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EMERGENCY AID IN NATURAL DISASTERS
SPAIN
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Humanitarian aid to the victims of a devastating storm which occurred in the island of Tenerife (Canary Islands) in March, 2002, producing significant material damage as well as the irreparable loss of human lives. World in Harmony´s contribution was utilized for the rehabilitation of the districts which had suffered the greatest damage, as well as for emergency aid.
AFGHANISTAN
In early November, 2001, World in Harmony also contributed to an emergency assistance mission, Humanitarian Aid to the Afghan Refugees, carried out by the SPANISH RED CROSS, financing the cost of 1,475 blankets and 3,384 plastic containers for water, which were air freighted to the Afghan refugees in Pakistan.
In 2003 a $10,000 grant was made to ASHRAM INTERNATIONAL to support their work in providing relief to victims of landmines in Afghanistan, in partnership with the Sandy Gall Afghanistan Appeal (SGAA). The project involves the physical task of rebuilding what is now called the Kabul Orthopaedics Centre (most of its windows were broken during the bombing to the north of Kabul in November, 2001, by coalition forces), followed by the training of physiotherapists and technicians to provide services and manufacture orthopaedic devices to the victims of landmines.
ARMENIA
In December 2008, shipment of 20,000 syringes to earthquake victims.
BANGLADESH
Donation to rebuild 500 houses of Grameen Foundation borrowers which were destroyed in the Cyclone Sidr in 2008.
BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA
In December 1992 and February 1993, we made a shipment of a total of 12,000 blankets, 7,200 litres of sunflower oil, 10 tons of baby cereals and high-protein biscuits, and 40,000 hypodermic syringes, for the victims of the terrible aggressions which occurred among the Balkan states during the 1990’s, resulting in the rupture of Yugoslavia into independent nations.
GREECE
Shipment of 4,000 blankets in February 1995 for Greek refugees who had emigrated from Russia and returned to their Greek homeland.
In collaboration with the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Athens: (a) 1,225 blankets, (b) 1,500 electric heaters, and (c) 1,000 two-burner stoves, with ovens, were donated to the victims of the Athens earthquake of September, 1999. Also, WIH provided subsidies to those earthquake victims having large families (with a minimum of two children), as well as to poor families living in East Trace The Archdiocese of Athens carried out the distribution of the subsidies.
Between 1987&1989 we collaborated in the rehabilitation and conservation of a student residence and an old people's home in the Diocese of Konitsa, which had suffered severe damages due to an earthquake, as well as a donation of didactic materials for the children attending a kindergarten run by the Diocese.
HONDURAS
Following the devastating consequences left in the wake of Hurricane Mitch, which occurred in 1999, an emergency aid program was undertaken in the region of Moskitia, in collaboration with the CODESPA FUNDATION (a Spanish NGO), consisting of the acquisition, transportation and distribution of food. In addition, construction materials were donated for the repair of infrastructures. The local population participated in the rehabilitation works in exchange for food.
INDIA
In January 1994, the proceeds of a concert sponsored by BMW IBÉRICA, S.A. were donated to the Prime Minister's Relief Fund for the victims of the earthquake which destroyed the Province of Maharashtra, in September, 1993.
On January 26, 2001, a terrible earthquake struck Gujarat State (measuring 7.9 on the Richter scale), resulting in 100,000 deaths, as well as producing extensive damage and the devastation of homes and industries. The small town of Bhuj was the epicenter. World in Harmony contributed $10,000 to the “Earthquake Relief Fund” of the Charutar Arogya Mandal Foundation, which manages the Shree Krishna Hospital & Medical Research Centre, located in that region.
In 2004, humanitarian assistance, in the amount of $10,000, was provided to the Chief Minister’s Public Relief Fund for the victims of a devastating fire suffered by the students of the Elementary School at Kumbakonam in the State of Tamil Nadu.
IRAQ
In collaboration with the SPANISH RED CROSS, World in Harmony participated in a program of emergency assistance to assist the victims of the Iraq war (March/April, 2003), by means of financing the cost of 3,000 blankets, within the 1st Phase of the Humanitarian Assistance Program carried out by the International Red Cross, to provide for the war victims and those displaced during the war.
IRAN
A donation of $15,000 was made to H.A.H. The Ecumenical Patriarch M.M. Vartholomaios for the relief effort carried out by the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate to assist the sufferers and victims of the devastating earthquake which occurred in the city of Bam (Kerman Province), on 26 December, 2003, causing the death of 41,000 persons and injuring 26,500.
JORDAN
Contribution of $159,500 to the "Gulf Emergency Program" carried out by the International Organization for Migration (I.O.M.) in Geneva, representing the cost of a charter flight for the repatriation of 275 Bangladesh refugees from Amman, Jordan, to Dhaka, Bangladesh, on 10 October, 1990.
A fund-raising exhibition of Jordanian arts and crafts was organized in Madrid in 1990 in solidarity with the Jordanian nation, which had suffered greatly during the Gulf crisis. In collaboration with the Noor Al-Hussein Foundation, the proceeds were destined for the disadvantaged populations living in rural areas, the sector of Jordanian society most severely affected by the embargo.
In the aftermath of the Persian Gulf war (Jan./Feb. 1991), two shipments of refugee aid were sent to the Noor Al-Hussein Foundation, consisting of 343 blankets, 37 bed spreads, a total of 40,000 hypodermic syringes, 3,000 tins of low-fat, powdered milk with vitamin additives, 6 tons of high-protein biscuits manufactured by "Nabisco Brands", and an anti-cancer drug, Plastistyl, (produced by the Cefamasa laboratories) for cancer patients in Jordanian hospitals, as well as other medicines.
KOSOVO
Appeal for an Emergency Humanitarian Aid Program – S.O.S. KOSOVO - for the Albanian-Kosovan refugees who had been forced to flee their villages in Kosovo due to the policy of genocide carried out by the Milosevic regime, and had sought asylum in the refugee camps of Kukes, Korçe, and Pogradets (located in northern Albania). WORLD IN HARMONY donated in May 1999 $30,000 to Archbishop Anastasios' extraordinary aid effort (Archbishop of the Autocephalous Greek Orthodox Church of Albania), for the purchase of food, warm clothing, and tents (with a 12-person capacity) for the refugees.
KURDISTAN
En 1995 40,000 disposable hypodermic syringes were sent to the France-Libertés Foundation in Paris, presided by Mrs. Danielle Mitterrand, for the Kurd refugees living in North Iraq.
250 kilos of medicines, donated to World in Harmony by Pharmacists OF THE World of Valencia (Spain), were air freighted to London for their posterior delivery to the Kurd refugee population in August 1995.
SOUTHEAST ASIA
Emergency assistance to the survivors of the devastating tidal wave (tsunami) which struck Southeast Asia on 26 December, 2004, inflicting massive devastation in the Gulf of Bengala. A Benefit Concert for Asia was celebrated in Madrid, on 26 January, 2005, for the purpose of raising funds in order to collaborate in the relief efforts. The majority of those whose lives have been destroyed belong to the most impoverished segment of the population living in the coastal areas of the Gulf of Bengala. The concert proceeds were destined to provide:
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microcredits to permit the tidal wave victims to rebuild their livelihoods, with the collaboration of the Grameen Foundation, founded by Prof. Muhammad Yunus, and creator of microcredits.
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rehabilitation projects to restore health facilities and attend to the injured and those who will suffer long-term disabilities, to be carried out by DOCTORS OF THE WORLD.
PARAGUAY
In the wake of summer floods in 1988, 441 envelopes of Meritene Chocolate, a cacao vitamin complex, were sent to the Abel Community, a local NGO dedicated to providing basic health care services for the poor in the city of Pilar.
A donation consisting of 25 kilos of medicines, 500 kilos of rice, and 30 kilos of clothing was air-freighted to Action and Development, an NGO located in Asunción, in March 1990.
TURKEY
In 1999, World in Harmony began its collaboration with the Contemporary Education Foundation (ÇEV), of Istanbul, Turkey, in the "Students' Housing Project" for Sakarya University students. Humanitarian aid was provided for the construction of student housing for the 18,000 students enrolled at the University of Sakarya in the city of Kirkpinar (region of Marmara), whose dormitories were totally destroyed as a result of the terrible earthquake which devastated Turkey in the fall of 1999. In 2001, a second donation was made for the same purpose. The new buildings will be earthquake-proof.
VIETNAM
In 1998 a donation of $10,000 was given to an emergency aid project carried out by the Ca Mau Province branch of the Vietnam Women's Union, for the creation of a revolving-fund to provide one-year, subsidized, non-interest-bearing loans, to offer the means of subsistence to poor women, victims of Typhoon Linda, living in the coastal regions of southern Vietnam.
YUGOSLAVIA
In 2000, 1,000 blankets were donated to the Clinic Center of Serbia, located in Belgrade.
In 2001, in collaboration with LIFELINE Humanitarian Organisation, a donation of 3,000 blankets was made to the National Health System of Yugoslavia.