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Revised Feb. 26, 1999
World Vision is seeking donations to help fulfill a commitment of at least $5 million worth of emergency aid to communities in Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador and Nicaragua devastated by Hurricane Mitch, which killed at least 9,000 people. Tens of thousands of Central Americans are missing and millions are homeless.
The late-October storm is the worst disaster to hit Honduras since Hurricane Fifi in 1974. Clothing, shoes, medicines and other emergency supplies are being readied for shipment to Honduras, the country hardest hit by Mitch. World Vision emergency teams are assessing damages and organizing community groups in conjunction with local authorities. Critical relief needs include volunteer physicians and nurses, as well as medicines, clothes, shoes, blankets, canned food, powdered milk, soap, toothpaste, home repair tools and agricultural tools.
World Vision is particularly concerned with a dozen communities where it has child sponsorship projects. The storm knocked out roads and telephones, so little information is available.
In Guatemala, World Vision is providing emergency food, medicine, blankets, clothing and diapers to 15,000 families in 28 communities with sponsorship projects.
In Nicaragua, World Vision has distributed more than 20,000 pounds of medicines to Masaya, Granada, Carazo and Rivas--communities where the agency already works--for use in health centers caring for people displaced by the hurricane. World Vision plans to provide food, personal care items, kitchen utensils, medicine and bedding.
World Vision's Work in Latin America
World Vision has assisted Latin America since the early 1960’s and expanded its work significantly in the region during the mid-1970's Today, World Vision works in 16 countries of Latin America and the Caribbean, providing more than $50 million in aid - half of that from donors in the United States. The major focus of World Vision's work is community development through child sponsorship, with nearly 400,000 children enrolled. Americans assist nearly 220,000 children in Latin America through their monthly donations.
Previous World Vision Disaster Response in Latin America:
- World Vision's assistance to Nicaragua began with relief aid to families left homeless by a December 23, 1972 earthquake which virtually leveled that country's capital city, Managua.
- World Vision worked with local churches to provide relief aid to thousands of people after a September 19, 1985 earthquake in Mexico City. Following initial relief aid (food, water, clothes and shoes, mattresses, blankets and immunizations), World Vision extended rehabilitation assistance to displaced families for up to two years.
- The Nevado del Ruiz volcano destroyed the town of Armero, Colombia in November 1985, killing more than 23,000 people, a third of them under the age of 16, including some World Vision-sponsored children. World Vision provided more than $200,000 in relief assistance.
- In October 1988, World Vision responded to relief needs after Hurricane Joan slammed in to Panama, Nicaragua and Costa Rica. Emergency relief efforts were undertaken with local churches in Panama and Costa Rica. In Nicaragua, World Vision provided emergency relief items as well as supplies for temporary shelter. A reconstruction effort helped rural families to rebuild their homes and restore their farms.
- World Vision provided more than $175,000 in emergency relief aid to communities in Haiti and the Dominican Republic devastated by Hurricane Georges, which struck the island shared by the two countries on September 22, 1998. Another $350,000 is being sought for Haiti to rehabilitate water systems, restore crops and provide families with household supplies.
Financial contributions only may be sent to: World Vision, P.O. Box 70200, Dept. WLAB9N, Tacoma, WA 98481-0200. Or to get gifts to the point of need more quickly, credit card contributions are being accepted on this website; please click here.
For more information call 1-888-511-6593. Spanish speakers may call 1-800-432-4200.
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