Hope Outreach and Disaster Relief

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To donate by check, please make checks payable to
“Friends of Hope” and send to:

Friends of Hope
PO Box 451513
Ft. Lauderdale, FL 33345

Hurricanes, floods and other extreme weather events such as wildfires, drought and extreme heat are becoming a fact of life and the destruction from these catastrophic events goes beyond individual homes and health centers; they may completely destroy neighborhoods and entire communities in a few hours or even minutes or they inflict other deadly consequences.

Earthquakes and other catastrophic events can strike suddenly on a massive scale over a wide area with a death toll in the tens of thousands. While the tsunami threat after an earthquake (Indonesia 2018 Japan 2011, Southeast Asia 2004) does allow a brief time to post a warning, often it is too little to save lives. In the case of earthquakes and volcanoes, the series of aftershocks or continued volcanic activity poses an ongoing threat in the midst of the chaos after the initial event.

Although we can identify earthquake/volcano risk regions, such as the “Ring of Fire” in the South Pacific or the San Andreas fault in Southern California, we have little warning when a sudden event devastates a country or entire region. Health facilities must be built to survive the impact of a sudden or slow-moving disaster and continue to serve their communities. Health workers need the training and resources required to treat the health issues and injuries that result from such brutal events.

Sometimes the event starts a cascade of catastrophe as in the Japan Earthquake of 2011 that added a monstrous tsunami and then a nuclear disaster with reactor damage and radioactive contamination of air, soil and water. Volcanic eruptions can bury entire communities or inundate whole areas with lava flows and fill the air with deadly toxic gases or ash. The readiness challenges for effective disaster response and recovery after a catastrophic event are formidable. Recently, we responded to the eruption of the Taal Volcano in Talisay, Philippines.

YOUR GIFT MATTERS

Friends of Hope responds to an average of more than 20,000 disasters every year. You help us respond whenever and wherever we are needed.

YOU CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE

Your gift supports safe shelter, hot meals, care and comfort for people who have lost everything to a disaster. Please donate today.

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