ELCA International Disaster Response Is Present Around the World

An avalanche of water, rock and mud wiped out entire neighborhoods and hundreds of acres of farmland within minutes when the crater lake of the Casita volcano, Posoltega, Nicaragua, collapsed. The avalanche, killing more than 2,000 people, was the single worst disaster spawned by Hurricane Mitch Oct. 29-31.
"The area destroyed by the Casitas volcano is completely covered by now-dried mud," said the Rev. Jeffrey B. Sorenson, assistant to the bishop, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) South Dakota Synod, Sioux Falls. "What was a tropical rain forest is now a flat, barren wasteland." Sorenson visited the devastated areas of Nicaragua the last week of May.
"The Nicaraguan military came in immediately after the disaster, sealed off the area, gathered up the bodies and buried them in a mass grave," Sorenson said. "The few survivors and family members were not allowed into the area for fear of disease outbreak. The government confiscated the land with intentions of turning it into a government preserve for safety's sake but has done nothing to replace the land for the people who were on it. They are literally camping out downstream of the damaged area, with nowhere to go, no means of livelihood," he said.
Hurricane Mitch killed more than 12,000 and left millions homeless in Central America. The Category 5 hurricane was the strongest storm to hit the Atlantic Ocean since Hurricane Gilbert in 1988. The intense and sustained precipitation caused widespread flooding and mud slides in El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico and Nicaragua.
In response to the catastrophe in Central America after Hurricane Mitch, ELCA International Disaster Response is ministering to the urgent needs of survivors there. Members of the ELCA have provided $861,000 through Action by Churches Together (ACT) for implementation by the Lutheran World Federation (Central American Region Office) and $900,000 for Lutheran World Relief to be implemented in Nicaragua and Honduras. Some direct aid has also been made available to some of the ELCA's "companion" Lutheran churches in that region, said the Rev. Y. Franklin Ishida, director for international communication, ELCA Division for Global Mission, Chicago.
ELCA International Disaster Response, coordinated through the ELCA Division for Global Mission, provides funds for food, medicine, drinking water, emergency shelter and other materials and supplies. Funds are used to rebuild communities and repair structures destroyed by major disasters. Funds are received as designated gifts from members of the ELCA.
"There has been and continues to be significant disaster relief in the northern region of Nicaragua through Action by Churches Together (where ELCA funds have been funneled)," said Sorenson.
"People from some of the poorest areas, where they have little or no means of livelihood, came to the Lutheran church in Nicaragua seeking help because of its reputation for a vital, focused concern for the poor. This small, young church is overwhelmed with requests for aid and caught up in a relief effort that both helps its growth and exceeds its ability to respond -- even with the funds we and others have sent its way," he said.
ELCA International Disaster Response sent a total of $77,000 to Iglesia Luterana Fe y Esperanza de Nicaragua (Lutheran Church of Faith and Hope in Nicaragua) and $20,000 to Iglesia Luterana Costarricense (Lutheran Church in Costa Rica) June 16 for humanitarian assistance and the construction of homes, schools and community clinics following the devastation of Hurricane Mitch.
The Lutheran church in Nicaragua will construct 20 housing units = --=20 10 in Aguespalapa, a province in Chinandega, and 10 houses in the province of Somoto -- and remodel a community health clinic and school in Aquespalapa. An additional $16,506 was provided by the ELCA for seeds and livestock and to help reactivite local economies.
The Lutheran Church in Costa Rica will continue to provide food and temporary shelter to 200 Nicaraguans displaced by Hurricane Mitch. The church will also provide pastoral care and counseling and secure employment for 50 individuals by December 1999. Community houses in Sarapiqui and Tejarcillo will also be remodeled.
"Millions for Mitch" -- a campaign that involves millions of Lutherans contributing millions of dollars for recovery efforts in Central America following Hurricane Mitch -- has surpassed the $2.5 million-mark since the campaign began in November 1998.
Gifts designated for "Millions for Mitch" or "Hurricane Mitch" are used for church-related relief and recovery efforts under way primarily in Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua.
Sorenson, along with two others from the ELCA South Dakota Synod, visited the Lutheran church in Nicaragua to inquire about the possibility of developing a "companion" synod-church relationship. Sorenson said the South Dakota Synod assembly next year will consider that possibility. In the fall, the synod and the Lutheran church in Nicaragua will engage in a mutual day of prayer. Congregations from both churches will pray for one another's ministries.

ELCA INTERNATIONAL DISASTER RESPONSE
ELCA International Disaster Response responds when earthquakes, famine, floods, hurricanes, political and/or military conflict strike somewhere in the world. The ministry not only responds to high-profile crisis situations like Kosovo, but ELCA International Disaster Response is present in Sierra Leone, Colombia, North Korea, Congo-Brazzaville and Democratic Republic of the Congo.
While stories about relief and recovery efforts eventually drop from news headlines, Lutherans continue to work "side by side with other people of faith to serve people in need," said Ishida.
"We sometimes question the wisdom or policies of governments' responses to disasters around the world but we, the church, can be there," he said.
ELCA International Disaster Response often channels its funds through international relief agencies like Lutheran World Relief -- the relief and development agency working overseas on behalf of the ELCA and The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, Lutheran World Federation (LWF), and Church World Service, Isheda said.
Much of the work of these agencies is coordinated through Action by Churches Together (ACT), a worldwide network of churches and related agencies meeting human need through coordinated emergency response. The ACT coordinating office is based with the LWF a global communion of 128 member churches in 70 countries representing 58 million of the world's 61.5 million Lutherans and World Council of Churches responding to more than 300 communions around the world -- in Geneva, Switzerland.
Once disaster strikes, ELCA International Disaster Response begins by assessing the situation and determining the needs of survivors through local church contacts, international relief agencies and other sources of information.
Companion Lutheran churches and other ecumenical agencies in the immediately affected area are also means by which relief and supplies are given to those in need, Ishida said.

SIERRA LEONE
Members of the ELCA sent $50,000 to provide humanitarian assistance for the people of Sierra Leone. A nine-year war between government and rebel forces has created a humanitarian crisis in the West African country. On July 7, 1999, a peace agreement was signed between the government and the rebel Revolutionary United Front.
"Many people in Sierra Leone have been killed, many have been maimed, and many have been made homeless," said the Rev. Tom J. Barnett, president of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Sierra Leone (ELCSL).
"It is difficult to say why rebel forces formed and what they have been fighting for, but there has been a lot of anarchy rendering the government of Sierra Leone almost unworkable," he said.
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