September 12, 2008

NEW YORK - As a powerful Hurricane Ike roils toward the Texas coast today after brutalizing Cuba, Haiti and other parts of the Caribbean, humanitarian agency Church World Service announced a U.S. fundraising appeal to assist thousands in the Caribbean who are suffering from this season's serial tropical storms.

The New York-based international agency says it has already sent an initial $10,000 rapid response grant to its partner in Haiti SKDE (in Creole, Sant Kretyen Pou Developman Entegre, the Christian Center for Integrated Development).

CWS is now expediting a shipment of CWS Blankets, Baby Kits and Hygiene Kits, to be distributed in Haiti by humanitarian agency partners who are members of Action by Churches Together.

Four storms have lashed Haiti in recent weeks, resulting in what CWS partner on the ground Christian Aid describes as possibly "lasting damage to Haiti's 'rice bowl'" - the farming area whose revival is key to Haiti's struggle in overcoming its current food crisis.

From Cuba, Church World Service has received an initial material aid request from its church partner there Iglesia Bando Evangelica Gedeon. CWS Emergency Response Director Donna Derr says the agency is prepared and can respond to Cuban survivors' needs, through the material resource provision of the license CWS holds from the U.S. Department of State.

With power and communications still spotty across the affected island nations, CWS says its partners and colleagues in Cuba, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, and Turks and Caicos Islands have managed to deliver some reports, but information has been limited.

CWS' Cuban church partner said the damage sustained last week from Hurricane Gustav alone had made the situation in the country "very difficult," but Hurricane Ike heaped insult on injury, leaving Cuba after killing at least four and battering thousands of homes.

In eastern Cuba, a network of volunteers from Cuban churches who are trained in psychosocial support and counseling are working with affected families and communities.

"Damage assessments have begun [in the islands], but assessments of a comprehensive nature are yet to be completed," says Derr. "The combined devastation from these storms is stunning."

In Haiti, Christian Aid reported that "damage to agricultural production is critical in the present situation of food insecurity, where 2.3 million people are in moderate to acute risk." CWS and Christian Aid say it's expected that as many as four million Haitians will be in "dire need of food" in the midst of a still-active hurricane season.

"Frustration is growing among the affected families who believe not enough is being done to help them cope with the situation," said a Christian Aid worker.

In the northern Haitian city of Gonaives, Christian Aid reported, "waters were rising even as aid groups struggled to reach people with little or no access to food or water for days. The entire country is affected and most of departments are isolated."

The death toll in Haiti is still not fully known. Haiti hasn't experienced hurricane damage of this magnitude since 2004, when Hurricane Jeanne essentially destroyed Gonaives and killed more than 3,000 people.

HOW TO HELP: Contributions to support the Church World Service emergency appeal may be made online, or by check, sent to Church World Service, P.O. Box 968, Elkhart, IN, 46515. Please designate: 2008 Caribbean Hurricanes, Appeal Number #6761.

Media Contact: Lesley Crosson, CWS/New York, 212-870-2676; lcrosson@churchworldservice.org Jan Dragin, 781-925-1526; jdragin@gis.net