Brazos Fuertos Alrededor de Chile: Strong Arms Around Chile

According to Salvation Army World Services Office (SAWSO), $55,758 has been donated to the relief efforts in Chile, via online, telephone, and text. The Salvation Army in Chile continues to adapt to the changing conditions while expanding its emergency relief response in both Central and Southern Chile. A curfew has been established from 6:00 PM until 12:00 PM the next day in the Concepcion and Talcahuano area in Southern Chile and cities closest to the epicenter. Salvation Army personnel have to have special authorization to travel during the tightly controlled curfew period. This authorization and assigning security personnel to Army staff members will allow safe travel during curfew and much needed distribution of supplies to those in need.

As the magnitude of devastation continues to escalate, Salvation Army officers, soldiers and volunteers continue to work feverishly to provide support and comfort to those affected. In Santiago, several young Salvationist professionals are reaching out and creating databases to facilitate more efficient registration of clients by social workers. Additionally, they continue to strive to make contact with the Christian media in the Santiago metropolitan region.

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Immediate Salvation Army Response to Devastating Earthquake in Chile

from Salvation Army International Headquarters

Following a devastating 8.8 magnitude earthquake in Chile during the early hours of Saturday morning (27 February) Salvation Army emergency services were immediately mobilised to provide support and comfort and international financial assistance is already on the way.

Lieut-Colonel Mike Caffull, the emergency services coordinator for The Salvation Army International Headquarters (IHQ) in London reports that IHQ has already agreed to provide financial assistance for the Chilean Salvationists initial relief response. He said assistance coordinated by the IHQ emergency team will also be provided regarding ongoing relief in the medium and long term.

Chief Secretary for The Salvation Army in South America West, Lieut-Colonel F. Bradford Bailey says that the immediate response is to provide food, water, first aid kits, emergency packets, blankets, candles and other urgently required supplies. A recently arrived mobile canteen (a donation from the USA Southern Territory) is one of the key relief vehicles. Read more

The Salvation Army in Haiti: Bringing Wholeness, Healing and Hope

Update 2/06/10 Source: Captain Tawny Cowen-Zanders, SAWSO Haiti Incident Command Team, Public Information Officer

The Salvation Army continues to be a beacon of hope for individuals and families whose lives were devastated by the earthquake. While the Haiti Relief Team maintains support and provides assistance for 20,000 individuals in an area adjacent to their compound in Port-au-Prince, they have reached out to other areas of the country – diligently meeting needs at the point of need at the time of need. There has been a steady, marked improvement in the overall situation in the four weeks since the earthquake. Our own operation has been refined with improved local logistics, communication, accommodation. In addition, better coordination of air traffic means transportation for freight is improved, as well. Relief ministries include the following:
· The Salvation Army Relief Team has established service compounds in three communities – Port-au-Prince, Petit Goave (Satellite), and Jacmel (Satellite). In addition, services are provided to the communities of Croix-des-Bouquets (6 mi east of PAP) and Balan (18 mi east of PAP).
· After being alerted by personnel from the Canadian Military, The Army’s Jacmel Assessment Team investigated Decouze, which is a rural site between Port-au-Prince and Jacmel. The team discovered 500 families who had been completely without outside help since the earthquake. The community was clearly in shock but grateful that, finally, “someone from a foreign land had noticed their plight.” A determination of future service will be made in the coming days.
· The Salvation Army is being recognized internationally as an expert in effectively and efficiently handling this crisis. WORLD Magazine published an article on February 2nd highlighting this phenomenon. Excerpts include the following: “The UN estimates that as many as 1 million people are homeless, and UN emergency coordinator John Holmes acknowledged that aid delivery remains painfully slow. But in other parts of town, private aid groups are quietly getting work done…[The Army distributed] an estimated 552,000 meals [in] less than four hours…While the UN grapples with the maddening conditions of delivering aid in Haiti, groups like The Salvation Army are proving a point: Some of the best aid is coming from the groups with long standing connections on the ground…Despite the damage, within days Salvation Army staffers formed a plan to be the lead group providing care for a crowd nearing 20,000 people near their compound. At a UN meeting last Monday, The Salvation Army was one of just five non-governmental organizations with a concrete plan for managing a camp.”

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Elementary students help with Haiti relief

In a weeks time, students at the Shenandoah Elementary School in Middletown, Indiana raised over $5,600 for The Salvation Army’s Disaster Services Relief for Haiti through their fundraising campaign Drinking Water for Haiti. At noon Feb. 3, 2010 at Shenandoah Elementary, the students presented the funds to The Salvation Army’s Major Brenda Pittman and Development Director Jeff Stanger.

Drinking Water for Haiti was put into affect by every teacher in the school buying enough water bottles for each student in their class. The students were allowed to drink the water in school and were reminded when they drank that the people in Haiti didn’t have this luxury. Read more

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