WOC Director to Visit Pakistan

Maundy Thursday, April 13, A.D. 2006

A little over six months has passed since the October 8 earthquake devastated northern Pakistan and northwestern India. More than 80,000 people were killed, 70,000 injured, and more than 3.3 million displaced. While the extraordinary response of relief agencies and a milder winter than normal prevented the deaths of thousands in the ensuing months, life remains difficult and uncertain for hundreds of thousands of quake survivors. Now they are leaving tent villages and camps and returning to their destroyed homes, farms and villages.

Church World Service and Norwegian Church Aid (implementing partners for the Action by Churches Together network) were among the first relief organizations to respond. CWS has had a field office in the quake-stricken region and thus had strong capacity for the immediate response and for the present, as recovery and rehabilitation work begin.

The CWS/NCA response has been impressive: winter shelter assistance for 25,000 families; education resources for 30,000 families with children; clean water for 90,000 people; and health and hygiene services for 35,000 people. ACT members, including the Disciples/Week of Compassion, successfully subscribed an initial relief appeal for $17.8 million. Now ACT has issued to its members an appeal for $25.9 million for the CWS/NCA long-term rehabilitation appeal. This appeal will provide disaster resistant shelter, provision of livestock, psycho-social support, renovation or repair of water systems, improved health and hygiene services and employment to thousands of quake survivors. The CWS/NCA focus is on communities that were totally destroyed and are open to the participation of women and demonstrating a sense of community cohesion.

On Monday, April 17, WOC Director Johnny Wray will travel to the region with CWS Emergency Response Director Donna Derr to visit the quake-stricken region and talk with CWS staff about long-term recovery initiatives. As WOC begins to contemplate its response to this new appeal, certainly designated gifts for earthquake recovery will be needed and appreciated. As always such gifts will be used in their entirety as earmarked. Contributions can be made online at www.weekofcompassion.org or sent to WOC, attn: Elaine Cleveland, P.O. Box 1986, Indpls, IN 46206. Your prayers for our trip, for the CWS/NCA staff and for the earthquake survivors are much appreciated.

Continued Response to Recent Storms and Flooding

WOC continues to work with regions, local congregations and CWS in the aftermath of the recent spate of severe weather and tornadoes across the midwest and south and the ongoing flooding in northern California. Recent thank-you notes from tornado-stricken families assisted by WOC have been posted on the WOC website.

Map for Congregations

For congregations using the WOC interactive map/poster, this week's disaster and development responses are posted on the website along with a complete of our responses for 2006. Only a few complimentary copies of the map/poster remain available. To receive one for your congregation, contact Elaine Cleveland at ecleveland@woc.disciples.org.