Earthquake Damage in Ecuador; Thousands injured; Whole villages destroyed
Somebody Cares is in contact with ministry partners already on the ground in Japan, Ecuador, Southeast Texas, and of course, right here in Houston.
Japan
Our partner is Japan is requesting funding for emergency supplies including bottled water, canned and instant foods, tents, sleeping bags, home medical kits, canned milk, towels, shampoo and other essentials.
News from our ministry partner in Cuenca, Ecuador is still coming in since many communities are cut off by land slides, and rescue efforts are on-going. Their teams have deployed to affected areas to assess and assist as they can. Experience shows there will be great need for assistance with shelter, food, medicines and medical supplies, as well as long term recovery assistance.
An estimated 3,600 homes experienced major damage due to 1000 year flooding from recent storms, in addition to the hundreds that were a total loss. Many of these families also had wells contaminated so are now without clean water as well. Somebody Cares is helping to provide tents, camping supplies, water filters, dehumifiers, cleaning supplies, volunteer mud-out teams and more! This relief and recovery effort will take months.
Houston
Today I awoke to 500 year flooding in the city of Houston. Our staff could not even reach the office today, so are working from home. There will be many needs in Houston including cleaning supplies, gift cards for residents, and much more. We will have a better understanding of the scope of the needs once the flood waters recede a bit.
