EMERGENCY RESPONSE PROGRAM

PROGRAM BRIEFS FOR SEPT. 20, 2007

CWS responds to disasters in Indonesia, Latin America

Following a devastating series of earthquakes last week a team from Church World Service Indonesia conducted a rapid assessment in damaged areas. The CWS team reports survivors are in urgent need of food, shelter, water and latrine facilities. CWS Indonesia is now preparing a wider, coordinated response with its partners and fellow ACT Indonesia members. In response to Hurricane Felix damage in Nicaragua, CWS sent via airfreight 20 cartons of IMA medial boxes and 307 cartons of hygiene kits, valued at $316,021.68.  Working on the ground in Nicaragua to provide relief on behalf of CWS is the Council for Protestant Churches in Nicaragua (CEPAD).

Material resources update

In addition to the shipments to Nicaragua, CWS recently provided material resources in the form of:

• 320 CWS Hygiene Kits to the United Methodist Conference of Southwest Texas, at a value of $2,999448
• CWS Hygiene Kits to Catholic Charities of San Diego, at a value of $3,780
• 500 CWS Gift of the Heart Blankets, 1,425 CWS Baby Kits, 1,125 CWS Hygiene Kits and 1,096 Kids Kits to Church Aid Liberia, at a value of $127,617
• 20 Interchurch Medical Assistance boxes, 3,000 CWS School Kits and 5,915 CWS Hygiene Kits to CWS Pakistan, at a value of $136,704.

First Community Arise train-the-trainer event

More than 30 denominational partners and CWS staff met in Baltimore this week to determine ways to teach the Community Arise curriculum in the field. Community Arise represents the "best practices" of disaster response in the faith community. Trainers attending the course were from the American Baptist Church, Presbyterian Disaster Assistance, United Church of Christ, United Methodist Committee on Relief, Disciples of Christ, Church of the Brethren, Mennonite Disaster Service, The Salvation Army and Lutheran Disaster Relief.

CWS requested to provide training in Texas, Michigan

Long-term recovery groups are forming across the upper Midwest and Texas following this summer’s flooding. Faith partners, as well as the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), have asked CWS to help lead training for new recovery groups that will provide assistance to thousands who have unmet needs in the flood’s aftermath. Dates for the training are still being finalized.

A call for kits

CWS continues to need donations of CWS kits in order to meet the many pending requests from overseas partners.  We ask everyone to continue to promote the particular need for CWS kits to your constituencies. A guide on assembling CWS kits may be found at http://www.churchworldservice.org/kits/index.html.

CWS Emergency Response Program special contacts: (212) 870-3151;

Program Director: dderr@churchworldservice.org

International: flumeya@churchworldservice.org

Domestic: lreedbrown@churchworldservice.org