CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) contributed $50,000 to the church's International Disaster Response fund to provide emergency assistance to people in El Salvador and parts of Guatemala, after an earthquake and its aftershocks struck the Central American countries Jan. 13.
More than 650 people have died and about 2,000 are injured, said the Rev. Y. Franklin Ishida, director for international communication, ELCA Division for Global Mission. More than 500 people are missing, many from Las Colinas, a town six miles east of San Salvador -- the capital of El Salvador.
About 5,000 homes are destroyed and more than 16,000 homes are damaged, Ishida added.
In Santa Tecla, about three miles west of San Salvador, about 450 people were killed and 500 homes were destroyed. The town was founded in 1854 with the intent to build a new capital outside the zone of San Salvador's frequent earthquakes, he said.
Access to many rural areas in El Salvador and Guatemala are blocked. Communities near the Lempa river in east El Salvador can only be reached by helicopter, Ishida said.
The funds sent by the ELCA will help support relief efforts coordinated through Action by Churches Together (ACT), a worldwide network of churches and related agencies meeting human need through coordinated emergency response. ACT is based with the World Council of Churches (WCC) and Lutheran World Federation (LWF) in Switzerland. The ELCA is a member of both the WCC and LWF. LWF is a global communion of 131 Lutheran churches in 72 countries. Its Department for World Service in El Salvador is helping to distribute food and other items. Coordinated through the ELCA Division for Global Mission, International Disaster Response helps relief agencies provide funds for food, medicine, drinking water, emergency shelter and other materials and supplies. Funds are also used to rebuild communities and to repair structures destroyed by major disasters. ACT has pledged $215,000 in a first response for emergency assistance in El Salvador. Immediately after the disaster, ACT released $50,000 to create shelter and support survivors of the earthquake with food and other items. ACT will issue an appeal with an estimated target of $3 million beginning Jan. 22. To help organize relief efforts, ACT members in Central America are working with LWF, the Salvadoran Lutheran Synod and Lutheran World Relief (LWR), an overseas relief and development agency of the ELCA and The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod. LWR staff members have distributed tarpaulins, blankets and mosquito nets to survivors of the earthquake. They continue working in communities of Santa Tecla, assessing the needs of people there and providing food, cooking utensils and materials to help repair damaged homes. In a news release, Kathryn Wolford, LWR president, said, "Our goal is to reach those who often get left out in relief efforts, especially the rural poor. Our strength is having local partner organizations with expertise in disaster response and a commitment to be there for the long road ahead." Sixteen students and two professors from Gustavus Adolphus College, St. Peter, Minn., are participating in relief efforts in Santa Tecla, an unexpected component of their planned study trip in El Salvador. Gustavus Adolphus is one of 28 colleges and universities of the ELCA. On Jan. 10, the students arrived in Nueva Esperanza Usultan, a community southeast of San Salvador, to study education and health-care issues among children. When the earthquake hit, students modified their itinerary to work in Santa Tecla, helping roll bandages and sorting through donated clothing. In addition to their participation in relief efforts, the students and faculty have decided to remain in El Salvador and continue their studies, arranged by the Center for Global Education, Augsburg College, Minn. Augsburg is a college of the ELCA.
INTERNATIONAL DISASTERS:
When listing organizations receiving funds for aid to survivors of major
disasters outside the United States, Puerto Rico or the U.S. Virgin
Islands, please include:
ELCA International Disaster Response
PO Box 71764
Chicago, IL 60694-1764
1-800-638-3522
For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or NEWS@ELCA.ORG
http://listserv.elca.org/archives/elcanews.html
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About the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America:
The ELCA is one of the largest Christian denominations in the United States, with 2.8 million members in more than 8,500 worshiping communities across the 50 states and in the Caribbean region. Known as the church of "God's work. Our hands.," the ELCA emphasizes the saving grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ, unity among Christians and service in the world. The ELCA's roots are in the writings of the German church reformer Martin Luther.
For information contact:
Candice Hill Buchbinder
Public Relations Manager
Candice.HillBuchbinder@ELCA.org
