A few months ago, the WOC Update featured a study by the UK charity, Oxfam, reporting that the number of weather-related natural disasters had quadrupled over a twenty-year period from 1985 to 2004. Now the German-based organization, Munich Re, is reporting that there were 950 natural disasters recorded in 2007 - the most since it began keeping records in 1974. Here at Week of Compassion, we see the number of requests and appeals coming from our partners across North America and through the world continue to rise each year. WOC is deeply grateful to our many Disciples congregations, members and friends who continue to provide the resources that enable us to respond to so much human need in the world.

Within the WOC program it is the Compassion Response Fund (and related special designated accounts), that enables us to respond promptly to emergencies, disasters and other urgent humanitarian requests as they arise. Below is a brief summary of responses we have made through December 31, 2007, from the Response Fund and certain designated disaster accounts. This is, of course, only a snapshot and does not include other resources we are providing for long-term sustainable development projects. But we do hope it will offer an overview of the many emergency needs to which we Disciples are responding. In 2007, WOC provided $1,277,287 in relief and recovery grants to 276 requests/situations for an average of once every 1.3 days!

More than 800 Disciples congregations have now requested the WOC interactive map/poster to track emergency and long-term development responses on a weekly basis. It is a good visual tool for Disciples to see how our gifts are used around the world, around the year. A complete list of those responses for 2007 (plus those we made since January 1, 2008) is on the WOC website. For a complimentary map/poster, contact Elaine at 317.713.2442 or email her at ecleveland@woc.disciples.org.

Africa: [250,055]
2,000 - Angola, cholera outbreak
6,000 - Burundi, relief and recovery
6,000 - Chad, displaced assistance
28,500 - Congo, emergency relief, medical shipment
8,000 - Kenya, refugee assistance, emergency flood/food relief, civil unrest
5,000 - Liberia, seed shipment
6,000 - Madagascar, cyclone relief
1,000 - Mauritania, drought assistance
9,500 - Mozambique earthquake, arsenal explosion
6,000 - Somalia, humanitarian emergency
115,000 - Sudan, Darfur crisis, floods, medical initiative
12,000 - Uganda, refugee assistance
5,000 - Zambia, floods
40,055 - Zimbabwe, emergency aid, water and food relief

East Asia and the Pacific: [19,000]
9,000 - China , earthquake and flood relief
2,000 - Japan , earthquake relief
8,000 - Solomon Islands , tsunami relief

Latin America and the Caribbean: [122,000]
7,000 - Central America, hurricane recovery
11,000 - Colombia, floods and volcanoes relief
30,000 - Dominican Republic, health emergency, hurricanes
10,000 - Haiti, flood/hurricane relief and recovery
7,000 - Jamaica/Cayman Islands, hurricane relief
24,000 - Mexico, hurricane/floods relief and recovery
18,000 - Nicaragua, hurricane relief and recovery
15,000 - Peru, earthquake relief and recovery

Middle East and Europe: [43,000]
7,500 - Bosnia, peace/reconciliation initiative, winter assistance
14,000 - Iraq, Jordan, Syria, refugee/IDP appeal
6,000 - Lebanon, emergency relief
2,000 - Romania, flood relief
1,500 - Russia, winter assistance
12,000 - Palestine/Gaza, emergency medical/food

Southern Asia: [278,439]
3,000 - Central Asia, disaster mitigation appeal
197,939 - India, tsunami recovery, flood relief
52,500 - Indonesia, flood/earthquake relief and recovery
1,000 - Nepal, flood relief
6,000 - Pakistan, flood relief
18,000 - Sri Lanka, civil emergency

General: [18,000]
6,000 - Church World Service, Community Arise Initiative
6,000 - Action by Churches Together, Global Capacity Building Initiative
6,000 - Action by Churches Together, Rapid Response Fund:
Somalia, floods
Burundi, floods
Indonesia, Jakarta floods
Mozambique, floods
Fiji, flash floods
Ethiopia, ethnic conflict
Afghanistan, refugee returnees
Lebanon/Palestine, refugee camp crisis
Palestine/Gaza, civil emergency
Pakistan, storms and floods
India, floods
Indonesia, volcano eruption
Colombia, floods
Indonesia, Sulawesi floods and landslides
Nepal, floods
India, West Bengal floods
Bangladesh, floods
Romania, flash floods
Jamaica, hurricane
Nicaragua, hurricane
India, Orissa cholera outbreak

Domestic: [546,793]
250 - fires
5,000 - Arizona, emergency water relief
43,255 - California, winter freeze, food relief, wildfires
22,500 - Florida, tornadoes
3,000 - Georgia, tornadoes, winter assistance
1,000 - Iowa, floods
44,500 - Kansas, winter storms, tornadoes, floods
133,938 - Louisiana, hurricane recovery
100,050 - Mississippi, hurricane recovery
4,000 - Missouri, ice storms
1,250 - Nebraska, ice storms
5,500 - New Jersey, floods
2,500 - New Mexico, floods
5,750 - New York, floods and winter storms
1,000 - North Carolina, church fire
12,000 - Ohio, floods
4,500 - Oregon, winter storms
24,500 - Tennessee, hurricane housing
94,800 - Texas, hurricane recovery, floods, tornadoes, church fire
1,000 - Utah, church fire
2,000 - Virginia, pastoral care emergencies
10,000 - Washington, winter storms
24,500 - U.S., spring storms and tornado appeals

Map for Congregations

Have a Blessed Day,

Jan Shrewsbury

Northwest Area Administrative Assistant

816-632-2237