wfn.org | WCC NEWS: Churches mobilize support for Haiti quake victims

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World Council of Churches - News Release

Contact: +41 22 791 6153 +41 79 507 6363 media@wcc-coe.org

>For immediate release - 13/01/2010 10:29:08

CHURCHES MOBILIZE SUPPORT FOR HAITI QUAKE VICTIMS

The World Council of Churches (WCC)general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse  Tveit has expressed condolences and solidarity with the people of Haiti  after the earthquake there and has called for prompt support in the relief  efforts.

The major earthquake that shook the Caribbean nation of Haiti overnight  has become yet another in a series of natural disasters to hit this  already vulnerable nation, the poorest in the western hemisphere.

The temblor, which registered 7.3 on the Richter scale and struck the area  in around the capital Port-au-Prince on Tuesday, 12 January, around 5  p.m., caused heavy damage knocking down buildings and power lines.

"On behalf of the fellowship of churches of the World Council of Churches,  I express our condolences and solidarity with the people of Haiti, as they  once again experience the great burdens of anguish, damage, and death  because of a natural catastrophe," said Tveit. "They already have carried  many burdens of political instability and poverty."

In 2004 more than 3,000 people died because of Hurricane Jeanne which  passed over the northwest city of Gonaives. This same area was hit again  in 2008 when four tropical storm systems passed through the region.

In 2004 political instability led to the ousting of the President  Jean-Baptiste Aristide. And in November 2008, a school collapse which was  blamed on poor construction killed 90 people. Nearly 80 percent of  Haitians live in poverty.

"The people of Haiti should now experience the prompt support and help  from others," Tveit said early Wednesday morning. "Also through the work  of the ACT Alliance there will be given support as expression of the  actions of churches together worldwide."

"Let us keep our member churches in Haiti and all affected by the  earthquake in our prayers and thoughts," he said.

Officials with Action by Churches Together (ACT), a global alliance of  churches and related agencies working to save lives and support communities  in emergencies worldwide, said ACT member churches are already involved  in responding to the earthquake. The ACT secretariat in Geneva, Switzerland , is now coordinating a global response to the catastrophe.

More information about the ACT Alliance response: http://www.act-intl.org/countries.php?uid=80

WCC member churches in Haiti:

http://www.oikoumene.org/en/member-churches/regions/caribbean/haiti.html

Information about a WCC solidarity visit to Haiti in 2008: http://www.overcomingviolence.org/en/peace-convocation/living-letters-visit s/haiti.html

Additional information:Juan Michel,+41 22 791 6153 +41 79 507 6363media@wcc -coe.org

The World Council of Churches promotes Christian unity in faith, witness  and service for a just and peaceful world. An ecumenical fellowship of  churches founded in 1948, today the WCC brings together 349 Protestant,  Orthodox, Anglican and other churches representing more than 560 million  Christians in over 110 countries, and works cooperatively with the Roman  Catholic Church. The WCC general secretary is Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit,  from the [Lutheran] Church of Norway. Headquarters: Geneva, Switzerland.