Disaster Response Archives

Jackson water crisis brings frustration

Posted September 13th, 2022

If you live in an area with safe, clean drinking water, it’s easy to forget how integral that water is to daily life — until you hear about a place like Jackson, Mississippi, where residents are in the grips of an intractable water crisis that has captured international attention and left them under a boil water advisory for weeks.

PC(USA) offering support after massive fire in Cuba

Posted August 16th, 2022

Ministries of the Presbyterian Mission Agency continue to keep a close watch on Cuba after lightning triggered a massive fire at an oil storage facility in Matanzas, Cuba, earlier this month.

Flooding in Eastern Kentucky: ‘What I have seen has broken my heart’

Posted August 9th, 2022

Presbyterian Disaster Assistance National Response Team (NRT) members visited areas of Eastern Kentucky impacted by devastating late July floods late last week and early this week to offer support and help plan long-term recovery efforts.

‘A mixed bag of destruction’

Posted August 5th, 2022

Days and weeks after summer flooding ravaged various presbyteries this summer, the extent of the damage continues to be assessed. But the known effects have been significant, from displacing school children and pastors to damaging church basements and parishioners’ homes.

PDA responds to destructive flooding in multiple areas

Posted August 2nd, 2022

The devastating flooding in eastern Kentucky that took the lives of at least 37 people is part of a series of flooding events that Presbyterian Disaster Assistance is offering support and prayers for.

‘Heartened and hopeful’ to be part of the conversation in Uvalde, Texas

Posted July 28th, 2022

The Rev. Katherine Culpepper, who goes by “Cully,” and the Rev. John Cheek, both members of the National Response Team for Presbyterian Disaster Assistance, continued to minister to the Uvalde, Texas community this week, capped by a lunch-n-learn event Monday at First Presbyterian Church.

Presbyterians and others urged to support asylum seekers

Posted July 20th, 2022

Presbyterian Disaster Assistance took part in an online teach-in Monday as part of an effort to get the United States to end policies that make it difficult for asylum seekers at the country’s southern border to find safe haven.

Synod of the Sun announces new director of Synod Partnership for Disaster Recovery

Posted June 22nd, 2022

The Synod of the Sun announces that the Rev. Kathy Lee-Cornell will become the director of the Synod Partnership for Disaster Recovery.

World Refugee Day comes as crisis is now worse than ever

Posted June 16th, 2022

In the past few months, Presbyterian Disaster Assistance (PDA) Director the Rev. Dr. Laurie Kraus has seen the gravity of the global refugee crisis.

A tiny island nation faces enormous challenges

Posted June 8th, 2022

Sri Lanka is a tiny island country in South Asia with big challenges. It sits in one of the most poverty-stricken regions in the world where millions deal with hunger issues daily. Sri Lanka itself is a diverse country with many ethnic groups and religions, a failing government system, and staggering debt to the tune of more than $50 billion measured in U.S. dollars — a debt that has little chance of being paid back due in large part to the current government’s instability.