wfn.org | Church World Service Head Surveys Katrina Damage

[Worldwide Faith News <wfn@igc.org>]

CWS Head Surveys Damage and Initial Response, Meets with Faith Leaders to 
Plan for Long-term Recovery
September 1, 2005

Responding to what it anticipates may be the largest U.S. relief and 
recovery effort in its history, humanitarian agency Church World Service 
(CWS) says its Executive Director and CEO Rev. John L. McCullough is in 
Hurricane Katrina-devastated Louisiana this week (Wed., Aug 31 to Sat. Sept 
3), to personally assess emergency and long-term recovery needs and to meet 
with area faith leaders.

Today McCullough and CWS emergency response management met with the 
Louisiana Interchurch Conference in Baton Rouge and visited an area nursing 
home, where they found mattresses on floors to accommodate elderly Katrina 
survivors who are being given shelter alongside the homes regular 
residents. The Church World Service team is now traveling to Houma, 
Louisiana, where they'll visit a freshly set-up refugee camp for survivors.

"Church World Service is particularly concerned about the plight of what we 
anticipate to be a high percentage of poor people, the elderly and other 
vulnerable populations throughout the affected Gulf Coast area and beyond," 
he says. "Stories of individuals who had to stay in their homes because 
they couldn't afford to evacuate personify that crisis."

On Monday CWS issued a national fund-raising appeal to assist survivors of 
Katrina and an initial shipment of emergency supplies arrived in Baton 
Rouge yesterday for distribution.

While in the region, McCullough is connecting with area faith leaders to 
offer immediate support, solidarity, and hope.

This week, CWS disaster response specialists are meeting with Federal 
Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) officials via telephone conferences, 
along with partners in the faith community and state Voluntary 
Organizations Active in Disaster (VOADs) to identify material resource 
needs and storm-affected areas where CWS will concentrate its efforts.

In addition to providing emergency aid following domestic disasters, CWS 
specializes in assisting in the development of community-based, long-term, 
recovery organizations that are established in impacted areas to help 
vulnerable populations and those with unmet needs.

CWS Associate Director for Domestic Emergency Response Linda Reed Brown is 
also be in Louisiana this week. Brown says, "We anticipate deploying at 
least 11 of our disaster recovery liaisons just in Mississippi and 
Louisiana, where greatest need is seen. Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi 
will be the first to get our attention next week, when it is safe to go 
there. At that point," she says, "well be performing extensive assessments 
and can begin organizing local long-term support systems."

"With such catastrophic damage," says McCullough. "It will be awhile before 
we know the full extent of lives lost and material destruction, but we can 
be sure that recovery will take a very, very long time."

"There is no question that the areas faith leaders will shoulder a massive 
amount of responsibility in caring for those populations and helping them 
find resources," said McCullough, "at a time when the church leaders 
themselves may have suffered great personal losses."

One of the first agencies called by FEMA along with the Red Cross in times 
of national disaster, New York-headquartered CWS responds to natural and 
human-caused disasters internationally and domestically.

Brown says, based on its work in disasters affecting a comparable 
geographic area and knowledge of disaster experience in an affected area,

CWS estimates as many as 20 recovery organizations may be organized and 
supported in Louisiana, Mississippi, northwest Alabama, Tennessee and
Kentucky.

CWS may also deploy its specialists to Tennessee and Kentucky, Brown says, 
where the agency will closely monitor Katrina's impact as a potentially 
serious tropical storm.

The global agency will also respond on request in other states affected by 
Katrina, including Florida where its domestic disaster recovery liaisons 
helped more than 40 communities develop capacity in long-term recovery 
during the 2004 hurricane season, CWS will respond on request.

Individuals and groups wanting to help Katerina's survivors are urged to 
contribute cash rather than material goods. Contributions to support the 
efforts of Church World Service may be sent to:

Church World Service

Hurricane Katrina Response -- #6280

P.O. Box 968

Elkhart, IN 46515

CWS also accepts credit card contributions, by calling 800-297-1516, ext. 
222, or through secure online contribution at www.churchworldservice.org .

Media Contacts:
Ann Walle, CWS/New York, 212-870-2654; awalle@churchworldservice.org