Hurricane Update9/29/2022 updates & responses to recent stormsHurricane Ian + Hurricane Fiona + Typhoon Noru Mid-afternoon Wednesday, September 28, HURRICANE IAN made landfall on the central gulf coast of Florida, as a category 4 hurricane, and one of the strongest in the state’s history.
While now at Tropical Storm status, Ian has continued to move across the width of Florida, and is expected to move into the Atlantic Ocean, before making a likely second landfall in the southern Atlantic coast over the next few days. Hurricane Fiona and Puerto Rico9/20/2022  Two days after Hurricane Fiona (September 18) made landfall in Puerto Rico, updates are beginning to come in, especially from the south and west of the island, with reports of damage to homes, some damage to churches, and many roads still unpassable. Week of Compassion is in conversation with Iglesia Cristiana (Discipulos de Cristo) and with Puerto Rico VOAD (Volunteer Organizations Active in Disaster) for a coordinated response.
Cascading Compassion2/22/2022  When Hurricane Harvey parked itself over Texas and the Gulf Coast in 2017, the wind and water damage left in its wake were widespread and significant. Damage left unrepaired, or poorly done, only got worse as time and further storms - including the week long ice storm and freeze last February - carried on.
With funds from a Week of Compassion grant, partners at Mosaic in Action have been hard at work helping families find solutions - and the results are a ripple effect of recovery.  In the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey (Aug. 2017), West Street Recovery emerged as a community based disaster recovery organization. Over the past four years, it has grown into an adaptable, rapid response organization, helping communities deal not only with the impacts of Harvey, but also Tropical Storm Imelda, COVID-19, and the February 2021 Winter Storm. Each disaster has amplified race- and class-based injustice; widened the financial gap between BIPOC and white households; and negatively impacted the health of economically and racially marginalized communities. In response, WSR has developed a community organizing program that seeks to empower communities by helping them prepare for future disasters and by building networks of mutual care in Northeast Houston. This combination of service provision and organizing allows WSR to meet immediate needs while addressing persistent, underlying issues of poverty, low-quality housing, and environmental risk factors.
 Photo: NFLTRO In September of 2017, Hurricane Irma had devastating impacts across much of the state of Florida. Week of Compassion responded immediately through local congregations, helping meet critical needs in the aftermath of the storm. But even in those early days, it was clear that recovery was going to be a years-long journey for communities in the area.
Rebuilding Pamlico County2/23/2021  Photo: Brethren Disaster Ministries To be inundated is typically not a good thing: the word carries a sense of too much. Water, a necessity for life, can at times be soothing, as a gently moving river or a placid sea reflecting blue skies above. Yet it also has the power to overwhelm, as when that same river overflows its banks or when an ocean surge is pushed before a storm. Too much water can inundate a riverbed, a floodplain, a surrounding community.
Let Love Grow in Nicaragua2/16/2021  René Bermúdez and his son René Camilo. photo credit: CWS, Sean Hawkey Nobody hungry, nobody thirsty,
shade from the sun, shelter from the wind, For the Compassionate One guides them, takes them to the best springs. ~Isaiah 49:10 Food insecurity. Political unrest. Climate change threatening the viability of crops... Imagine all of these things, happening at once. And then, back to back hurricanes arrive. In November of 2020 two consecutive hurricanes--Eta and Iota-- impacted the same regions of Central America, with Nicaragua experiencing some of the most severe impact. Flooding destroyed the bean crops, contaminated water wells, destroyed latrines, and left thousands of families homeless. People moved to emergency shelters in schools and churches, but thousands didn´t have time to evacuate or preferred not to leave their homes for security reasons or fear of COVID-19. |
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