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Emergency Response Overseas CWS has worked in disaster response and rehabilitation overseas since its inception in 1946. Worldwide, the CWS Emergency Response Program responds to disasters as a member of (1) Action by Churches Together (ACT) International -- the emergency response consortium of churches and church-related agencies coordinated by Lutheran World Federation (LWF) and the World Council of Churches (WCC) and (2) through key partners of its Africa, East Asia, Europe, Latin America & Caribbean, Middle East, and Southern Asia Offices and its member denominations. In general, CWS responds to disasters where (1) it has existing partners, related staff, or member denominations in an area (2) the affected disaster area has limted resources and (3) response activities give priority to vulnerable groups -- inlcuding children, mothers, older persons, diasabled persons. The CWS Emergency Response Office: - Functions as communication center for receiving and analyzing information on disasters and managing a response - Provides technical resources and training for building capacity of its partners to respond to disasters - Represents interests, resources, and opinions of its member denominations in development of disaster response activities through ACT and its partners |
