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07823 December 17, 2007
Presbyterian Church of Mexico tackles floods head-on
Disaster response impresses relief officials north and south of the border
by Evan Silverstein Presbyterian News Service
LOUISVILLE - More than a month after record-breaking rainfall inundated Tabasco, causing Mexico's worst flooding in over 50 years - at one point covering some 80 percent of the low-lying, oil-rich state - the National Presbyterian Church of Mexico (INPM) is responding with a massive relief effort.
With funds from the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and other international partners helping out, the INPM and its Emergency Operations Committee (COE) is tackling its first major natural disaster in what individuals familiar with the initiative have characterized as a swift and well orchestrated effort.
As of early December, the Mexican Church had cared for more than 13,000 families or about 65,765 people in its six presbyteries across Tabasco, which is located on Mexico's tropical Gulf Coast.
The INPM continues to operate emergency shelters, distribute food, water and clothing while assisting residents with getting back into their homes as part of the response intended to meet immediate and long-term needs of thousands of flood survivors.
"As a result of this tragedy they have seen a new way for God's people to respond and show Christ's love in a way that they hadn't necessarily seen it before," said Dave Thomas, the PC(USA)'s liaison to Mexico, who visited Tabasco earlier this month and is assisting with the INPM's relief effort.
The disaster has given the Mexican Church "an opportunity to move beyond and to step into a new area of Christian service," said Thomas, a mission co-worker who resides outside Mexico City in Cuernavaca, Morelos, along with his wife Susan, who is also a PC(USA) mission co-worker.
Of the 24 Presbyterian churches that had been serving as emergency shelters, six are still hosting families, Thomas told the Presbyterian News Service.
As residents return to their damaged homes, the INPM is providing cleaning materials and household goods as discarded water-logged furniture, appliances and beds sit piled in heaps lining neighborhood sidewalks and city streets.
The INPM is coordinating efforts to replace bedding along with propane gas kitchen stoves and other appliances so survivors can once again prepare meals in their homes and sleep on mattress pads instead of hard floors.
Of the 473,573 homes registered in the state capital, Villahermosa, 373,300 have sustained severe damage, according to Thomas. Many Presbyterian pastors and members are among those who lost homes including INPM's president, the Rev. Saul Feria.
Thomas said the government has visited many homes to spray against mold and bacteria but could not make it every dwelling.
Nevertheless, he said the Mexican government at all levels was responding well to the disaster.
"One of the things that we've noticed was how well the government has been functioning," Thomas said. "Everything from the use of Army forces to operate some of the government run shelters and the cleanup on the streets. The city government, the state government and the federal government of Mexico have all been really very affective in what they've been doing in the disaster."
Government officials have also provided food and distributed coupons and vouchers for people to purchase a new stove or mattress, he said. They also called a meeting of relief organizations and faith-based disaster response groups as well, according to Thomas.
Meanwhile, a number of churches took on water during the floods with some totally submerged or heavily filled with water.
That's because the heavy rains early last month caused rivers to overflow, drowning Tabasco, which is home to 2.4 million people including about 90,000 Presbyterians, according to the INPM. Floods and landslides in Tabasco and Chiapas have killed nearly two dozen people, officials said.
Overall, some 1.3 million people in Tabasco have been directly affected by the severe flooding with major damage to water and sanitation infrastructure, crops and livestock. About 54,000 Presbyterians are believed to have been impacted by the disaster, the INPM said.
Much of Villahermosa looked like New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, with water reaching to second-story rooftops and desperate people awaiting rescue, according to media reports.
Aid is coming in from all over the Mexican Republic, which is being channeled through the INPM's General Assembly to the Synod of Tabasco where the COE then distributes it to the denomination's six presbyteries.
Thomas said presbyteries from across the country are sending goods as well.
He said a Presbyterian school in Villahermosa has been transformed into a large shelter and a receiving and distribution center for donated items that's frequented by presbyteries stocking their emergency shelters.
So far the Mexican church has received and distributed 118 tons of food, more than 200 tons of purified bottled water, 100 tons of clothing and 1.25 tons of cleaning materials.
At least 5,000 boxes of medicine have been provided to more than 2,632 people in various locations.
The INPM cancelled its General Assembly meeting in Orizaba, Veracruz, to devote funds to the flood response.
Thomas said some U.S.-based Presbyterian congregations are already making inquiries into sending work teams to the flood-ravished area to help with clean up and repairs. Some have explored paying salaries of pastors who haven't been getting paid because their congregations were knocked out of commission by the disaster.
Presbyterian Disaster Assistance has provided $50,000 from funds designated for general relief to the INPM to assist with the purchase of food and cleaning items for families returning home from shelters, according to Susan Ryan, PDA's coordinator.
PDA, the disaster-response and relief agency of the PC(USA), has been working with the EOC for nearly three years in building its capacity for disaster response.
The emergency committee of the Mexican church is receiving help from PDA partners in Central America with assessments and response planning, Ryan said.
Carlos Cardenas, PDA's Latin America representative, was in Tabasco along with Xenia Morraquin and Carlos Rauda from Lutheran World Federation (LWF) in El Salvador.
PDA and Katastrophe, a Swiss-based disaster response organization, is funding the assessment team.
"This is another testimony to the kind of international relationship building that you have to do in disaster response," Ryan said.
PDA has also sent a psychosocial team to Tabasco to assist those suffering from trauma in the aftermath of the flood.
Cardenas, and the two LWF workers combined to develop a proposal for a $500,000 appeal through Action by Churches Together International (ACT), a Geneva-based international alliance of churches and relief agencies of which PDA is a member.
The money will go for providing long-term recovery plans for the area, which Ryan described as an "expansive program" that would include an urban and a rural component.
"Rurally it involves livestock and seed to get agriculture restarted and replace lost livestock," she said. "Urban it's more mattresses and blankets, more household packages for some basic dignity and food."
PDA has established a special account for financial contributions and posted a Mexico flooding bulletin insert on its Web site.
Contributions for Mexico flood relief may be sent through normal mission-giving channels by designating gifts for the following account: Mexico-DR000014. Gifts by credit card can be made by calling PresbyTel at (800)872-3283, or by visiting the Giving Web site. Checks payable to the PC(USA) can be mailed to Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) , Individual Remittance Processing, P.O. Box 643700, Pittsburgh, PA 15264-3700 or to Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), Central Receiving Services, 100 Witherspoon Street, Louisville, KY 40202.
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