PDA grants helping countries cope with El Niño
Weather phenomenon puts millions at risk of increased hunger
LOUISVILLE — Presbyterian Disaster Assistance has awarded multiple grants to help partners in places like El Salvador and Guatemala cope with the negative effects of El Niño, a weather phenomenon that is expected to have international impacts for months to come.
During an El Niño, there is a warming of the ocean’s surface in the central and eastern tropical Pacific Ocean.
According to NPR, “that water releases massive heat, redistributing warmth from the ocean to the atmosphere,” shifting weather patterns around the world. For example, across Asia and the Pacific, countries could experience droughts, floods and cyclones, according to UN News.
Some communities already are feeling the effects, and UN emergency relief chief Tom Fletcher has said an estimated 50 million people could face increased hunger because of the El Niño, which some are referring to as a “super” El Niño. (Read how El Niño also could affect food prices.)
The National Weather Service Climate Predication Center said earlier this month that El Niño was continuing to strengthen and that “chances remain high for a historic event that would exceed the strength of previous El Niño events dating back to 1950.”
To mitigate disaster, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) recently issued a public appeal, asking for support to be given to vulnerable countries. Support could include providing funds and emergency supplies, delivering seeds and protecting livestock.
As a ministry of Presbyterian Life & Witness, PDA primarily is helping affected communities by supplying food and hygiene supplies.
“The droughts that are happening are affecting, of course, livestock,” said the Rev. Edwin González-Castillo, who manages PDA. Also, “many communities who were developing or have been working on agriculture projects have been facing the situation of, ‘OK, we have the seeds, … we have the training, but now, we don't have water.’”
The Protestant Center for Pastoral Studies in Central America (CEDEPCA) requested grant assistance from PDA to help people rebound from drought conditions and heavy rains in Guatemala.
“These conditions are leading to crop losses, a shortage of work for agricultural day laborers, food insecurity, and an increase in the cost of (the) basic food basket,” CEDEPCA reported to PDA. “Emotionally, people are experiencing increased concern, anxiety and hopelessness.”
A PDA grant is helping CEDEPCA provide food bags and egg-laying chickens to 300 families. CEDEPCA also is providing hygiene kits, workshops and psychosocial kits with useful resources, such as coloring books and educational board games.
Another impacted country is El Salvador, where the Legislative Assembly recently declared a National State of Emergency because of drought conditions that have diminished subsistence crops, such as corn and beans, and had a negative impact on fruit trees and the economy, according to the Reformed Calvinist Church of El Salvador (IRCES).
Grant assistance is helping to provide food baskets for 105 people affected by crop losses. The vulnerable include children and older people as well as people with disabilities, chronic illnesses and other conditions.
In addition to helping communities cope with El Niño, PDA is responding to other natural and human-caused disasters.
In Peru, grant funding is providing humanitarian aid for 24 people in the Colpa neighborhood, where a July earthquake has left people without adequate housing and food. The aid includes food kits, blankets, hygiene items, and thick plastics to reinforce tents and living areas.
In the U.S., PDA is helping to fund a drought mitigation project in Puerto Rico that will supply 500-gallon cisterns to 11 congregations that are part of the Presbytery of San Juan. The cisterns are designed to help with existing conditions, exacerbated by aging infrastructure and other factors, and also with future emergencies, such as hurricanes.
“Our congregations, which are mostly located in urban zones of the metropolitan area, have been affected by the drought period and the rationing of water service decreed by the Government of Puerto Rico,” the grant application notes. “This project will be led by the Mission Council of the Presbytery of San Juan. It will be in charge of identifying congregations and coordinating installation work.”
For various reasons, it’s impractical for many people to have cisterns at their homes, so equipping the churches is important, González-Castillo said.
“We already had provided during Hurricane Maria several grants to help develop some of those in different churches in Puerto Rico,” he said. This new project will “add additional churches, so they can become oases for the community to come and get water.”
Presbyterian Disaster Assistance is a ministry of Presbyterian Life & Witness, an agency of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). To learn more about PDA, go here.
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