Disaster Response

When Disaster Strikes... Habitat Strikes Back
In the blink of an eye, a disaster can change lives and communities irrevocably. As a builder of decent, safe and affordable housing, Habitat for Humanity recognizes the need to provide long-term solutions for the housing needs of people who have been displaced from already inadequate shelter by disasters.

To that end, HFHI recently established the Disaster Response Office to aid in two stages of response activities: 1) pre-disaster risk reduction and 2) response (recovery and rehabilitation). While Habitat is not a relief organization, it does seek to provide to disaster victims a recovery option without compromising its principles of family selection and self-help.

The DR office is currently involved in recovery programs to build more than 4,500 houses throughout Central America and Dominican Republic in the aftermath of hurricanes Georges and Mitch, and to build post-tornado houses in Birmingham, Ala., Oklahoma City, Okla., Vienna, Ga., and Wichita, Kan.

For more information, call Sara Coppler at (229) 924-6935, ext. 2797, or e-mail to disaster_response@habitat.org.

-The Editors


Reprinted from Habitat World Magazine, December/January 2000.
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©1999 Habitat for Humanity International