Episcopalians Respond to Guatemala Earthquakes
Episcopal News Service. February 11, 1976 [76050]
NEW YORK, N.Y. -- An emergency grant of $10,000 has been made by the Presiding Bishop's Fund for World Relief of the Episcopal Church after a series of earthquakes left thousands dead and injured in Guatemala.
Mrs. Howard O. Bingley, executive director for the Fund, presented a check for $10,000 to Mrs. Fernando Aldana of Guatemala City, who was attending a meeting at the Episcopal Church Center at the time of the disaster. Mrs. Aldana delivered the check to Bishop Anselmo Carral upon arrival in Guatemala City.
The quakes were felt across the 2,000-mile strip of Central America that also includes Mexico, Honduras, and El Salvador, with some minor damage reported in those countries.
Presiding Bishop John M. Allin sent a telegram to all diocesan bishops in the Episcopal Church, urging them to encourage support for a special Guatemala emergency appeal for funds. He also indicated that he had asked Bishop William H. Folwell of Central Florida to go to Guatemala as "my personal representative and on behalf of the entire Episcopal Church" to offer support to Bishop Carral of Guatemala.
Bishop Allin called on the bishops of the Church to" remember the bishop and people of Guatemala in your prayers."
Bishop Allin said in his telegram that" more help is on the way." Part of that additional aid is in the form of teams of medical and construction experts who have volunteered to go from the U.S. to the Central American country to help in the crisis.
Teams of volunteers from at least three dioceses of the Episcopal Church have gone to Guatemala to offer their services. The Diocese of Central Florida has sent six doctors (four of them orthopedic specialists), four nurses, two interpreters, and an assortment of medical supplies.
The Diocese of Kentucky has also sent orthopedic doctors and sophisticated medical equipment to help the victims of the earthquakes.
A team of doctors, nurses, engineers, and construction people from the Diocese of West Texas has also gone to Guatemala to assist in the relief efforts. Robert Ayres of San Antonio, Tex., has been designated by the board of the Presiding Bishop's Fund to assess the situation and to report to the board on additional needs in the wake of the disaster.
Contributions to the Presiding Bishop's Fund are also being channeled through Church World Service, which has joined with other agencies in sending at least two special charter flights of supplies, including blankets, heavy clothing, meat, high protein supplements, and water purification pills.
Reports from Guatemala indicate that diocesan offices were completely destroyed and Bishop Carral's residence was slightly damaged. Bishop Carral was in Nicaragua at the time of the first earthquake and returned immediately to Guatemala.
It is reported that four Episcopal churches and one rectory in the Central American area were destroyed by the quakes.
Checks may be sent to the Presiding Bishop's Fund for World Relief, marked "Guatemala," Episcopal Church Center, 815 Second Avenue, New York, N.Y., U.S.A. 10017.