January 8, 2004

Valley Forge, Pa. - The American Baptist World Relief Office has released One Great Hour of Sharing emergency funds to two major ecumenical relief organizations that are helping meet wide-ranging needs in Iran following the Dec. 26 earthquake there.

OGHS grants of $15,000 to Church World Service and $5,000 to Baptist World Aid have been sent to fund efforts providing emergency shelter, medical supplies, food, blankets and other critically needed commodities.

As many as 40,000 or more people may have died in the quake, which registered 6.6 on the Richter Scale. The Iranian city of Bam was leveled in the catastrophe, and thousands still are believed to be buried under rubble there.

Sandor Szenczy, president of Hungarian Baptist Aid, reported last week on site in Bam that more than three-quarters of the city's buildings had collapsed. "Everywhere we looked injured and wounded people tried to get treatment...patients with the most serious injuries were being flown to other cities," he said. Malik Khodaverdian, emergency liaison in Iran for the Middle East Council of Churches, has said that the relief and rehabilitation work will be ongoing-"at least a five-to-seven-year commitment."

American Baptist News Service