Title: ELCA Supports Recovery Efforts in Tabasco, Mexico ELCA NEWS SERVICE
November 28, 2007
ELCA Supports Recovery Efforts in Tabasco, Mexico 07-199-MRC
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) provided $50,000 to support recovery efforts in Tabasco, Mexico. A week's worth of heavy rain, two cold fronts and the effects of Tropical Storm Noel produced flood conditions there, affecting more than a million people.
The flooding began on Oct. 28 and worsened by Oct. 31 as rivers and dams overflowed in Tabasco, a southern state of Mexico. About 40 different rivers run through the state, which contains a third of the country's water reserves, said Dr. Belletech Deressa, director for international development and disaster response, ELCA Global Mission.
Ninety percent of cultivated land has been affected. People have had to abandon their homes, lose their belongings and livelihood, said Deressa. The immediate needs of people include emergency shelter, food, medicine, blankets and mattresses, she said.
The ELCA sent the funds to Amextra, an ELCA companion ministry in Mexico. Amextra has experience dealing with natural disasters since 1985, and it has the administrative, operational and communication structures to handle the situation effectively, said Deressa. Amextra is an organization that has been serving marginalized communities in Mexico for 24 years. It has responded to emergency relief programs in seven different rural and urban areas in Mexico, she said.
Amextra will not only meet the immediate emergency needs of people in the Tabasco region but will establish a long-term support structure including medical support, food supply, home rebuilding which may include land purchase for relocation, and the reactivation of the affected people's means of production, said Deressa.
Coordinated by ELCA Global Mission, International Disaster Response channels its funds through international church organizations and relief agencies. Funds provide for food, medicine, drinking water, emergency shelter and other materials for survivors of disasters. - - - INTERNATIONAL DISASTERS: Editors: When listing organizations receiving funds for aid to survivors of major disasters outside the United States, Puerto Rico or the U.S. Virgin Islands, please include: ELCA International Disaster Response, PO Box 71764, Chicago, IL 60694-1764, 1-800-638-3522 and http://www.ELCA.org/disaster/idrgive on the Internet.
For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or news@elca.org http://www.elca.org/news ELCA News Blog: http://www.elca.org/news/blog