SITUATION: Cyclone Hudah hit Madagascar
Monday and is expected eventually to strike an area of Mozambique that
so far has been spared the effects from the previous two cyclones that
have caused flooding and extensive damage. Hudah is the third cyclone to
hit the region in eight weeks.
Forecasters said Hudah is expected bring
heavy rains and winds of up to 85 mph to Mozambique's northeastern coastal
provinces of Zambezia and Nampula, Reuters reported. Flash floods there
could affect some 400,000 people, forecasters said.
The cyclone killed at least 13 people over the weekend in Madagascar, the BBC reports, and left some 50,000 people homeless. National Disaster Committee officials in Madagascar said the storm also left up to 100,000 without food or drinking water.
The flooding in Mozambique has left at 360,000 homeless and has claimed at least 700 lives, and that number is expected to rise further as the impact of yet another storm is felt.
RESPONSE: Church World Service is monitoring the situation and may revise its current appeal -- #976416 for $2.6 million, expanded on March 20, 2000 -- as needed.
CWS is supporting efforts to help the Christian Council of Mozambique (CCM); the Presbyterian Church of Mozambique (IPM); the Council of Churches of Madagascar; FIKRIFAMA of Madagascar; and the South Africa Council of Churches (SACC).
CWS support to date:
$325,000 to IPM for resettlement kits;
$110,000 to CCM to support resettlement kits;
$103,000 to SACC for blankets in Zimbabwe;
$15,000 to SACC to support SACC volunteers for CCM.
Please send contributions to CWS and designate to CWS Southern Africa Flood Appeal, #976416 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
E-mail: chris@ncccusa.org
After-hours emergency pager: (800) 780-0853
Internet Web Site: http://www.ncccusa.org/CWS/emre
Church World Service is the Humanitarian
Agency of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the U.S.A.
35 Denominations & Communions Working Together to Meet Human Needs