CHURCH WORLD SERVICE: EMERGENCY RESPONSE OFFICE CWS EMERGENCY APPEAL: ETHIOPIA FAMINE RELIEF EMERGENCY ACCOUNT #976417 for $1,000,000 (In support of ACT Appeal #AFET01) April 12, 2000
SITUATION: More than 15 million people in Ethiopia, Eritrea, Somalia, Sudan, Kenya, Djibouti, Uganda, Burundi, Rwanda and Tanzania are facing a humanitarian crisis of serious proportions, according to the World Food Program. The most seriously affected populations are farmers in southern and eastern Ethiopia, Somalia and northern Kenya. In Ethiopia alone, more than 8 million people are severely affected, many of them women and children. The cumulative effect of consecutive droughts since 1998 has had a disastrous impact on crop production. Water sources have dried up, livestock and wildlife have perished by the thousands and people have been driven to the edge of survival with malnutrition and diseases. The Ethiopian Orthodox Church (EOC), the Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus (EECMY) and the Lutheran World Federation/Department of World Service (LWF/DWS) Ethiopia, have said that more than 8 million people will require approximately 900,000 metric tons of relief food aid in order to avoid a famine. RESPONSE: ACT International members in Ethiopia, through the Joint Relief Partnership (JRP), proposes to cover roughly 10 percent of the needs enumerated in the Ethiopian government's Disaster Prevention and Preparedness Commission's Appeal of January 2000. Besides food aid, which is crucial at the moment, ACT members have also included in this appeal an agriculture component comprising seeds, fertilizers farm tools, draft animals, pond excavation as well as provision of water and animal fodder. CWS is encouraging member denominations to help provide $817,000 in agricultural input support and $183,000 as a contribution to supplemental food aid as outlined in the ACT Appeal #AFET01. ACT members Lutheran World Federation/Department of World Service (LWF/DWS), the Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus (EECMY) and the Ethiopian Orthodox Church (EOC/DICAC), will be responsible for the ACT program. These three ACT members, along with the Catholic Relief Services and the Ethiopian Catholic Church, constitute the Joint Relief Partnership (JRP). The JRP is a consortium established by Ethiopia's churches and two church-related international non-governmental organizations in November 1984 as an emergency intervention measure during the peak of the Ethiopian famine in the mid-1980s. The JRP has maintained its operational capacity in order to provide emergency relief assistance to those vulnerable groups, which continue to be adversely affected by disasters, mainly droughts, which recur on a periodic basis. The objective of this appeal is to distribute food relief to affected families, including grain and oil; provide supplementary food to severely malnourished children; and assist survivors in re-establishing food reserves through distribution of seeds, tools and livestock. Specifically, JRP partners intend to provide emergency relief to 765,195 vulnerable persons. CWS SUPPORT: CWS is seeking $1 million in denominational support. Denominations can support the appeal either directly by sending contributions to Church World Service in Elkhart (CWS Appeal, Ethiopia Famine Relief, #976417) or to ACT Appeal #AFET01. For more detailed budget and appeal information, please contact the CWS Emergency Response Office. CHURCH WORLD SERVICE, Attn. Ethiopia Famine Relief, #976417, P.O. Box 968, Elkhart, IN 46515. Phone pledges or credit card donations: 1-800-297-1516, ext. 222. On-line contributions to: http://www.churchworldservice.org Call the CWS HOTLINE for updates: (800) 297-1516, ext. 111. For further information about disasters to which Church World Service is responding, contact CWS Emergency Response. Telephone: (212) 870-3151 After-hours emergency pager: (800) 780-0853 Internet Web Site: http://www.ncccusa.org/CWS/emre distributed by - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Volunteers in Technical Assistance Disaster Information Center lists: www.vita.org/listsub.htm sitreps nat-dsr web: www.vita.org fireline - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -