A Publication of the ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN LAITY
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| Volume 7 Number 42 - Tuesday, October 18, 2005 |
A Publication of the ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN LAITY |
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The Orthodox Christian Laity
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The Orthodox Christian News Service |
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October
11, 2005 Baltimore, MD (IOCC) — International Orthodox Christian Charities (IOCC)
is partnering with the Orthodox Metropolitanate of
Hong Kong and Southeast Asia and Church World
Service to provide assistance to survivors of a
major earthquake centered in the mountains of
Pakistani Kashmir, near the Indian border on
October 8. Initial reports from aid workers in the area indicate that
the true toll of the disaster will only be known
in the days and weeks ahead as they access remote
areas that were leveled by the tremor. Teams of
aid workers have already been dispatched to the
affected region to begin supplying aid and further
assess the needs. His Eminence Metropolitan Nikitas of the Orthodox
Metropolitanate of Hong Kong and Southeast Asia
and IOCC executive director Constantine M.
Triantafilou have been in contact to coordinate an
emergency response. IOCC and the Orthodox
Metropolitanate have partnered together in
humanitarian programs throughout South Asia,
including the tsunami that struck the region in
December 2004. The Orthodox parishes in the
affected region responded immediately with relief
supplies under the direction of His Eminence. “On behalf of IOCC, I have conveyed our continued support
for the efforts of the Orthodox Metropolitanate of
Hong Kong and Southeast Asia as we partner to
bring aid to people in the earthquake affected
areas of Pakistan,” said Triantafilou. Currently Church World Service teams are in the field
carrying out a survey so that organizations can
respond according to the most current information
gathered from the ground. Food items have already been distributed to 1,600 families in
the affected areas of Azad Kashmir and North West
Frontier Province. Medical camps for 50,000 to
100,000 people are in the process of being
organized in the affected areas. The IOCC responded with emergency support to its long term
partner Church World Service which will provide
15,000 families with food items, shelter kits and
house reconstruction kits. The shelter kits
include a tent, ground sheet, plastic sheeting and
iron poles. The house reconstruction kits consist
of five bags of cement, a door, two windows and
five iron beams. IOCC was founded in 1992 as the official humanitarian aid agency of the Standing Conference of Canonical Orthodox Bishops in the Americas (SCOBA). Since then, it has implemented more than $200 million in relief and development programs in 29 countries around the world. To learn more about IOCC humanitarian programs, please visit www.iocc.org.
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