RURAL AREAS OF MISSISSIPPI STILL CALLING FOR EMERGENCY HELP FOLLOWING KATRINA, RITA, SAYS CHURCH WORLD SERVICE

Agency Helping Hard Hit, Under-Served Communities Organize for Long-Term Recovery

NEW YORK - Wed Oct 5- In southern Mississippi this week, Church World Service (CWS) disaster responder Tim Johnson says the agency is helping community groups begin to organize long-term recovery resources for Hurricane Katrina and Ritas most vulnerable survivors, but, says Johnson, long-term recovery looks a long way off for many along the Gulf Coast and even farther inland.

Johnson says, Some rural areas like Lucedale, Mississippi, werent the super strike zones that Biloxi was during Hurricane Katrina, but they experienced significant damage and so far they are still outside the net of major response.

Johnson is one of the humanitarian agencys team of responders in the devastated Gulf Coast who are assessing ongoing emergency needs but are particularly focusing on establishing new community-based, long-term recovery organizations that will serve survivors with unmet needs. Were particularly concerned about those rural areas that get less focus, he says.

With 60 years experience in domestic and international disaster response, Church World Service provides emergency aid, long-term recovery programs, and in the case of Katrina and Ritas aftermath, the agency is assisting in the relocation of evacuees.

Were already well into the process of meeting with community and faith groups to help them see how they can access broader resources down the line, says Johnson. Whats constant are the communities and the churches in those communities. Long term recovery will be their responsibility when other support organizations have gone.

Yet, more than a month after Katrina and now following Ritas hit, Johnson says in some areas of the Louisiana bayou country and coastal Mississippi and Alabama, chronic emergency needs are just beginning to be heard and met.

Johnson says Lucedale, Mississippi, is one of those rural areas that was away from the mass destruction zones. The damage is more hidden, not obvious from the roadways. But, he says, there are thousands of people living there, and they desperately need help - now and over the long haul.

Even if they have homeowners insurance, many dont have enough, he said.
Clean-up is a huge task, and some areas arent cleaned up at all yet, and its been a month since Katrina.

Some people are just getting tarps for damaged roofs and some are still living in dwellings that dont have tarps, says CWSs Melina Pavlides, who accompanied Johnson. If youre a renter and your roof is damaged, you dont get a tarp. Sometimes the landlord evacuated and hasnt come back.

Peoples phones dont work, so they cant call anyone for assistance. And some dont have transportation. So they couldnt call FEMA for the $2,000 reimbursement program that ended last Monday. And if you were a renter, you wouldnt have qualified for that anyway.

Thursday, October 6, Johnson was in Mississippis Hancock, Jackson, and George Counties, meeting with county leadership to assess needs and begin to organize for long-term recovery. In Lucedale on Friday night (Sept. 30), Johnson met with the mayor, city council members, community and church leaders to introduce them to how community-based long-term recovery programs work following a disaster.

The people around Lucedale knew the bigger picture was out there, says Johnson, but they needed someone to put it all together for them. Right now, theyre still in emergency relief stages, and its overwhelming.

Those in Lucedale who want to take on local responsibility just didnt know the process for organization around long-term recovery, Johnson says.

One man told us they just needed someone from a national organization like CWS to help them scout down the trail.

But for the moment, he said, some were simply happiest to find access to emergency supplies. A cold snap was predicted for the weekend, Johnson says, and one woman told us, Now at least I know where to go to get blankets.
There are people Im worried about, so now I can get blankets and take them there.

Rev. Elijah Mitchell, a district disaster coordinator, was at the Lucedale organizing meeting. A United Methodist minister in the Biloxi area, Mitchell lost two churches during Katrina. Mitchell told CWS six people went to one of the churches for shelter during the hurricane and were killed when the church was destroyed by the storm.

The church is now a mound of cinderblocks, says CWSs Pavlides. Mitchell and other church leaders are using church storage facilities in Stone County adjoining Lucedale to warehouse blankets, cleanup buckets, building materials and other recovery supplies.

At the Gulf Coast, Pavlides says, Moss Point, Mississippi, was still reeling from the devastation. We saw one neighborhood of modest little homes, built one after another in rows. Theyre ruined. They may have to just bulldoze all of the homes. People would be able to keep their land and rebuild.
Reportedly, contractors may waive the bulldoze fees.

Church World Service delivered basic medicines and a shipment of Emergency Clean-up Buckets to First Christian Disciples of Christ Church in Moss Point last week, and CWSs Johnson and Pavlides were there to further assess needs and support long-term recovery organizing.

Theres a clinic staged at the same church in Moss Point, says Pavlides, with volunteer nurses from places like Honolulu and Seattle. Theyll be there until November. Theyre authorized to write prescriptions, she says, so theyll be able to dispense medicines from our shipment.

Pavlides says a mobile pharmacy in the area was also distributing medicines donated by CWS and schools of pharmacy.


CWS continues pace of relief supply shipments, cash grants

CWS continues to distribute relief supplies and issue cash grants for relief and recovery across the region. The global relief, development and refugee resettlement agencys latest shipment of 10,000 blankets and 10,000 Gift of the Heart Health Kits was expedited to distribution points in the Gulf Coast area over the weekend, and a next shipment is pending. So far, Church World Service has shipped more than $1.3 million in material assistance to Katrina- and Rita-affected areas.

In a separate Midwest-wide ecumenical Festival of Sharing effort, collections filled a 40-foot container load with CWS Gift of the Heart Health Kits, Clean-up Buckets, and other provisions, which are now en route for distribution.

Church World Service is continuing its national fundraising campaign for survivors of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita with funds earmarked for emergency aid and long-term recovery.

Contributions to support these efforts may be sent to: Church World Service, P.O. Box 968, Elkhart, IN 46515, or call 800 297 1516 ext. 222. For more information, see: www.churchworldservice.org

Church World Service is a cooperative ministry of 36 Protestant, Orthodox, and Anglican denominations in the United States providing sustainable self-help and development, disaster relief, and refugee assistance in more than 80 countries.

Church World Service
28606 Phillips Street
P.O. Box 968
Elkhart, IN 46515
info@churchworldservice.org
800-297-1516; fax: 574-262-0966
Regional office toll-free 888-CWS-CROP (888-297-2767)

Church World Service
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