PWRDF: Update on Earthquake Response
The need for donations to aid in relief and rebuilding after earthquakes in Syria and Türkiye will remain urgent for several months, says Janice Biehn, communications and marketing coordinator for the Primate’s World Relief and Development Fund (PWRDF). If parishes and congregations are running donation drives and continue to do so through Lent, the agencies PWRDF supports will still be ready to put it to immediate use, she says.
Unlike the war in Ukraine, she said, the earthquake was one-time event. But that doesn’t mean its effects end quickly.
“That time frame can be protracted … I can’t think of any kind of disaster where after a week the needs are all sewn up and there’s nobody who’s still living without a house. There’s always needs later.”
So far Biehn says PWRDF has received $45,000 in donations earmarked for earthquake relief, much of which has come from individual donors as parishes and dioceses who are planning to contribute will likely take longer to pool their funds. Of that money, PWRDF has allocated $35,000 to ACT Alliance, an international ecumenical charity which is coordinating a response through its member churches in the region. PWRDF has sent another $5,000 to the diocese of Jerusalem, which is responding to related damage in Jordan.