish) will be provided to 1,500 families for six months.  Non-food items (tarpaulins, bedding/blankets, mosquito nets, cooking equipment and utensils, kerosene) also will be supplied.

	The emergency response activities ultimately will transition into the long-term work already being carried out by Church World Service in Indonesia, where CWS has maintained an office for 15 years.  In 1998-99, CWS implemented a $2.5 million USAID-funded emergency food-for-work program in Central and South Sulawesi.  CWS delivered 3,500 tons of rice through local counterparts and has been involved in numerous emergency response activities through the years.

Midwest Tornados, Flooding

Church World Service is seeking $50,000 in support to assist in the organization of interfaith groups to address long-term recovery needs in the Midwest following a summer of flooding and a July 25 tornado.

The tornado hit Granite Falls, Minn., while the flooding has affected the Red River Valley of Minnesota and North Dakota. Also affected have been parts of the Twin Cities metropolitan area and southeastern Minnesota.  Flooding also has affected six southeastern counties in Wisconsin. In all, more than two dozen counties in the three states have been affected.  

	Church World Service representatives have visited the affected areas throughout the summer and are planning a return visit to Granite Falls in mid-August to assess long-term needs and to continue the development of a faith-based community response there.  The CWS Emergency Response Program already has received seed grant requests from the four interfaith groups in Minnesota totaling $23,000.

Donations should be sent to: Church World Service, Attn. Summer Storms 2000, #6245, P.O. Box 968, Elkhart, IN 46515.  Phone pledges or credit card donations: 1-800-297-1516, ext. 222.  On-line contributions to: www.churchworldservice.org

Church World Service (CWS) works in more than 80 countries, including the United States, in disaster relief, human development and refugee assistance.  It is the humanitarian response ministry of the National Council of Churches, whose 35 Protestant and Orthodox member communions have a combined membership of more than 50 million.

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