An appeal (and response) at the time of Hurricane Mitch.

APPEAL: Hurricane Mitch Relief and Recovery

Dear friends,

As we have watched the frightful scenes of destruction, it is clear that the devastation is of historic and almost apocalyptic proportions. Recovery will be a long road. In light of the extraordinary need, Presbyterian Disaster Assistance has pledged a minimum of $200,000 from One Great Hour of Sharing funds to be divided between the immediate relief and the recovery stage of this disaster. We have already forwarded funds to the region and our partners are active in their response. We are cooperating with the Church World Service in the support of material aid shipments. Shipments of material aid are being scheduled and pulled together for Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador. But that hardly touches the pain or need - generous additional giving by Presbyterians is needed.

Already, $1400 has been collected from our congregation. If you would like to help meet the desperate needs of these people, you can send it to the church office or put it in the Sunday offering plate. Just designate your check "Hurricane Relief" and make it out to First Presbyterian Church.

 "Honduras is mortally wounded . . . . We are making an urgent and anguishing call to the international community. Our capacity for suffering and pain was never before put to such a hard test." -Honduran President Carlos Flores

Truly, neither the Honduran nor the Nicaraguan people have ever faced such a natural disaster in their history. Along with the tremendous death and dislocation, Hurricane Mitch caused huge shortages of food and potable water, created health hazards, and destroyed means of transportation, leaving rescue efforts unable to reach thousands in desperate need.

The long-term effects may be the most devastating. Much of the infrastructure of both nations has been destroyed and will take tremendous resources to rebuild, while the economies to support such rebuilding, already among the weakest in the hemisphere before the hurricane, have also been devastated. Agriculture, industry, and tourism will all require enormous efforts to bring back. The poorest of the poor have lost everything, and the agencies that helped them survive are already stretched to the limit.

"We see with hope the generosity of Nicaraguans who have given away personal possessions in the midst of the poverty that overwhelms us in order to share with those hardest hit by this natural phenomenon." - Gilberto Aguirre, Council of Evangelical Churches of Nicaragua (CEPAD)

The resilience, hope, and generosity of the Nicaraguan and Honduran people are an inspiration. Not only are they digging out and focusing on rebuilding, not only are people in the poorest churches collecting money and clothes for shelters in their area, they are working together across wide denominational differences to organize a coordinated response to the disaster.

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Last update 2002-06-24 12:44:19