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Belize Church Association

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Friends in the United Kingdom of the Anglican Diocese of Belize Registered Charity no 1094023

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Hurricane Richard

From Bishop Philip, November 2nd 2010
to all our friends and supporters

Greetings in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

I am providing a revised report for your information regarding the Diocese’s response in the wake of the recent Hurricane Richard.

The major damages were as a result of the high winds and rising water that affected communities along the coast and in the direct path of the storm. Several homes lost their roofs, and fallen trees did extensive damage to other homes and structures as well. There is quite a bit of damage as a result of the coastline flooding, as well.

We have so far been able to locate US$15,000.00 from our accounts to use as our contribution to the relief effort. Of this, US$10,000.00 will be channelled through NEMO to assist families especially in the Gales Point Village Community where several families have lost the roofs off their houses, as well as other damages to their homes. Gales Point is a very impoverished area and the Anglican Church has been one of most consistent churches to offer services to this community over many decades.

The other US$5,000.00 will be used to assist families in Belize City and the Stann Creek Valley communities of Pomona and Hope Creek, along with Dangriga, the main town in the area. A number of families in these areas have also seen their roofs damaged in the storm – some their entire homes destroyed. Also, one of our schools in the area, Christ the King Primary (Elementary), had some damages to the roof of one of the buildings, and water damage to at least three classrooms.

A further US$10,000.00 will hopefully be located to enable us to continue to offer assistance to families with food, clothing, drinking water and other basic necessities on an ongoing basis over the next few months.

Repairs to the Bishop’s residence have been completed. These included a rear stairway and a portion of the fence that were damaged. The cost of these repairs was approximately US$1,000.00.

Repairs are ongoing to the Archdeaconry, now used as a guest house to host visitors to the Diocese. Due to a fallen tree, water and pipes and some electrical fittings were damaged. The lower flat of the building, currently occupied by Deacon Rosado, and which suffered water damage from the coastal flooding, is being worked on at the moment. Appliances such as a washing machine, dryer, stove, and refrigerator, suffered damage and are now being repaired. We are yet to receive the estimated costs of these works.

The Cathedral is well on its way to normalcy. The members got together during the course of last week and worked tirelessly to ensure that the building was ready for divine worship on Sunday morning. The offices of the Cathedral, which suffered water damaged fared better than first anticipated. The computer, printer and records were preserved. However, the faithful at the Cathedral are now seeking to reach out to the neighbouring communities which were among the hardest hit in Belize City. They have a weekly soup-kitchen and food distribution on Tuesdays, and we expect this will see several additional recipients over the next few months. This will certainly pull heavily on their limited resources and the Diocesan office will render some assistance.

Slowly we are hearing from other communities in the path of the storm and the issue is predominantly one of assisting families with the basic essentials of food, clothing and drinking water, as stated above.

The funds identified so far have been taken from our regular operating account along with a couple of other funds kept in reserve for emergencies of this nature. We hope to keep these accounts operational and in a position to adequately meet the next opportunities for outreach to our people. It is also in this vein that we make our appeal for assistance.

We are as a Diocese grateful to God for his goodness shown to us through the generosity of some many of our friends. We thank you for your prayers and support. God’s richest blessings be yours.

+Philip Belize
November 2nd 2010

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Hurricane Richard Appeal