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Hurricane Michelle caused massive flooding in Honduras and Nicaragua as a tropical storm, then swept through Matanzas Province in Cuba as a category four hurricane. The Cuban municipalities of Jaguey Grande and Perico were the worst hit. 80% of the houses in Jaguey Grande were destroyed and 400 are still under water. 100% of the banana plantations in this agricultural area were destroyed and 80% of the citrus crop. In Perico, most of the houses have been partially destroyed, and the cane, banana, and citrus crops have been devastated. In both areas, communications and electricity have been cut off, roads are blocked by fallen trees, and there is no drinking water.
In Honduras and Nicaragua the flooding and mudslides caused by Michelle are compounding the suffering caused by an extended drought. There are no crops to harvest; many people are suffering from malnutrition and some have died of starvation. Michelle also caused damage in the Bahamas, but the good news is that the houses UMCOR has helped build there, following Hurricane Floyd, are still standing after Hurricane Michelle.
UMCOR will work with our Methodist and ecumenical partners in Honduras, Nicaragua, Cuba, and the Bahamas to provide emergency relief and long-term recovery assistance. Please give generously to Hurricanes 2001, Advance #982350. Your gifts to this advance will also be used to help people in Houston, Texas as they rebuild from the flooding caused by Tropical Storm Allison. Volunteers are urgently needed to help with the rebuilding. Please call the Volunteer Line at (800) 918-3100 for further information.
In Tajikistan, UMCOR and Mercy Corps are working together to provide tents, plastic sheeting, blankets, sleeping mats, pillows, fuel, kitchen, household, and hygiene items, to 4,000 displaced families in northern Afghanistan. These relief efforts will give approximately 24,000 people the resources they need to endure the winter months. UMCOR is coordinating with other relief agencies to help ensure that these families also have adequate food, water, sanitation, and basic medical care. UMCOR will continue to work with Church World Service to provide relief for Afghan refugees in Pakistan and deliver relief items to those who remain in Afghanistan.
In New York City, disaster response volunteers from the Oklahoma Indian Missionary Conference are working at ground zero as chaplains to the steelworkers, many of whom are Native Americans. The much needed "listening posts" and counseling centers continue in different locations throughout the city. As in all of UMCOR's disaster response work, this response will be long-term. Hundreds of thousands of people have been and will be affected by this disaster. UMCOR specializes in working with the neediest people in the wake of emergencies, and we will keep that focus in this response, working with individuals on a case by case basis to help them find the resources they need to recover over the next several years. Your gifts to Love in the Midst of Tragedy, Advance #901125-3 enable UMCOR to respond to the long-term needs of people close to home and far away who are suffering from the events of September 11 and their aftermath.
Gifts may be made through local United Methodist churches, or by calling 1-800-554-8583. Credit card donations are accepted. (Read more about how you can help UMCOR's emergency responses.)
UMCOR is providing emergency relief in many areas of the world. To find out more about current UMCOR ministries, please visit the website: http://gbgm-umc.org/umcor/
Please pray for those who suffer from hunger, poverty, natural and human-caused disasters.
Photos: Damage done by Hurricane Michelle in Cuba. Credit: Cuban Council of Churches, November 2001.
