wfn.org | Church World Service Emergency Shipments to Haiti, Dominican

[Worldwide Faith News <wfn@igc.org>]

CONTACTS:
Jan Dragin/New York/Boston - 24/7
Phone: (781) 925-1526
e-mail: jdragin@gis.net

Ann Walle/CWS/New York
Phone: (212) 870-2654
e-mail: awalle@churchworldservice.org

**EDITORS: PLEASE SEE BOTTOM OF RELEASE FOR HAITI EMERGENCY FUND LISTING**

MEDIA UPDATE

CHURCH WORLD SERVICE IN HAITI, DOMINICAN REPUBLIC,
SENDING NEW MEDICAL SUPPLY SHIPMENT
Global Agency Plans Long Term Recovery for Flood Victims

     NEW YORK, NY- Thurs 6/10/04 - With aid workers on the ground in Haiti
and the Dominican Republic, global humanitarian agency Church World Service
(CWS) is sending an emergency shipment of medicines, blankets and health
kits for survivors of the recent floods and mudslides in both countries that
killed nearly 1,500 and left tens of thousands homeless.

The $224,885 shipment follows an initial supply of food aid that the New
York based agency and its local partners distributed last week. Long-time
Church World Service partner Social Service of Dominican Churches (SSID)
will distribute this latest response of medical and hygiene supplies and
blankets to survivors who in many cases lost everything, including their
families.

Last week the agency reallocated food aid shipments that were already
in-country and which had been originally sent for relief in Haiti9s ongoing
crisis. Church World Service has also issued an appeal based on immediate
and long-term recovery needs in both Haiti and the Dominican Republic.

The current CWS medical and hygiene shipment is expected to help nearly
22,000 individuals and includes 17 IMA Disaster Boxes valued at $97,700 and
20 IMA Medicine Boxes valued at $59,533.

A single IMA Disaster Box, which contains mostly antibiotics, is designed to
treat about 115 persons. An IMA Medicine Box contains drugs and medical
products to treat common illnesses of 1,000 adults and children.

The shipment also includes 480 lightweight blankets valued at $2,251 and
5,450 CWS  "Gift of the Heart" Health Kits valued at $65,400.

CWS International Response Liaison Don Tatlock is now in Haiti to coordinate
aid shipment distribution and conduct assessments of present and long term
needs. Tatlock has been in Haiti most of the time since May 15 assisting
with the country9s ongoing humanitarian crisis, made overwhelming by the
recent floods and mudslides.

 From Port au Prince last Friday (6/4), CWS9 Tatlock reports that "Roads are
now open to Thiotte, though just barely, so trucks can begin to deliver aid.
But," he notes, "we9ve really needed big helicopters."

Tatlock said his agency and other partners on the ground were able to rent
one helicopter to share, but "it9s so small," Tatlock told CWS colleagues in
New York, "that the weight limit only allows about six bags of rice- just
300 pounds- for each trip.

"That9s not a lot of rice," notes Tatlock, and he adds, "a lot of money to
get it there. The helicopter costs $1,000 USD an hour."

Tatlock reports that Haitians in outlying villages are still trying to reach
the major towns of Thiotte and Mapou to receive aid.

But as roadways become passable and aid workers can deliver supplies,
another concern is surfacing, Tatlock says. Even though the UN has formally
taken the peacekeeping baton from temporary U.S. forces, Tatlock says "There
are no international multilateral forces around and local police are not
dependable.

"There have been reports that local police in some affected towns were
trying to access some of the relief supplies."

"Food aid is arriving," says Tatlock, "but concerns continued about need for
water and purification tablets, more food and non-food items." He said there
is also a need for tools and equipment for small-scale road construction.

There are reports of the possible need to relocate people," Tatlock adds,
"and concern for future floods" during a rainy season that officially began
June 1.
.
Deforestation of Haiti9s hillsides is being blamed in part for the
devastating mudslides that occurred in Haiti two weeks ago.

CWS9 Martin Coria, who was in the Dominican Republic last week performing
assessments and coordinating food aid distribution, said that on the island
of Hispanola shared by Haiti and the Dominican Republic,  "It rained in 20
hours what it should rain in six months."

An estimated 75,000 people in Haiti and Dominican Republic have been
affected by the floods, with whole families wiped out.

An estimated 2,600 people are dead and missing, many of whom were children.

"One good thing in the midst of tragedy, CWS9 Coria noted, "is that I9m
hearing stories of Dominicans and Haitians helping to each other in an
exemplary way," following long-standing tensions between the two countries.

And, while CWS and partners expect to assist in reconstructing homes, "The
need for new houses may be less than originally expected," Coria said,
"because entire families have disappeared. In other cases, only one child
survived."

CWS9 Augsburger adds that the agency is looking at other long term programs
including psychosocial recovery and care for caregivers, ongoing community
assessments, and a multi-year food security proposal for areas served in the
Dominican Republic, targeting families whose food security situation was
severely affected by the disaster.

EDITORS, PLEASE NOTE FOR HAITI RESPONSE LISTINGS:

Contributions to support the Church World Service emergency appeal may be
sent to your denomination or to Church World Service, P.O. Box 968, Elkhart,
IN, 46515. Please designate: #6743 - Haiti/Dominican Republic Floods.

For further information about disasters to which Church World Service is
responding -- or to make a credit card contribution -- please visit the
Church World Service Website at www.churchworldservice.org, www.cwserp.org,
or phone (800) 297-1516.

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