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ELCA NEWS SERVICE

June 10, 2004

Lutherans Support Relief Efforts On Hispaniola
04-121-MR

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in
America (ELCA) have sent $25,000 to support recovery efforts on the
Caribbean island of Hispaniola, after floods and landslides struck Haiti
and the Dominican Republic there May 24.
     "As many as 2,000 people are feared dead and thousands of homes have
been destroyed," said the Rev. Y. Franklin Ishida, director for leadership
development and mission personnel recruitment, ELCA Division for Global
Mission.
     In the Dominican Republic many people died before dawn, caught off
guard by water rushing over river banks and washing away their homes while
they slept, Ishida said.  Authorities there have finalized the search for
victims, and the official death toll is 392.  There are still 270 people
missing, he said.  The number of destroyed houses there is estimated to be
at 700.
     Action by Churches Together (ACT) reported that the number of deaths
in Haiti has risen to 1,073.  "It is feared that this number might
increase, since there are still an estimated 1,500 people missing in the
area of Mapou, a town completely inundated by muddy waters.  Health
problems related to the buried livestock and bodies is one of the major
concerns in this area," said Ishida.
     Through its International Disaster Response, the ELCA sent funds to
ACT for implementation by Lutheran World Federation's (LWF) World Service
Haiti.
     On May 28 LWF reported that food and other items were delivered to
275 families in Thiotte, a city in Haiti.  "LWF hired a helicopter to
deliver relief items in bigger quantities," Ishida said.
     "Priority needs have been identified as food, water, clothing,
hygiene and household kits for displaced families," he said.
     The ELCA World Hunger Program has been supporting LWF activities in
Haiti since 1998.  The ELCA has been providing special response to Haiti,
given its political unrest there in the past months, Ishida said.
     Coordinated by the ELCA Division for Global Mission, International
Disaster Response often channels its funds through international church
organizations and relief agencies.
     ACT is a worldwide network of churches and related agencies that
meets human need through organized emergency response.	It is based with
the World Council of Churches (WCC) and LWF, both in Geneva, Switzerland.
The ELCA is a member of WCC and LWF.
     LWF is a global communion of Christian churches in the Lutheran
tradition.  Founded in 1947, the LWF now has 136 member churches in 76
countries, representing 61.7 million of the world's nearly 65.4 million
Lutherans.
_ _ _
INTERNATIONAL DISASTERS:
Editors: When listing organizations receiving funds for aid to survivors
of major disasters outside the United States, Puerto Rico or the U.S.
Virgin Islands, please include:
ELCA International Disaster Response PO Box 71764 Chicago, IL 60694-1764,
1-800-638-3522, or at
http://www.elca.org/scriptlib/dcm/giving/idisaster.asp on the Internet.

For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or news@elca.org
http://www.elca.org/news