wfn.org | UMNS# 05002-UMCOR on USAID list for tsunami relief

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UMCOR on USAID list for tsunami relief

Jan. 4, 2005	 News media contact:   Linda  Bloom * (646) 3693759*  New
York {05002}

NOTE: Related resources are available online at http://umns.umc.org.

By Linda Bloom

NEW YORK (UMNS) -- The United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) is
among the humanitarian agencies recognized by the U.S. government as
providing assistance to tsunami-ravaged countries.

UMCOR has had "long-standing cooperative relationship" with the United
States Agency for International Development (USAID), according to Jim
Cox, executive director of UMCOR's nongovernmental organization.

"USAID and UMCOR have jointly funded programs in both emergency and
development programs worldwide," Cox told United Methodist News Service.
"We work together on programs from the Congo to Afghanistan. We will be
in coordination with USAID as we look at UMCOR's response to the
tsunami."

On its Web site ( www.usaid.gov ), USAID has a list of "Relief
Organizations Working in the Disaster Area" for Tsunami/earthquake
relief. In addition to UMCOR, the agencies listed include Church World
Service and Stop Hunger Now.

President Bush announced on Jan. 3 that two former presidents - his
father, George H.W. Bush, and Bill Clinton - will lead an effort to
raise funds from U.S. businesses, individuals and foundations for
tsunami relief. The USAID list provides options for those donors.

That private money will provide additional support to the $350 million
already pledged in U.S. government funds.

About 150,000 people were killed and millions were left without basic
services after the late December tsunami impacted 12 countries, mostly
in South Asia. As of Jan. 1, the United Nations reported, more than $2
billion in pledges for aid had been received from some 40 countries.
That amount is more than all pledges to all humanitarian appeals in 2004
combined, according to Jan Egeland, the U.N. emergency relief
coordinator.

*Bloom is a United Methodist News Service news writer based in New York.

News media contact: Linda Bloom, New York, (646) 369-3759 or
newsdesk@umcom.org
********************

United Methodist News Service
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