03/20/2015

ELCA provides long-term recovery in Serbia and Bosnia

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) continues to provide humanitarian support for people affected by the May 2014 cyclone that hit Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Lutheran Disaster Response has disbursed more than $400,000 to Ecumenical Humanitarian Organization and Church World Service to assist in the relief and recovery efforts. More than 3 million people were impacted by the cyclone and the flooding and landslides that followed.

In the aftermath of the disaster, Lutheran Disaster Response worked with Ecumenical Humanitarian Organization to provide immediate relief including food, personal health and hygiene supplies, disinfection equipment and tools. Founded at the initiative of the World Council of Churches, Ecumenical Humanitarian Organization is a non-profit, non-governmental organization focused on civil society development, diaconal social services and ecumenical and inter-ethnic cooperation.

Almost a year later, Lutheran Disaster Response continues to work with Ecumenical Humanitarian Organization and Church World Service to assist in the long-term recovery in Serbia and Bosnia. Serbia was hit hardest by the cyclone, with 200 collapsed homes and more than 18,000 damaged homes. Approximately 32,000 people had to evacuate.

The impoverished Roma settlement in Misar, near the city of Sabac, in western Serbia suffered some of the worst damage. According to an ACT Alliance report, settlement housing was “inadequate,” because it was made from “improvised materials such as plastic, sticks, mud, old wood, scrap metal, or cardboard, with no adequate communal infrastructure.” Much of the recovery work in Serbia is focused on home rehabilitation and assistance to revive and increase livelihood opportunities for the Roma population.

“Lutheran Disaster Response is the most effective when our disaster response looks beyond (the) immediate response,” said Vitaly Vorona, ELCA program director for Lutheran Disaster Response International. “Broadly speaking, there are two ways to finance disaster response. Initially it’s through supporting a quick and immediate emergency response. (The next step is to) transition from an emergency response to a new level of funding assistance, focusing on longer-term programs. Our response in Serbia and Bosnia is a very good example why it is so important to take into account the bigger picture,” he said.

Jovana Savic, program manager for Church World Service, said relief efforts in Serbia and Bosnia carried out by Church World Service and the ELCA “reached out to those most vulnerable and offered thoughtful, timely assistance based on the needs voiced by the very people we supported. We assisted those unable to work (by) providing external, qualified labor or reconstruction materials and assistance. We assisted those who were struggling to get food and firewood with providing food security and warmth in their households. We lobbied for those underserved and facing great challenges, connecting them to service-providers.”

Information about Lutheran Disaster Response is available at www.ELCA.org/Our-Work/Relief-and-Development/Lutheran-Disaster-Response.