A different kind of storm is blowing through East Texas this week, according to an international Christian relief organisation that has been involved in U.S. disaster response for nearly two decades.

|PIC1|A storm of activity is underway as crews and equipment from based in Boone, N.C.-based Samaritan’s Purse is working in East Texas to help repair houses damaged by Hurricane Rita, the second major hurricane to hit the Gulf Coast in less than four weeks.

According to Samaritan’s Purse, a Disaster Relief Unit tractor-trailer arrived Monday to equip teams working in the vicinity of Port Arthur and Beaumont, where Hurricane Rita came ashore on Saturday, Sept. 24. Three similar units are deployed in Mississippi. Crews have already completed emergency repairs on more than 1,000 houses damaged by Hurricane Katrina.

“More than a million households have been displaced by these hurricanes,” said Samaritan’s Purse President and CEO Franklin Graham, who was in Texas on Thursday to inspect Rita’s damage and the recovery work.

In a report released Friday by Samaritan’s Purse, Graham stated that churches across America “have responded wonderfully by caring for people whose homes were destroyed.”

“At the same time,” he added, “we want to help those families whose houses can be repaired get back home as soon as possible.”

Currently, the Samaritan’s Purse Disaster Relief Units are working primarily in communities where poor, elderly, and uninsured families do not have the means to repair storm damage. Teams of volunteers weatherproof roofs to prevent further rain damage and use chainsaws and tractors to remove fallen trees and debris. Each trailer also has generators and other equipment to meet a variety of emergency needs.

|QUOTE|In addition to the repair projects, Samaritan’s Purse is providing mobile homes for 100 families displaced from New Orleans and elsewhere who are resettling in Shreveport, La.

Samaritan’s Purse also has a medical team in Shreveport serving thousands who have been living in emergency shelters. Preparations have been made to set up a medical clinic and a Disaster Relief Unit in the New Orleans area as residents return to the evacuated city.

Over the last five years, Samaritan’s Purse Disaster Relief Units have worked in 16 states and helped to repair over 4,500 houses. The international Christian relief organisation works in more than 100 countries around the world, providing no-red-tape assistance to victims of disasters, wars, poverty, disease, and famine.

To support the disaster relief work of Samaritan’s Purse, please go online to www.samaritanspurse.org.






Joe Alvarez
Christian Today Correspondent