Posts Tagged ‘Disaster Services’

Many coastal residents and tourists are evacuating inland as Hurricane Earl approaches the Outerbanks.

Emergency management officials in North Carolina have requested The Salvation Army provide feeding services today for evacuee shelters in Beaufort, Carteret and Pamlico Counties.

The Salvation Army is able to provide evacuee feeding services through our mobile kitchen units that are setting up at county-designated shelter locations in preparation for Earl.  These mobile kitchen units are fully equipped kitchens and can provide immediate, ongoing mass feedings from one location or while roaming throughout an impacted area.

The Salvation Army will also be providing feeding and hydration services to first responders and emergency personnel.

“Each day The Salvation Army responds in service to crisis situations.  And not every crisis is as sensational as a Hurricane, as many are personal, individual and of the heart.  Our team is mobilized and fully prepared for response and service as need arises and for as long as the need last”, said Major Willis Howell, Divisional Commander for The Salvation Army North & South Carolina Division.

Stay tune to The Salvation Army’s Hurricane Earl updates as they become available through our Facebook and Twitter pages.

This Weather Channel image shows Hurricane Alex, the first hurricane of the 2010 season.

As South Texas communities brace themselves for the effects of Hurricane Alex, The Salvation Army is already providing shelter and food to people in preparation for the first hurricane of the season.

Yesterday The Salvation Army opened the doors of its shelter in McAllen, TX to residents evacuating ahead of the storm. They housed 73 people, of which 23 were evacuees, and served 140 meals. They continue to remain on stand-by in case additional help is needed at any of the area designated shelters.

Mobile feeding units called canteens are in place and ready to serve in the southern Texas cities of Corpus Christi, Harlingen, McAllen and Laredo, Texas. Several more canteens are staged in San Antonio with staff and volunteers. The Salvation Army mobile kitchen, capable of preparing 20,000 meals daily, and generator have been made available and are ready for deployment if necessary. The Salvation Army will also provide clean-up kits if excessive flooding results from Hurricane Alex.

“The Salvation Army is anticipating several days of sheltering and mass feeding along the Gulf Coast area”, said Major Terry Israel, Divisional Secretary in Texas. “ These services will be available at least through Friday, and as long as the need exists.”

For more information about The Salvation Army emergency disaster services program or to support The Salvation Army’s emergency relief efforts, please visit www.disaster.salvationarmyusa.org or call 1-800-SAL-ARMY.  For the latest updates on Salvation Army disaster activities, follow our Disaster Services team on Twitter @SalArmyEDS.

The Salvation Army’s Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi Division is responding to multiple tornado touchdowns across much of Central and North Mississippi. Just after noonm, a strong super cell thunderstorm crossed the Mississippi River north of Vicksburg, Miss. and began dropping tornadoes on a line stretching across the state. By three o’clock The Salvation Army was responding in five locations.

Five feeding units have been deployed to provide mass feeding, hydration, and pastoral care.

Units from Jackson and Laurel are serving the hard hit Yazoo City area where over 60 homes have reported damage. Another unit from Jackson has responded to the Eagle Lake Community along the Mississippi River where 30 homes were damaged. Personnel and a mobile feeding unit from Starkville and Columbus have responded to multiple locations in Choctaw County. The Salvation Army in Carthage has responded to the scene of a tornado in Attala County.

“This day has seen so many lives ripped apart by an act of nature. The Salvation Army wants to provide an act of God in serving the residents of Mississippi recovering form this historic event,” stated Captain Ken Chapman of The Salvation Army in Jackson. “ Our hope is that through the love of Christ the emotional and physical scars can begin to heal.”

Donations are always needed to offset the costs of services to storm victims. Please visit www.salvationarmyusa.org or call 1-800-SAL-ARMY to donate. All donations for disaster services will be used for the designated purpose.

You can stay updated through our Salvation Army Facebook page and Salvation Army personnel Mark Jones’ Facebook Page. On Twitter, follow SalArmyEDS and SalArmyUS.

Find more information about these efforts and The Salvation Army’s Alabama, Louisiana, and Mississippi Division at www.salvationarmyalm.org.

The Salvation Army Emergency Disaster Services (EDS) is actively involved in responding to severe tornado activity in Mississippi. Two mobile feeding units (canteens) from Jackson, Mississippi have been deployed; one to Eagle Lake and another to Yazoo City, MS.  Local authorities are reporting 20 to 30 homes impacted in Eagle Lake and at least that many in Yazoo City where search and rescue operations are underway.  There are reports of injuries and possible fatalities in Yazoo City. Salvation Army personnel are offering food, drinks and emotional & spiritual care.

Additional damage is being reported throughout the state of MS.  The Laurel and Columbus canteens are standing by.

Mr. Bill Feist, ALM Divisional Emergency Disaster Services Director is at the MS Emergency Operations Center.  Mr. Mark Jones, the ALM Divisional PIO, is on-site in Yazoo City.

This situation continues to develop as storms move through the southeast and damage assessment is conducted.

Additional breaking information will be posted to Twitter at www.twitter.com/SalArmyEDS and Mark Jones’ Facebook page.

With a very heavy heart, recovery crews will continue removing from the mine the remaining victims of the Upper Big Branch mine explosion. It was revealed this weekend that the four missing West Virginia miners did not survive.

The Beckley Salvation Army Disaster team continues to offer emotional and spiritual care to families of the victims of one of the worst mining disasters in many years. Also nearly one thousand meals, snacks and drinks were served to fire and rescue personnel.

Thank you for the hundreds of meal items that were donated that enabled The Salvation Army to serve those in need during this extraordinarily difficult time.

Your continued prayers are appreciated and needed for this small community of Montcoal, West Virginia and families of the miners who lost their lives in this tragedy.

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Aftershocks continue to rattle residents along the U.S.-Mexico border following Easter Sunday’s  magnitude 7.2 earthquake whose epicenter was located just outside of Mexicali.  Some 20 million people from Tijuana to Los Angeles are said to have felt it.

The Salvation Army is diligently serving in the Calexico and El Centro areas, which were the hardest hit cities within the United States.

Vicky Esqueda, a captain with The Salvation Army in El Centro, says, “El Centro’s main street has a lot of structural damage with fallen brick, busted storefront windows, and garbage everywhere. The hospital set up a triage outside with numerous people coming in with broken bones.”

Her husband was injured during the earthquake.  Jerry Esqueda, also a captain with The Salvation Army, injured his arm and knee when he fell during the disaster, but after he was treated at an emergency room, the Esquedas began helping other earthquake victims in El Centro.

“The corps has set up beds for those needing shelter and we are busy feeding and handing out water,” said Vicky.

The Salvation Army is sheltering and feeding at its Community Center in El Centro multiple families whose homes suffered damage from the quake. Thirty individuals were housed last night.  Volunteers and staff are busy preparing meals in the center’s kitchen, which will be distributed along with bottled water, fruit and snacks by Salvation Army mobile kitchen units, known as canteens.  The Salvation Army now has two emergency canteens in the El Centro and Calexico area, serving first responders as well as those affected by the earthquake.

Other workers and volunteers are helping with clean up as well as assessing damage to Salvation Army buildings and thrift stores.

Those who would like to help with relief efforts may send donations to:

The Salvation Army
(designate Baja/Imperial Earthquake)
PO Box 503580
San Diego, CA 92150-3580

Or CALL 1 866-455-4357
Or donate ONLINE at www.sandiego.salvationarmy.org



American Idol winner Kris Allen holds a coded card developed by UPS and used by The Salvation Army to streamline the emergency supply distribution process in Haiti.

American Idol will kick off “Idol Gives Back” on Thursday, February 25, where you can see 2009 winner Kris Allen perform to video footage of his recent trip to Haiti. Partnering with the UN Foundation, Allen visited Place de la Paix, Haiti where The Salvation Army serves as the camp management agency for a settlement that is home to 20,000 individuals displaced by January’s earthquake.

The UN specifically selected the camp due to its extreme overcrowding and overwhelming need.

According to the proposed schedule of events, Allen met with representatives from The Salvation Army, UNICEF, Irish NGO Concern, and the Camp Management Committee, which is composed of residents of the settlement.

After being introduced to the organizations that have been deeply involved with emergency relief in the area, Allen was guided through the camp, visiting the registration office, sanitation area, and water storage bladders as he learned about the process that aid-seekers must go through and the struggles they continually face such as extreme congestion and sanitation issues.

Kris Allen, last year's "American Idol" winner, teamed up with the UN to pay a special visit to The Salvation Army in Port au Prince over the weekend. Allen helped Army officials distribute high-tech laminate cards that bear unique barcodes to more than 4,000 families.

To serve the settlement of Place de Paix, The Salvation Army has partnered with Concern, which is focusing on water and sanitation, as well as nutrition, in the area.  There are currently two large water bladders that provide some 300,000 liters of drinking water for the population on a daily basis!  Concern is also working to put in latrines and showers for the population.  The Brazilian NGO Vivario, which had a pre-existing program in the neighborhood, continues to work in the areas of water and sanitation.

In an interview, Allen said he did some hard work of hauling debris during his brief visit, but he also had precious moments with the people like singing with some local children.

Be sure to tune in to American Idol on Thursday, February 25 to see the work that is taking place (and the work that is still needed) in Haiti!

If you would like to support The Salvation Army’s ongoing relief efforts in the devastated country, you can contribute a financial donation through:
•    Text messaging “HAITI” to 52000, and confirming with “Yes”
•    www.salvationarmyusa.org
•    1-800-SAL-ARMY
•    Mailing a check or money order to:
The Salvation Army World Service Office
P.O. Box 630728
Baltimore, MD 21263-0728
*with designation “Haiti Earthquake.”

Video of Thursday’s plane crash taken by KXAN News in Austin.

The city of Austin remains shaken after the surreal attack yesterday by software engineer Joseph Stack, whose brooding burdens led him to intentionally crash his single-engine Piper Dakota airplane into a building housing IRS offices.

Our hearts go out to victims, family, and friends of those involved.

Ready to serve in this time of need, Salvation Army staff and volunteers deployed to the crash site Thursday at the request of the Austin Emergency Operations Center in order to provide food and drink to the first responders.

According to a report released by The Salvation Army Texas Division, their personnel had already served as of 10:00 PM Thursday evening:

• 1000 drinks
• 550 sandwiches
• 700 snacks
• 200 bags of chips

The report also stated, “The Salvation Army’s Disaster Canteen [mobile kitchen] and 2 staff members remained at the scene of the crash through the night serving firemen, police and investigators who were awaiting permission to enter the building. The Salvation Army is serving breakfast and lunch to responders, including staff from the Chaplain Services of the Austin Police Department who are available to talk with those giving aid and employees from the office building.”

The Salvation Army Disaster Canteen is expected to remain at the crash site for several days in order to supply emergency responders with needed food and refreshments as the investigation of the disaster continues.

Aid workers open boxes of food provided by Numana in which warnings against human trafficking are provided to raise awareness of vulnerable Haitians.

While Salvation Army aid workers and volunteers have loaded, unloaded, and handed out millions of meals to combat the rampant hunger plaguing Haitians, these boxes of food contain another form of aid less obvious than the nourishing beans and rice they hold.

Haiti is a nation chronically plagued by extreme poverty and lack of just law enforcement, leaving citizens vulnerable to all sorts of threats both physical and abstract. But with these existing circumstances being further exacerbated by last month’s earthquake, conditions are ripe for Haiti’s already substantial human trafficking problem to increase exponentially. To combat the issue, The Salvation Army is mounting an anti-trafficking awareness campaign advertised even on the food Haitians are eating! Through food labels and fliers, we are trying to educate as many people as possible on the dangers of and ways to prevent human trafficking from breeding during the earthquake’s aftermath and in their communities long term. Though trafficking may be a less visible threat than starvation or dehydration, it is certainly no less dangerous.

The Salvation Army has actually been working for years to educate Haitians against trafficking, teaching prevention awareness to the 14,000 students enrolled in our schools across the country, to families to help them prevent losing their children, to young adults so that they are not deceived by scams luring them with false promises of lucrative work abroad.

In fact, Haiti’s human trafficking problem is so serious that the U.S. State Department denoted the country as a ‘special’ case in their 2009 Trafficking in Persons Report. Though some estimates report a quarter million children are trafficked every year in the country, accurate numbers are difficult to pinpoint. The Report discusses factors that contribute to Haiti’s inability to address the issue (for more detailed background, read about Haiti in the 2009 Trafficking Report here):

“The Government of Haiti’s ability to provide basic services and security for citizens, and to control rampant crime in the capital, Port-au-Prince, continues to be compromised by limited resources, an untrained and poorly equipped police force, entrenched government corruption, and perennially weak government institutions… Haiti remains a Special Case for the fourth consecutive year as the new government formed in September 2008 has not yet been able to address the significant challenges facing the country, including human trafficking. .. Haitian law also does not specifically prohibit trafficking in persons, which limits its ability to punish traffickers and protect victims.”

But after working with Sri Lankan communities devastated by the 2005 tsunami, Director of Special Projects for The Salvation Army World Service Office’s (SAWSO) Lt. Col. Helen Starrett said The Salvation Army realized there needed to be an immediate response following catastrophic disasters to prevent human trafficking. From this conviction came the idea to print and attach warning labels on food for Haitians, a sure way to spread information to as many people as possible. With the help of American volunteers, 500,000 labels printed in English and Creole have been placed on distributed meals provided by Numana and packaging of beans and rice rations. The human-trafficking alert has also been printed on 5,000 fliers that are displayed in clinics, schools, and shelters around Port-au-Prince, and large posters are brandished on Salvation Army water towers. They read:

BE ALERT! WATCH FOR SCAMS!

NO ONE can force you to work or have sex.

1. Beware of people offering jobs in foreign countries.
2. Beware of people offering money, food, shelter, or drugs in exchange for sex.
3. Know where your children are.
4. Know who your children are with.
5. Be cautious of sending your children away. Be sure a VERY trusted relative or friend goes with them.
6. If you are threatened or being controlled seek help from the nearest Salvation Army Comfort Center.

“God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.”

Psalm 46:1

Numana will begin printing the warning messages directly on food packaging starting with the next meal distribution so that labels will not need to be added.

Lt. Col. Starrett says Salvation Army personnel in Haiti also have a one page sheet of information regarding signs of and prevention tools for human trafficking so that they may remain vigilant among the population of Haitians with which they work every day. Serving as lead agency for some 20,000 displaced Haitians temporarily housed in a soccer arena and plaza in Port-au-Prince, The Salvation Army is tasked with registering the occupants. Not only does this help with receiving food and aid supplies from the UN, it also enables disaster workers to keep track of children and vulnerable individuals, helping to ensure that they are accounted for.

The campaign is also intended to educate Haitians so they are empowered to police and protect themselves. Lt. Col. Starrett says that while other organizations are working to combat human trafficking in Haiti, she believes The Salvation Army’s long standing history and involvement in the area (we’ve been present in Haiti since 1950 and have 700 personnel permanently stationed there) has given us a “great capacity to have eyes that other organizations might not have,” meaning in addition to our first hand experience with the country, there is also a trust held by Haitians through their relationship with The Salvation Army that allows them to feel more comfortable bringing forth information about suspicious circumstances possibly related to human trafficking.

In addition to increasing awareness, providing alternative solutions is also integral in the fight against trafficking since desperation for survival may sometimes overshadow what is moral. And The Salvation Army does provide a positive alternative through the millions of meals that we have and will continue to distribute in order to sustain individuals and families, as well as other forms of aid and services that are provided through our disaster workers and full time personnel living in Haiti. This includes offering education in our schools, providing medical assistance in our clinics, and giving guidance through spiritual counseling and worship services.

Lt. Col. Starrett recognized that the problem is not a simple open and closed case, saying, “As long as there is evil in the world, we are going to have human trafficking…” Of course, her observation was not one of defeat, but rather a reason to persevere all the harder in the mission to combat the problem.  She  continued, “But we’re going to do our very best to help as many people as we possibly can.”

For more information on what The Salvation Army is doing to prevent human trafficking, visit our national website.