2007
Response Fund Report
A few months
ago, the WOC Update featured a study by the
UK charity, Oxfam, reporting that the number
of weather-related natural disasters had quadrupled
over a twenty-year period from 1985 to 2004.
Now the German-based organization, Munich
Re, is reporting that there were 950 natural
disasters recorded in 2007 - the most since
it began keeping records in 1974. Here at
Week of Compassion, we see the number of requests
and appeals coming from our partners across
North America and through the world continue
to rise each year. WOC is deeply grateful
to our many Disciples congregations, members
and friends who continue to provide the resources
that enable us to respond to so much human
need in the world.
Within the WOC program
it is the Compassion Response Fund (and related
special designated accounts), that enables
us to respond promptly to emergencies, disasters
and other urgent humanitarian requests as
they arise. Below is a brief summary of responses
we have made through December 31, 2007, from
the Response Fund and certain designated disaster
accounts. This is, of course, only a snapshot
and does not include other resources we are
providing for long-term sustainable development
projects. But we do hope it will offer an
overview of the many emergency needs to which
we Disciples are responding. In 2007, WOC
provided $1,277,287 in relief and recovery
grants to 276 requests/situations for an average
of once every 1.3 days!
More than 800 Disciples
congregations have now requested the WOC interactive
map/poster to track emergency and long-term
development responses on a weekly basis. It
is a good visual tool for Disciples to see
how our gifts are used around the world, around
the year. A complete list of those responses
for 2007 (plus those we made since January
1, 2008) is on the WOC website. For a complimentary
map/poster, contact Elaine at 317.713.2442
or email her at ecleveland@woc.disciples.org.
2007 Response Fund
Update:
Africa:
[250,055]
2,000 - Angola, cholera outbreak
6,000 - Burundi, relief and recovery
6,000 - Chad, displaced assistance
28,500 - Congo, emergency relief, medical
shipment
8,000 - Kenya, refugee assistance, emergency
flood/food relief, civil unrest
5,000 - Liberia, seed shipment
6,000 - Madagascar, cyclone relief
1,000 - Mauritania, drought assistance
9,500 - Mozambique earthquake, arsenal explosion
6,000 - Somalia, humanitarian emergency
115,000 - Sudan, Darfur crisis, floods, medical
initiative
12,000 - Uganda, refugee assistance
5,000 - Zambia, floods
40,055 - Zimbabwe, emergency aid, water and
food relief
East
Asia and the Pacific: [19,000]
9,000 - China, earthquake and flood relief
2,000 - Japan, earthquake relief
8,000 - Solomon Islands, tsunami relief
Latin
America and the Caribbean: [122,000]
7,000 - Central America, hurricane recovery
11,000 - Colombia, floods and volcanoes relief
30,000 - Dominican Republic, health emergency,
hurricanes
10,000 - Haiti, flood/hurricane relief and
recovery
7,000 - Jamaica/Cayman Islands, hurricane
relief
24,000 - Mexico, hurricane/floods relief and
recovery
18,000 - Nicaragua, hurricane relief and recovery
15,000 - Peru, earthquake relief and recovery
Middle
East and Europe: [43,000]
7,500 - Bosnia, peace/reconciliation initiative,
winter assistance
14,000 - Iraq, Jordan, Syria, refugee/IDP
appeal
6,000 - Lebanon, emergency relief
2,000 - Romania, flood relief
1,500 - Russia, winter assistance
12,000 - Palestine/Gaza, emergency medical/food
Southern
Asia: [278,439]
3,000 - Central Asia, disaster mitigation
appeal
197,939 - India, tsunami recovery, flood relief
52,500 - Indonesia, flood/earthquake relief
and recovery
1,000 - Nepal, flood relief
6,000 - Pakistan, flood relief
18,000 - Sri Lanka, civil emergency
General:
[18,000]
6,000 - Church World Service, Community Arise
Initiative
6,000 - Action by Churches Together, Global
Capacity Building Initiative
6,000 - Action by Churches Together, Rapid
Response Fund:
Somalia, floods
Burundi, floods
Indonesia, Jakarta floods
Mozambique, floods
Fiji, flash floods
Ethiopia, ethnic conflict
Afghanistan, refugee returnees
Lebanon/Palestine, refugee camp crisis
Palestine/Gaza, civil emergency
Pakistan, storms and floods
India, floods
Indonesia, volcano eruption
Colombia, floods
Indonesia, Sulawesi floods and landslides
Nepal, floods
India, West Bengal floods
Bangladesh, floods
Romania, flash floods
Jamaica, hurricane
Nicaragua, hurricane
India, Orissa cholera outbreak
Domestic:
[546,793]
250 - fires
5,000 - Arizona, emergency water relief
43,255 - California, winter freeze, food relief,
wildfires
22,500 - Florida, tornadoes
3,000 - Georgia, tornadoes, winter assistance
1,000 - Iowa, floods
44,500 - Kansas, winter storms, tornadoes,
floods
133,938 - Louisiana, hurricane recovery
100,050 - Mississippi, hurricane recovery
4,000 - Missouri, ice storms
1,250 - Nebraska, ice storms
5,500 - New Jersey, floods
2,500 - New Mexico, floods
5,750 - New York, floods and winter storms
1,000 - North Carolina, church fire
12,000 - Ohio, floods
4,500 - Oregon, winter storms
24,500 - Tennessee, hurricane housing
94,800 - Texas, hurricane recovery, floods,
tornadoes, church fire
1,000 - Utah, church fire
2,000 - Virginia, pastoral care emergencies
10,000 - Washington, winter storms
24,500 - U.S., spring storms and tornado appeals
