MCC to send assessment team to Venezuela

Mennonite Central Committee
Saturday, 8 January 2000

AKRON, Pa. -- At the behest of Eastern Mennonite Missions (EMM), Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) hopes to send an assessment team to Venezuela, the site of devastating landslides which took the lives of as many as 30,000 people in late December.

"We want to be clear about our role in any response," said Ron Mathies, MCC executive director. "If we can, we want to facilitate the work of local Anabaptist churches responding to the disaster."

The team, which will tentatively include an MCC representative from Alberta and an Eastern Mennonite Missions staff member, will travel to Venezuela next week. MCC will also ask a representative from Mencoldes, an MCC partner in Colombia, to join the team.

MCC has no partners in Venezuela and has not previously worked there. There are at least four Anabaptist church bodies in the country with a total membership of approximately 600. EMM relates closely with these church organizations.

Mencoldes, a relief and development agency based in Bogota, Colombia, works with disaster relief and displaced people.

According to Venezuelan officials, the death toll from the Dec. 15 landslides could reach 30,000 with some 150,000 left homeless. Other agencies, including the Red Cross, put death toll as high as 50,000. In the worst hit area – Vargas state along the Caribbean coast – hardship is now a way of life. Government officials report that the greatest need is for pure drinking water and sanitation facilities. Most schools were destroyed and those still standing have been converted into shelters for the homeless.

Recent rains have triggered small landslides that further hamper relief efforts. Venezuelan officials note that the rain complicates the situation but is not "life threatening."

Close to a month after the landslides, rescue workers are continuing to evacuate thousands still living in high-risk areas. Efforts to relocate survivors and recover the dead are far from complete.

For more information, or to contact Mennonite Central Committee, see their website at: www.mcc.org