Heavy Rains Affect Thousands in New England

Friday, May 19, A.D. 2006

Heavy rains across New England have brought the worst flooding in decades to the region. New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Maine have been especially hard hit. Flood waters have forced thousands of people from their homes and inundated hundreds of homes and businesses. Church World Service has disaster response staff on site and is working with local faith communities and long-term recovery organizations to meet unmet needs of the most vulnerable of the flood survivors. CWS is expected to issue a flood recovery appeal soon, and Week of Compassion will respond accordingly on behalf of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ).

Typhoon Hits the Philippines and China

The strongest May typhoon on record has forced the evacuation of more than 600,000 people from China's coastal province of Guangdong. Earlier, Typhoon Chanchu killed at least 41 people and left thousands homeless when it hit the Philippines. WOC has responded with an emergency grant from the Compassion Response Fund to assist the relief efforts of Disciples' partner, the United Church of Christ in the Philippines, and is ready to respond to relief efforts in China in anticipation of a Church World Service/Action by Churches Together appeal.

Map for Congregations

For congregations using the interactive WOC map/poster, this has been a very busy week of responses - 11 disaster response and/or recovery requests and 4 development appeals. Visit the WOC website: www.weekofcompassion.org for the complete list. A complimentary map/poster for your congregation is available from WOC - just call Elaine Cleveland (317.713.2442) or email her at ecleveland@woc.disciples.org.