USA Response and Recovery to Natural Disasters (#90167)Summary Description Through local United Methodist churches and trained disaster response workers, UMCOR provides immediate relief, assistance with cleanup and rebuilding, pastoral counseling, and support for children and youth who have been through trauma. The term ""natural disaster"" defines the scope of involvement in the United States for the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR). The term refers to floods, earthquakes, storms, tornadoes, cyclones, hurricanes, or other "acts of God," and under extraordinary circumstances could include an especially disastrous fire, explosion, transportation wreck, or other emergency in which persons are suddenly plunged into suffering and grief. Hundreds of natural disasters occur each year in the U.S. and leave in their wake destruction, suffering and despair. Some are of major proportions and require the utilization of tremendous resources provided by the United Methodist Church, as well as, by governmental and other agencies. UMCOR responds in five major ways: Relief (the immediate response of shipment and distribution of material good), Clean up (cleaning away debris and salvaging personal property), Rebuilding (rebuilding of homes and communities), Pastoral counseling (giving counsel to those suffering from loss of both human and material), and Children and youth affected by disaster program to help them overcome the trauma caused by disasters. |