Emergency Disaster Fund gives $97,000 for disaster aid.

Eight allocations from the General Board's Emergency Disaster Fund, totaling $97,000, have been made to help those affected by natural and man-made disasters in Afghanistan and Pakistan; Ethiopia; Niger; Darfur, Sudan; India; Cuba; and following storms in Wyoming and the southern US states. (For a report on an EDF grant responding to Hurricane Katrina, see today's Newsline Special Report: Hurricane Katrina.)

An allocation of $40,000 has been made for Afghanistan and Pakistan, where thousands of homes, crops, and livestock have been destroyed in severe flooding. The Brethren grant will support a Church World Service (CWS) Emergency Response Program appeal for emergency shelter, food, and medicine.

An allocation of $20,000 responds to a CWS appeal for food security in Ethiopia, where drought and economic decline have put 3.8 million people at risk of starvation. The funds will assist CWS partners implement food relief, agricultural rehabilitation, medical assistance, and veterinary care for livestock.

A grant of $10,000 to Niger assists Swiss Interchurch Aid and Lutheran World Relief, who are working with people suffering critical malnutrition and starvation. The money, funded through CWS, will help provide emergency food, health services, and livestock feeding.

The EDF is responding to the situation of displaced people from Darfur, Sudan, who have taken refuge in Chad with an allocation of $8,000. Given through CWS, the grant will help build a new refugee camp for 20,000 people, expand three existing camps, and assist with water and sanitation projects and psycho-social support.

A grant of $7,500 supports a CWS appeal in the wake of two hurricanes in the southern states of the US. The money will help pay for local community efforts to respond to the storms as well as shipments of blankets and Gift of the Heart disaster relief kits.

An allocation of $5,000 has been made to a CWS appeal for severe flooding in the Maharashtra area of India. The heaviest rain ever recorded in Indian history fell in Mumbai, resulting in over 1,000 deaths and destruction of homes, crops, and livestock. The funds are providing immediate food relief along with basic household and hygiene items.

Another grant of $5,000 responds to a CWS appeal in the wake of Hurricane Dennis in Cuba. At least 120,000 homes were severely damaged and 50,000 people are homeless. The money will assist with immediate needs of food, housing construction and repair, household items, and psychosocial programs.

An allocation of $1,500 has been made for a seed-money grant to a local recovery committee in Wright, Wyo., after a tornado devastated the town. Ninety-one mobile homes were destroyed and two lives lost in the low-income coal-mining community. The money also will help deploy CWS staff to the area for training and capacity building, and support a shipment of blankets.

Source: 08/31/2005 Newsline
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