Executive Director and CEO of the Christian humanitarian agency Church World Service, Rev John L. McCullough, will travel to areas around New Orleans devastated by Hurricane Katrina to assess the scale of the emergency and to formulate long-term recovery plans.

The CWS will also meet with other faith leaders as a part of its visit to the New Orleans districts affected by the hurricane, what the CWS fears to be the largest U.S. relief and recovery effort in its history.

“Church World Service is particularly concerned about the plight of what we anticipate to be a high percentage of poor people, the elderly and other vulnerable populations throughout the affected Gulf Coast area and beyond,” said Rev McCullough. “Stories of individuals who had to stay in New Orleans because they couldn’t afford to evacuate personify that crisis.”

Rev McCullough also expressed the hope to “offer immediate support, solidarity and hope” to faith leaders working in the area. The CWS has already issued a national fundraising appeal on Monday for survivors of Katrina and an initial shipment of emergency supplies is due to reach Baton Rouge on Wednesday.

CWS disaster response specialists are due to speak with officials from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), as well as other members of the faith community and the state Voluntary Organisations Active in Disaster (VOADs) to assess relief requirements and the focus areas for CWS work.

CWS Associate Director for Domestic Emergency Response Linda Reed Brown said: “We anticipate deploying at least 11 of our disaster recovery liaisons just in Mississippi and Louisiana, where greatest need is seen.”

Ms Brown said that the CWS would start work in Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi first, beginning next week. The CWS will carry out extensive assessments of these areas before establishing local, long-term support systems, she said.

“With such catastrophic damage,” said Rev McCullough, “it will be a while before we know the full extent of lives lost and material destruction, but we can be sure that recovery will take a very, very long time.

“There is no question that the area’s faith leaders will shoulder a massive amount of responsibility in caring for those populations and helping them find resources at a time when the church leaders themselves may have suffered great personal losses,” he said.

Ms Brown also said there was a chance that CWS specialists may also be deployed to Tennessee and Kentucky where the CWS will also monitor the impact of Hurricane Katrina.