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A household's belongings on the street after the earthquake in El Salvador. Credit: LWF/ACT.
The Methodist Church in Puerto Rico will play a lead role as Methodists assist victims of the El Salvador earthquake.
Wendy Whiteside, an executive with the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR), said the Puerto Ricans have a "natural connection" with the church in El Salvador and plenty of disaster-related expertise after suffering through damaging hurricanes in recent years.
"They're very equipped to provide some experienced support for El Salvador," she noted.
The powerful Jan. 13 earthquake killed more than 600 people and damaged or destroyed tens of thousands of homes. Most affected was the city of Santa Tecla in the metropolitan area of San Salvador, the capital.
An assessment team of three people from the Puerto Rican church and Larry Powell, an UMCOR consultant, was to arrive in El Salvador on Jan. 19.
Although small, with only nine congregations, the Methodist Church in El Salvador took action immediately after the earthquake, organizing relief efforts in San Salvador and the city of Ahuachan, near the border with Guatemala. "We have supported them in their own response, but also linked them with the ecumenical response there," Whiteside said.
That ecumenical response comes through Action By Churches Together (ACT), an alliance of about 200 Protestant and Orthodox churches and aid agencies. Lutheran World Relief is leading the ACT response in El Salvador, with cooperation from various partners, including UMCOR and Church World Service, the relief agency of the U.S. National Council of Churches.
According to Disaster News Network, families that are homeless or afraid of returning to damaged homes are living outside in parks and other public spaces. ACT is distributing food and other items in Santa Tecla and San Salvador and trying to reach rural areas accessible only by helicopter or on foot.
Two United Methodist Volunteers-in-Mission who happened to be in the country to teach English -- Don White of Oklahoma and Jim Marsh of North Carolina – have turned their attention to relief work, Whiteside said.
UMCOR has sent an initial grant of $10,000 to the Methodist Church in El Salvador and $5,000 to the Methodist Church in Puerto Rico. The agency also will send funds to ACT.
Donations to the Methodist effort in El Salvador should be designated to UMCOR Advance #511447-8, "El Salvador Earthquake." Checks may be dropped in church collection plates or mailed to UMCOR at 475 Riverside Dr., Room 330, New York, NY 10115. Credit-card donations can be made by calling (800) 554-8583.
The map has been significantly adapted from one produced by USAID dated January 17, 2001.
URL: http://gbgm-umc.org/news/2001/jan/elsalvadornc2.stm