wfn.org | CWS Helps El Salvador Quake Survivors

[CAROL.FOUKE@ecunet.org]

National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA
Contact: NCC News, 212-870-2227
Web: www.ncccusa.org e-mail: news@ncccusa.org
2NCC01/16/01   FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CWS HELPS PROVIDE SHELTER FOR EL SALVADOR QUAKE SURVIVORS

NOTE TO EDITORS/REPORTERS: When listing organizations receiving funds for
emergency response in El Salvador following Saturday’s earthquake,
please include:

Church World Service, Attn. El Salvador Earthquake
P.O. Box 968, Elkhart, IN 46515
Phone Pledges/Credit Card Donations: 1-800-297-1516 x222
On-Line Contributions: www.churchworldservice.org

	January 16, 2001, NEW YORK CITY – Church World Service is part of a
global alliance that has released $50,000 in rapid response funds as a first
step in ecumenical assistance to survivors of the series of earthquakes and
landslides that began on Saturday in El Salvador, where the rising death
toll has surpassed 600.

	The funds will help provide shelter for survivors.  CWS, the service and
witness ministry of the (U.S.) National Council of Churches, is supporting
emergency response efforts being carried out by partners in El Salvador,
including the Lutheran World Federation, the Salvadoran Lutheran Church and
other fellow members of Action by Churches Together (ACT), a global alliance
of some 200 Protestant and Orthodox churches and aid agencies.

	According to rescue and aid agencies, some 4,000 people are missing –
1,200 in the metropolitan area of Santa Tecla and 3,000 in the town of
Comasagua, both in the south zone of El Salvador’s capital city, San
Salvador.

	The LWF and Salvadoran Lutheran Church have both sent emergency teams to
affected areas for rapid assessment and support for sheltering and feeding
survivors.  LWF is distributing food and other relief items, including
blankets and mattresses, in two camps in Santa Tecla, for 300 people, and
San Salvador, for 3,000 people.

	ACT also has provided digging tools to the communities where people have
been desperately trying to remove mud and debris for the last days.  Many
rural areas remain isolated due to blocked roads; rescue teams, including
ACT staff, are walking up to four hours to reach isolated communities.

	CWS Response Personnel Chris Herlinger and David Barnhart (Presbyterian
Disaster Assistance) are traveling to El Salvador Tuesday on behalf of
CWS/ACT to provide communications and assessment support to the faith-based
response.

-end-