wfn.org | CWS Response to Domestic, Overseas Emergencies

[Carol Fouke <carolf@ncccusa.org>]

National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A.
Contact: NCC News, 212-870-2227; news@ncccusa.org
5/15/01 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CHURCH WORLD SERVICE RESPONDS TO EMERGENCIES
IN GUINEA, SUDAN, KANSAS, SOLOMON ISLANDS, CHECHNYA

NOTE TO EDITORS/REPORTERS: Here are some "snapshots" of Church World 
Service response in emergencies in several corners of the world.  CWS, the 
service and witness ministry of the National Council of Churches, works in 
more than 80 countries, including the United States.  For more information, 
visit www.churchworldservice.org.  Persons wishing to support these or 
other efforts may phone 800-297-1516 or write CWS at 28606 Phillips St., 
Elkhart, IN 46514.

Assisting Refugees, Internally Displaced People in Guinea

Three conflicts - in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea - literally have 
trapped more than half a million people in Guinea between heavy military 
exchanges between opposing forces.  The United Nations estimates 500,000 
refugees from ongoing warfare in Sierra Leone and Liberia along with tens 
of thousands of Guineans are affected.

Intensifying their plight are incursions along Guinea's borders with Sierra 
Leone and Liberia, and an existing full-scale military operation by 
Guinea's government against anti-government forces that has been gaining 
momentum since January.

Church World Service is responding with a $150,000 program to increase the 
capacity for relocation and access to camps for all displaced people.  The 
program includes food and non-food items, shelter, improvements of water 
and sanitation facilities and trauma counseling.

Responding to Famine Conditions in Sudan

A succession of severe drought and flooding has created famine conditions 
that are deteriorating rapidly in southern Sudan.  Only half the food 
needed is available.  Civil war is intensifying the effects on already 
weakened infrastructures, making it all the more difficult for vulnerable 
populations to obtain access to relief aid and food resources.

More and more people are leaving home to search for food as the shortages 
worsen and the cost for food increases.  The elderly and very young suffer 
the most.

In response, Church World Service is embarking on a $125,000 program of 
support for a $1.4 million global ecumenical effort to assist 26,500 
households in the Eastern Equatorial and Bahr el Jebel regions of Sudan. 
 The funds will provide shelter, food and non-food items, seeds and tools 
and nutrition/supplementary feeding and will help improve conditions for 
health clinics.

CWS joins the Action by Churches Together (ACT) International network, 
Norwegian Church Aid and Sudan Council of Churches in work to meet basic 
needs of the drought-affected and war-displaced populations.

Rebuilding Hoisington, Kan., Following April 21 Tornado

Church World Service is helping the interfaith community in Hoisington, 
Kan., organize to identify and meet unmet and long-term recovery needs 
following the April 21 tornado that destroyed nearly one quarter of this 
small community.

CWS Disaster Resource Consultants Cherri and Bob Baer are providing 
technical assistance to the ministerial association and other voluntary 
agencies in Hoisington, where the mood is "hopeful" despite lingering 
shock, Cherri Baer reports.  "This is a very small community and the 
tornado was a mile wide, so there was very little of the town that was not 
affected," she says.

Latest figures indicate that 182 homes were destroyed, 52 sustained major 
damage and 180 are not now habitable but can be repaired.  At least two 
pastors who are members of the ministerial association had their own homes 
destroyed.  One expected problem in the community is that of homes not 
being sufficiently insured.

The Baers, along with Chris Iverson, Regional Disaster Coordinator for 
Lutheran Disaster Response and an applicant for CWS's volunteer Disaster 
Resource Consultant program, are on site.  (Contact: Cherri Bauer, 
316-485-4270; bcbaer@kansas.net)

Church World Service anticipates a $50,000 program to cover the costs of 
faith-based organizing efforts and to support expected requests for 
interfaith assistance and unmet needs.

Helping People in the Solomon Islands Return Home, Rebuild Following Civil 
War

Beginning in 1998, tensions in the Solomon Islands - located northeast of 
Australia in the Pacific Ocean -- escalated into a civil war between 
Malaitian and Guadalcan ethnic groups.  Now that the conflict has ended, 
about 50,000 displaced people are returning to their homes.  But they are 
finding their homes and villages either plundered or damaged, or in many 
cases, completely burned to the ground.  People are struggling to meet 
basic needs for survival such as food, water and shelter.

In response, the Solomon Islands Christian Association, a Church World 
Service partner, has initiated an emergency project including distribution 
of food and shelter, water/sanitation and agricultural inputs.  The 
six-month project seeks to stabilize food and basic needs in areas with 
displaced populations.  CWS is mobilizing $75,000 toward the $613,396 
program.  In addition, CWS is sending $30,000 in CWS Blanket Funds.

Meeting Emergency Needs Among Refugees from Chechnya

Church World Service is mobilizing $50,000 in funding for landmine 
awareness, food aid and development programs - including establishment of a 
grain mill and bakery -- among the nearly 300,000 persons fleeing the war 
in Chechnya.  Nearly 140,000 are internally displaced within Chechnya, and 
150,000 have fled to neighboring Ingushetia.

Despite the presence of a number of international relief agencies in the 
region, aid is arriving at a slow and random pace due to slow fund-raising 
for the planned projects.  High tension and the security situation in 
general is another obstacle to smooth and timely aid deliveries to the 
vulnerable.

A hospital in Grozny reports that more than 20 people are injured or die 
from mines every week.  CWS is supporting a DanChurchAid/Danish Demining 
Group program of mine awareness in schools and refugee camps in Ingushetia, 
Georgia, North Oshetia, Dagastan and Chechnya.

CWS also is supporting Hungarian Interchurch Aid and the Russian Orthodox 
Church as they provide food baskets to 23,231 internally displaced persons 
in camps in northern Chechnya, North-Ossetia and Stavropol regions.

And it is helping Norwegian Church Aid/Center for Peacemaking and 
Development in its program to distribute food, sanitary items and clothing; 
install a grain mill and bakery for much needed fresh bread for displaced 
persons; provide psycho-social assistance to war-traumatized children; the 
construction and running of schools for refugee children; mine awareness 
activities, and peace-building initiatives.

-end-