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ELCA NEWS SERVICE

January 18, 2001

LUTHERANS HELP PROVIDE EMERGENCY ASSISTANCE IN EL SALVADOR
01-011-MR

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in
America (ELCA) contributed $50,000 to the church's International
Disaster Response fund to provide emergency assistance to people in El
Salvador and parts of Guatemala, after an earthquake and its aftershocks
struck the Central American countries Jan. 13.
     More than 650 people have died and about 2,000 are injured, said
the Rev. Y. Franklin Ishida, director for international communication,
ELCA Division for Global Mission.  More than 500 people are missing,
many from Las Colinas, a town six miles east of San Salvador -- the
capital of El Salvador.
     About 5,000 homes are destroyed and more than 16,000 homes are
damaged, Ishida added.
     In Santa Tecla, about three miles west of San Salvador, about 450
people were killed and 500 homes were destroyed.  The town was founded
in 1854 with the intent to build a new capital outside the zone of San
Salvador's frequent earthquakes, he said.
     Access to many rural areas in El Salvador and Guatemala are
blocked.  Communities near the Lempa river in east El Salvador can only
be reached by helicopter, Ishida said.
     The funds sent by the ELCA will help support relief efforts
coordinated through Action by Churches Together (ACT), a worldwide
network of churches and related agencies meeting human need through
coordinated emergency response.  ACT is based with the World Council of
Churches (WCC) and Lutheran World Federation (LWF) in Switzerland.  The
ELCA is a member of both the WCC and LWF.
  LWF is a global communion of 131 Lutheran churches in 72
countries.  Its Department for World Service in El Salvador is helping
to distribute food and other items.
  Coordinated through the ELCA Division for Global Mission,
International Disaster Response helps relief agencies provide funds for
food, medicine, drinking water, emergency shelter and other materials
and supplies.  Funds are also used to rebuild communities and to repair
structures destroyed by major disasters.
  ACT has pledged $215,000 in a first response for emergency
assistance in El Salvador.  Immediately after the disaster, ACT released
$50,000 to create shelter and support survivors of the earthquake with
food and other items.  ACT will issue an appeal with an estimated target
of $3 million beginning Jan. 22.
  To help organize relief efforts, ACT members in Central America
are working with LWF, the Salvadoran Lutheran Synod and Lutheran World
Relief (LWR), an  overseas relief and development agency of the ELCA and
The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod.
  LWR staff members have distributed tarpaulins, blankets and
mosquito nets to survivors of the earthquake.  They continue working in
communities of Santa Tecla, assessing the needs of people there and
providing food, cooking utensils and materials to help repair damaged
homes.
  In a news release, Kathryn Wolford, LWR president, said, "Our goal
is to reach those who often get left out in relief efforts, especially
the rural poor.  Our strength is having local partner organizations with
expertise in disaster response and a commitment to be there for the long
road ahead."
  Sixteen students and two professors from Gustavus Adolphus
College, St. Peter, Minn., are participating in relief efforts in Santa
Tecla, an unexpected component of their planned study trip in El
Salvador.  Gustavus Adolphus is one of 28 colleges and universities of
the ELCA.
  On Jan. 10, the students arrived in Nueva Esperanza Usultan, a
community southeast of San Salvador, to study education and health-care
issues among children.  When the earthquake hit, students modified their
itinerary to work in Santa Tecla, helping roll bandages and sorting
through donated clothing.
  In addition to their participation in relief efforts, the students
and faculty have decided to remain in El Salvador and continue their
studies, arranged by the Center for Global Education, Augsburg College,
Minn.  Augsburg is a college of the ELCA.

INTERNATIONAL DISASTERS:

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

For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or NEWS@ELCA.ORG
http://listserv.elca.org/archives/elcanews.html