wfn.org | UMNS# 05042-UMCOR stays course in 'mega-disaster' relief

["NewsDesk" <NewsDesk@UMCOM.ORG>]

UMCOR stays course in 'mega-disaster' relief

Jan. 18, 2005	 News media contact:   Linda  Bloom * (646) 3693759*  New
York {05042}

NOTE: Related stories and photographs are available at
http://umns.umc.org.

By Linda Beher*

NEW YORK (UMNS) - How well do relief operations follow through with
rehabilitation after "mega-disasters" such as the earthquake and
tsunamis that swept the Indian Ocean Dec. 26?

The New York Times posed that question in a front-page story Jan. 11,
using as examples the 1998 hurricane Mitch in Honduras, the 2000 floods
in Mozambique and the 2003 earthquake in Iran. The story described
unfinished housing dotting the Honduran landscape and uncompleted
projects in Bam, Iran. "We are abandoned," a resident of Tegucigalpa,
Honduras, said.

"In big, complex recoveries from mega-disasters, we plan to be in place
for a long time - for years," said the Rev. Kristin Sachen of the United
Methodist Committee on Relief.

"I do not doubt that more rebuilding is needed in Honduras, Mozambique
and Iran.  Though a number of organizations have left those three
countries, UMCOR is still at work," she said, "just as we will be in the
Indian Ocean region long after the media and dignitaries leave."

"Our volunteers are still rebuilding houses in the Honduran towns of
Tegucigalpa, Subriana and LaCeibita," said the Rev. Paul Dirdak, UMCOR's
chief executive. "We sent 45 teams to Honduras in 2004 and have even
more scheduled for 2005. In Iran, through grants to our partner, the
International Blue Crescent, UMCOR continues to minister to children in
Bam."

UMCOR has also built housing units in Cuba with funds donated for
Hurricane Mitch recovery. In 2004, 20 families in a small fishing town
at the west edge of Havana moved into new apartments and another 100
received upgraded water service as a result of UMCOR work there - six
years after the hurricane struck.

United Methodist donations are still at work in Mozambique, another
country mentioned in the Times. Floods in 2000 devastated whole
villages. UMCOR helped build houses in the new village of Mangoanine for
70 families that lost both their homes and land. A second project begun
later in Bantu involves building 138 flood-resistant brick homes using a
brick-making machine purchased by UMCOR. Landmine removal and school
construction are ongoing projects across the country.

"United Methodists are extremely generous in responding to disasters,"
Sachen said. "This means we can stay with people as long as it takes to
get them back on their feet. It's the way United Methodists do things -
having the patience to stay with the most vulnerable, however long it
takes. We don't quit."

Cash gifts will help UMCOR continue to support local relief efforts in
the South Asia disaster area as well as other regions. Checks can be
mailed to UMCOR, 475 Riverside Dr., Room 330, New York, NY 10115. One
hundred percent of every donation to any appeal, including "South Asia
Emergency," UMCOR Advance #274305, goes to support recovery efforts in
the disaster-stricken regions.

Donors using a credit card may call toll free (800) 554-8583 or give
online at MethodistRelief.org. The Internal Revenue Service will allow
donors to decide whether to apply tsunami relief contributions to the
2004 or 2005 tax years, as long as the gift designated for 2004 is made
by Jan. 31.

# # #

*Beher is communications director for the United Methodist Committee on
Relief, a unit of the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries.

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

*******************

United Methodist News Service
Photos and stories also available at:
http://umns.umc.org