ReliefWeb

CHURCH WORLD SERVICE EMERGENCY RESPONSE OFFICE
Church World Service is the Humanitarian Agency of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the U.S.A.
35 Denominations & Communions Working Together to Meet Human Needs

EMERGENCY ACCOUNT #976720 for $100,000

Signed by the Rev. Dr. Rodney Page, CWS Executive Director

SITUATION: More than 200 people have been killed as torrential rains have hit 10 states in southeastern Mexico this week, causing floods and mudslides. The floods are the worst in Mexico in 40 years. Some 200,000 persons have been affected, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN-OCHA) reports, with the States of Tabasco, Puebla and Veracruz most seriously affected.

Floods and mudslides have ravaged hundreds of municipalities and communities and many others in remote mountain regions remain isolated, OCHA reports. More than 75 percent of Tabasco is reportedly under water. The death toll is expected to rise as rescuers reach remote and isolated areas. Thousands of acres of farmland have also been destroyed.

An earthquake last week which affected a wide area of southern Mexico and was centered in Oaxaca is believed to have worsened the situation by destabilizing hillside villages, the BBC reports. While that earthquake did not cause a high number of casualties, some 24,000 homes were damaged, and of those, 10,000 were totally destroyed, reports Samuel Lobato of the CWS Mexico Office. As a result, the earthquake actually caused more damage than hurricanes Pauline and Rick in 1997, he said.

RESPONSE: CWS is seeking $100,000 to assist local partners in what is expected to be an initial appeal that will be expanded later. Of that amount, $50,000 is from CWS Blanket Funds to be used by the partners; the other $50,000 is for direct support for food, plastic sheeting and some clothing by the local partners.

The partners are the Good Pastor Baptist Church, the Social Pastoral Commission of the Archdiocese of Oaxaca, and the Bartolome Carrasco Human Rights Center, all in Oaxaca; the General Assembly of the National Presbyterian Church in Tabasco; the Popular Communication Center in Puebla; and the Survivors Assistance Committee in Chiapas.

Call the CWS HOTLINE for updates: (800) 297-1516, ext. 111.

For further information about disasters to which Church World Service is responding, contact CWS Emergency Response.

Telephone: (212) 870-3151
E-mail: chris@ncccusa.org
After-hours emergency pager: (800) 780-0853
Internet Web Site: http://www.ncccusa.org/CWS/emre

CHURCH WORLD SERVICE, Attn. Mexico Floods/Earthquake, # 976720, P.O. Box 968, Elkhart, IN 46515. Phone pledges or credit card donations: 1-800-297-1516, ext. 222. On-line contributions to: http://www.churchworldservice.org