IMMEDIATE RELEASE - September 10, 2007
CRWRC International Relief Director: Jacob Kramer, 1-800-730-3490 CRWRC Media Contact US: Beth DeGraff, 1-800-55-CRWRC
CRWRC AID REACHES FELIX SURVIVORS ON NICARAGUA COAST
GRAND RAPIDS, MICH.: The Christian Reformed World Relief Committee (www.crwrc.org), with Nicaraguan partner, Accion Medica Cristiana (www.amc.org.ni), is providing
food, water, sanitation and roofing supplies to outlying communities near Puerto Cabezas in the North Atlantic region in response to Hurricane Felix, a category 5 storm that ransacked the
Eastern Nicaragua coastline last week. Thirty-nine people are believed dead.
CRWRC Latina America Team Leader Leanne Geisterfer indicated early last week that death tolls were likely as low as they are because of effective disaster preparedness programs, including Refuge Centers for residents forced from their homes by fierce flooding, wind and rain. In some outlying coastal villages, the destruction was nearly total.
AMC online News Release No. 4 (Sept. 5, 2007) says that before Hurricane Felix stormed across the landscape, there were "107 houses located North of (Puerto Cabezas), and 103 of those 107 were totally destroyed...."
Most of the affected homes were thatched-roof and wooden plank construction. Only buildings made of cement still stand.
The Nicaraguan government estimates that more than 5,500 homes were destroyed across Northern coastal Nicaragua. Reports are that 35,000 of the nation's poorest residents along the Miskito coast are most affected.
"Even in good conditions," blog David and Wendy VanKlinken, Partners Worldwide (www.partnersworldwide.org) staff working in Managua (www.nehemiahcenter.net) with CRWRC, "access and communication in this region of the country is difficult; since the hurricane, the area is even more isolated due to felled trees, flooding, road damage, and mud slides.
"Locally, we are collecting food, water, clothing and blankets in Managua," the VanKlinkens continue. "At the international level, we are working with collaborating organizations to raise awareness of the needs, and to secure funding and medical supplies that can be sent North to support the relief efforts.
"CRWRC has already secured $20,000 for the first phase response. These funds are being directed toward food, water, and shelter reparation in two communities (outside Puerto Cabezas) where nearly all of the residents lost their homes to wind damage."
Emergency aid distribution will be managed by AMC staff already on the ground.
In addition to near-total housing losses in the coastal area, Felix hit indigenous subsistence farmers at the peak of the rice harvest. With the hurricane, the rice in the fields and a good part of what was already harvested was lost. An anticipated second phase of hurricane recovery will involve rehabilitation of agriculture production.
CRWRC International Relief's Grace Wiebe says the agency is seeking $150,000 for second phase recovery from the International Humanitarian Assistance Division of the Canadian International Development Agency (www.cida.ca) this week, as well as possible long-term inputs from the Canadian Foodgrains Bank (www.foodgrainsbank.ca).
For media interview about CRWRC's current or pending response to Hurricane Felix in Nicaragua, contact Jacob Kramer, CRWRC International Relief Director at 1-800-730-3490. For information about CRWRC's programs in Nicaragua, contact CRWRC Media US, Beth DeGraff, at 1-616-648-7821.
To contribute financially to CRWRC's Hurricane Felix response in Nicaragua, go online to www.crwrc.org and choose "Hurricane Felix" on the donations page, or call 1-800-55-CRWRC to give a charge card donation. Checks made out to CRWRC can be designated "Hurricane Felix" on the memo line and mailed to: CRWRC, 2850 Kalamazoo Avenue SE, Grand Rapids, Mich., 49560-0600. All donations are tax deductible.
For photos from the Hurricane area, see
http://partnerworkinnicaragua.blogspot.com/2007/09/disaster-relief.html.
For more information about these programs, please visit or call 1-800-55-CRWRC. In the U.S., please call 1-800-55-CRWRC. CRWRC is a Christian, non-profit organization of the Christian Reformed Church in North America providing a ministry of development, relief, and justice education to people in need around the world. CRWRC is currently active in 30 countries and has an international reputation for "helping people help themselves."
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Beth DeGraff US Media and Justice Contact 2850 Kalamazoo SE Grand Rapids, MI 49560 degraffb@crcna.org ph: 616-241-1691 x4191 fax: 616-724-0806
"Then Jesus took a towel and a basin and redefined greatness." Richard Foster