Emergency Relief Grants Made by PBF
Diocesan Press Service. August 31, 1973 [73205]
NEW YORK, N.Y. -- The Presiding Bishop's Fund for World Relief of the Episcopal Church has announced grants for emergencies created by floods in Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, and Mexico.
Responding to an urgent action taken by the World Council of Churches' Central Committee, meeting in Geneva, the PBF sent $5,000 for emergency relief in Pakistan, India and Bangladesh. The grant was channeled through Church World Service, the relief agency of the National Council of Churches.
The Central Committee of the WCC authorized an appeal for $250,000 from member churches as a first response to the emergency. The committee will also send a staff member to the stricken areas to survey the need and to investigate what types of material aid are most urgently required.
Dr. Alan Brash, chairman of the WCC's unit on justice and service, said the current disaster is one of the worst ever faced. He said the flood, affecting the three countries, has made an estimated eight million homeless, has inundated 12 million acres and has totally destroyed one million homes.
The Central Committee was told that the magnitude of the catastrophe is so immense that the eventual size of the relief program may be far more than the initial $250,000.
Responding to an urgent appeal by Bishop Jose Saucedo of the Episcopal Missionary Diocese of Central and South Mexico, on August 21, the PBF wired $4,000 for aid to the area between Mexico City and Guadalupe which was devastated by a hurricane and floods.
A week later a severe earthquake did extensive damage in a three-state area south of Mexico City. Bishop Saucedo has indicated that the Mexican government is supplying sufficient aid for the victims.
Episcopalians support such relief work through the Presiding Bishop's Fund for World Relief, 815 Second Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10017.