Disaster Appeal from Board of World Mission (Sept. 6)

Hurricane Felix Disaster Appeal

Board of World Mission of the North America Moravian Church

September 6, 2007

To: Moravian Churches in the United States and Canada

From: Will Sibert, Executive Director

The situation: Hurricane Felix struck the east coast of Nicaragua early Tuesday morning, Sept. 4 just south of Bilwi (Puerto Cabezas), provincial headquarters for the Nicaragua Moravian Church. Hurricane Felix was a category 5 storm with winds in excess of 150 mph., and destroyed over 5,000 houses and impacted 90% of the buildings in the region, according to latest estimates. Over 40 people are confirmed dead and the number continues to climb. Estimates of the financial toll of Hurricane Felix will be felt for years to come.

The Board of World Mission is sending Mark Ebert, Director of Volunteer Ministries as well as Coordinator for Moravian Disaster Response (MDR) to Nicaragua by the end of next week at the invitation of the Nicaraguan Province. Mark and his team will bring a caring spiritual presence and words of encouragement, as well as participate in assessing how best to organize work crews coming from North America to rebuild church facilities.

The following excerpts are from various sources on the ground and are intended to give a clear sense of the scope of the damage as well as the needs.

Bishop Oliver Hodgson, coordinating the Nicaragua Moravian Churches’ response, reports:

PTO CABEZAS (Bilwi): Totally destroyed neighborhoods - Alemán, The Beach, Loma Verde, San Judas and Punta Fría. Two Radio Stations: Caribe and The Evangelical Voice of the Caribbean Coast (Radio Veca). 11 Moravian Churches without roof and partially destroyed. Mission houses without roof. Some destroyed others partial. Robert Iobst Hall (Destroyed) Stortz Hall partially destroyed. IDSIM’S Central Office without roof and partially destroyed. IDSIM’S Warehouse (destroyed). Church Bookstore (Destroyed). Superintendent’s home (partially destroyed). John Amos Comenius High School: 10 class rooms destroyed. Moravian Schools in Bilwi without roof. Fallen fruit trees and others (80%). The entire City of Bilwi destroyed in an 80%. The Nipco and the Wawa River are still flooded.

Dr. John Gilliland of Hope (Indiana) Moravian Church who served in both countries –

We who have been in touch with those there who had cell phones in Honduras and Nicaragua over the past 24 hrs.

Hit hard was Puerto Cabezas, Nicaragua, a coastal city about 25 miles or so from where the eye of the storm hit. It came in as a cat 5 with over 160 mph winds. It was described as "like you had dropped a bomb on the city" with the majority of the houses in the town either gone or badly damaged. Even the strongest ones were missing their roofs. Most of the trees were blown down. The smaller neighborhoods in the beach area were leveled. Nearby small communities were leveled. Many areas have not been heard from yet. So far 4 deaths have been reported in Puerto Cabezas, but more are expected as contact is made with the surrounding villages, as well as some unaccounted -for fishing vessels off shore.

Myra Rudy called and had been in contact with her son and family, Drs. Gerard and Norvelle Goff Rudy at the medical clinic/hosp. in Ahuas, Honduras. The report is that the storm went south of Ahuas and the main concern is heavy rain and the aftermath of what that means. The winds were 80 mph there. Our understanding was that there was no major structural damage there. There was no report about what happened in Cauquira, Honduras, another medical outpost facility, which is located right on the coast and closer to where the eye of the storm was.

Oswaldo Rivas reporting for Reuters
PUERTO CABEZAS, Nicaragua, Sept 5 (Reuters) - Hurricane Felix killed at least 38 people on Nicaragua's Caribbean coast and more than 80 people were missing after the storm destroyed thousands of flimsy homes, the government said on Wednesday.
As soldiers combed the area around Puerto Cabezas port, the Navy tried to reach settlements on marshy spits of land or on keys to look for more casualties from Felix, which crashed into the coast on Tuesday as an extremely powerful Category 5 hurricane.
"We had 21 dead at midday and we've now found 17 more. This figure could go up," disaster prevention chief Col. Ramon Arnesto told reporters. "There are a lot of missing people, we don't know, there could be more or less 80 people," he said.
People wept at the harbor in Puerto Cabezas, inhabited mostly by Miskito Indians, for 12 fishermen they said never returned from work.
Visiting the area, Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega said about 9,000 homes in the area were destroyed. Residents worked with police and soldiers to try to clear dozens of uprooted trees lying in the street.
"We are talking about really serious damage," Ortega said.
It was the first time on record that two Atlantic hurricanes made landfall as Category 5 storms in one season.

How Moravians can respond.

· The Board of World Mission urges sustained and continuing intercessory prayers for the victims of the hurricane and for those governments, disaster agencies and individuals who are trying to help. Moravian congregations participating in the Unity Prayer Watch in the next several months should by all means include the people of the Nicaragua and Honduras.

· The Board of World Mission is able to send immediately some funding to the Nicaraguan and Honduran Churches from reserves we now hold for just such emergencies. However, much more will be needed than what we have on hand. We encourage individuals and churches to make generous financial contributions to aid in the recovery and reconstruction efforts. The BWM is able to receive such gifts and will be happy to act on behalf of individuals and churches.

In order to create the greatest flexibility and responsiveness, the BWM has established the Moravian Disaster Response (MDR) Fund. The MDR Fund is a ready reserve of funds available immediately to buy supplies or food, send block grants if need be, insure that the necessary logistical apparatus is in place to move both people and materials as quickly to the site of the disaster as is possible, and warehouse materials and supplies so responses can be made timely and effectively.

Therefore, the BWM ask that all donations sent by congregations, organizations, and individuals be designated for THE MDR FUND, and NOT specify any particular disaster. The BWM will send out detail reports regarding how it expends these funds in support of its disaster response efforts so that the highest level of transparency and accountability is consistently available. In using this basic designation - MDR FUND – the BWM can serve both our North American Moravian Church’s needs and those of our Unity sister provinces in the most appropriate and flexible way possible right at the point of need.

· As noted earlier, the BWM is preparing to send Mark Ebert to Nicaragua next week to formulate in consultation with Provincial leadership a comprehensive rebuilding program. We anticipate that work teams will be needed well into 2008. The Board of World Mission invites persons wishing to volunteer for this kind of service to contact one of the following persons:

If your congregation wants to help in sending a team, please contact Mark Ebert at the Board of World Mission Office in Winston-Salem, 1-336-631-9050 ext 1204

The staff of the Board of World Mission is eager to answer any questions about the disaster needs in the Nicaragua and Honduras. Please contact Lisa Mixon or Kim Bartholomew in the Bethlehem office or Sheila Beaman in the Winston-Salem office.. Please send financial contributions to the Bethlehem office: PO Box 1245, Bethlehem PA 18016-1245.

Thank you for the important role of ministry and support you will have in this time of need!!