ELCA NEWS SERVICE
October 31, 2005
ELCA Allocates $675,000 to Aid Survivors of Disasters Worldwide
05-207-MRC
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
(ELCA) allocated $675,000 to help people affected by natural and
human-made disasters around the world, according to Dr. Belletech
Deressa, director for international development and disaster
response, ELCA Global Mission.
ELCA International Disaster Response sent $200,000 to Church
World Service (CWS), which is distributing food, blankets and
other relief items to survivors of an Oct. 8 earthquake in
Pakistan.
"CWS has been working for many decades in Pakistan, and it
is currently a leading church-based agency and implementer of
relief work in Pakistan," said Deressa. The ELCA sent an initial
$100,000 to CWS earlier this month to support relief and recovery
efforts there, she said.
CWS is the relief, development and refugee assistance
ministry of 36 U.S. Protestant and Orthodox churches, including
the ELCA. It works in partnership with indigenous organizations
in more than 80 countries to meet human needs and foster self-
reliance.
"According to CWS staff in Pakistan, winter is approaching
and survivors of the earthquake are in a race against time, even
as relief efforts continue. There is greater need for financial
resources for shelters, food and relief items," Deressa said.
"With the exception of funds to CWS to meet the need of
earthquake survivors, all relief projects in Pakistan are being
implemented by the Lutheran World Federation (LWF)-World
Service," said Deressa.
LWF is a global communion of Christian churches in the
Lutheran tradition. Founded in 1947, the LWF now has 140 member
churches in 78 countries with a total membership of nearly 66
million Lutherans. The LWF is based in Geneva, Switzerland.
ELCA International Disaster Response sent $100,000 to LWF,
which is helping citizens of southern Sudan to return home.
Since 1982 the civil war there has killed millions of southern
Sudanese and displaced millions more, Deressa said. With the
recent peace agreement between the government of Sudan and Sudan
Peoples Liberation Front, citizens of southern Sudan are now
returning home, she said.
ELCA International Disaster Response also sent funds to
Action by Churches Together (ACT), which is involved in relief
and recovery operations in other parts of the world:
+ $100,000 to support recovery efforts in Central America, after
heavy rains from Hurricane Stan caused death and destruction,
particularly in El Salvador and Guatemala
+ $75,000 to distribute food for people affected by drought
conditions in Mozambique
+ $50,000 to support repatriation efforts for Angolan refugees
in Zambia
+ $50,000 to resettle returnees in Angola.
ACT is a worldwide network of churches and related agencies
that meets human need through organized emergency response. It
is based with the LWF and World Council of Churches (WCC),
Geneva. The ELCA is also a member of the WCC.
Funds sent by the ELCA to ACT will be implemented by the LWF
Department for World Service, said Deressa.
"Although ELCA International Disaster Response has not yet
received an appeal (for funds) from ACT and implementing partners
for Hurricane Rita and Hurricane Wilma, which devastated Central
America and Mexico," the ELCA will allocate $100,000 "pending
receipt of partners' appeals," she said.
"We are very grateful to ELCA congregations and individuals
for their continued support, enabling the church to respond to
the needs of survivors of disasters," particularly disasters that
are no longer recognized by public media, such as the situation
in Angola, Mozambique and Zambia, said Deressa.
"Yet churches and church organizations are there helping
(people) to settle in their home countries, helping refugees
return home and live a normal life, rebuild infrastructures and
properties that have been destroyed, revitalizing new lives for
many refugees around the world, and assisting people affected by
famine, drought and natural disasters," she said.
"There are many international disasters. However, the ELCA
responds when there are major needs, especially to disasters that
are not adequately funded or are forgotten," said Deressa. "As
we approach the holiday season, we continue to remember people
affected by natural or human-made 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 [log in to unmask]
http://www.elca.org/news
