| A child evacuated out of Muzaffarabad, capital of Pakistan administered Kashmir (BBC photo) |
The Primate’s World Relief and Development Fund and the Action by Churches Together ecumenical disaster relief agency are responding to recent catastrophes that have taken life and caused great suffering.
An earthquake measuring 7.6 on the Richter scale hit parts of the south Asian subcontinent on Saturday morning, October 8. The quake was centered in the mountains of Pakistani Kashmir, near the Indian border, northeast of Islamabad.
Early reports indicate that at least 18,000 people have died, and some reports suggest the death toll is much higher. In response to an appeal by Action by Churches Together (ACT), The Primate's World Relief and Development Fund has issued an initial grant of $10,000.
With US$50,000 in Rapid Response Funds from the ACT Coordinating Office, Church World Service-Pakistan/Afghanistan began immediate assistance to 950 families by providing emergency food packages (including wheat flour, rice, pulses, cooking oil, sugar, tea leaves, salt and match boxes) in the most affected and remote areas of the North West Frontier Province and Azad Kashmir and Pakistan.
| The Santa Ana volcano, once dormant but which has now erupted, with coffee plantations and villages along its sides. |
Meanwhile, in this hemisphere, a volcanic eruption in El Salvador, complicated by Tropical Storm Stan, has displaced around 50,000 and killed 100 or more people, according to the Rev. Emilie Smith, who has worked in the area and is familiar with it.
El Salvador’s largest volcano, the Santa Ana or Llimatepec volcano erupted on October 1 after lying dormant for more than a century. It hurled out hot lava rocks for up to 15 kilometers. Some 5,000 people were evacuated from the danger zone and placed in 20 shelters.
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