wfn.org | Presbyterian aid spells relief for West Virginia, Taiwan

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Note #6778 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

07-August-2001
01262

Presbyterian aid spells relief for West Virginia, Taiwan

Disastrous weather prompts PDA grants totaling $60,000

by Evan Silverstein

LOUISVILLE - Devastating typhoons in Taiwan and massive flooding in West
Virginia have Presbyterian disaster officials scrambling to help
weather-battered people in both locations.

	Presbyterian Disaster Assistance (PDA) is providing both funds and relief
workers in response to repeated flooding over the past month in southern
West Virginia and the southwest tip of Virginia. Fifty-thousand dollars in
One Great Hour of Sharing money has been rushed to the Presbytery of West
Virginia to help flood victims. PDA officials earlier sent $10,000 to the
presbytery.

	Part of the new grant will be used to buy 14 truckloads of roofing shingles
and insulation through Gifts In Kind America, which works with businesses
and non-profit groups to improve lives in communities around the world. The
shipment is being facilitated by Presbyterian Disaster Assistance Team
(PDAT) member Kris Peterson. PDAT member Larry Edwards was to travel to West
Virginia last weekend to help the presbytery coordinate the response and to
provide pastoral care to residents of several isolated communities.

	At the end of July, floods washed through several parts of Virginia and
West Virginia, worsening the effects of heavy flooding on July 8, which
killed two people and destroyed or damaged more than 5,500 houses. The more
recent floods washed over some areas that had been unaffected until then.
The region's poverty is expected to complicate recovery efforts, according
to PDAT member Dick Krajeski, of Mannington, WV.

	"There are very few services to begin with," Krajeski said. "The people
will not have much money to recover.  In a number of towns, many of the
local businesses have been destroyed. You can rebuild everybody's house, but
if you don't have a local grocery store, it's very, very difficult."

	PDA has been in contact with Abingdon Presbytery, which plans to minister
to flood survivors in southwestern Virginia. Additional funds will be needed
to assist several congregations in West Virginia whose church buildings were
damaged.

	Volunteers are needed to help with the Virginia clean-up. Log on to the PDA
Web site - www.pcusa.org/pda - to obtain contact information or to register
a team of volunteers. PDA is still waiting for confirmation on work teams to
West Virginia.

Tawain typhoon

	On July 30, Typhoon Toraji became the most devastating of eight typhoons to
hit Taiwan this year, killing at least 61 people, possibly as many as 200,
by triggering floods and mud slides. In response, the PDA immediately sent
$10,000 from the One Great Hour of Sharing offering and from residual funds
in the account designated for Taiwan, according to a recent PDA situation
report.

	Many areas were still recovering from an earthquake in September 1999 and a
powerful typhoon in August of last year. The Presbyterian Church in Taiwan
(PCT) is heading relief efforts. Road damage and flooding has made the task
of assessing the damage in village communities extremely difficult.

	"Each new disaster and natural calamity brings more stress and pain, which
the land increasingly finds hard to deal with," PCT officials said in a
recent letter posted on the PDA's Web site. "The rainfall generated by
Typhoon Toraji caused great floods and landslides ... which affected, for
the most part, Hualien County and Nantou County - the eastern and central
agricultural areas of Taiwan."

	The PCT has organized an emergency committee to help disaster survivors.
The PCT Typhoon Toraji Emergency Committee has taken the following measures:

* Established rescue and aid stations in eight locations - five in the
central area, three in the east. One station will be on "standby" until the
extent of damage in the community of Shin-Yi is known.

* Provided immediate financial aid for suffering families and individual
victims.

* Asked PCT congregations to pray for the victims and their communities and
to solicit special offerings for the Toraji Typhoon relief work.

Giving to the causes:

* Taiwan: Gifts of financial support may be designated for Taiwan Response
account #9-2000147. Donations may be made online at
(http://www.pcusa.org/cgi-bin/donate?ident=9-2000147&project=Taiwan+Relief),
sent through normal mission-giving channels or mailed to Central Receiving
Service, Section 300, Louisville, KY 40289.

* The Virginias: Gifts of financial support may be designated for U.S.
Disaster Response account #9-2000015.  Donations may be made online at
http://www.pcusa.org/ cgi-bin/donate?ident=9000015&project=U.S.A.+
Disasters%20 and%20Emergencies, sent through normal mission-giving channels
or mailed to Central Receiving Service, Section 300, Louisville, KY 40289.
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