Donations, volunteers succor flooding victims
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Bolstered by an army of missionaries and volunteers, the Church poured tens of thousands of pounds of relief supplies into Santiago, Chile, beset by the worst flooding in 100 years. The relief supplies arrived within a week after the president of the country requested the aid.
Garry R. Flake, director of Church Humanitarian Service, said a DC-10 aircraft was contracted to carry the equivalent of five 48-foot semi-truckloads of goods consisting of blankets hygiene kits and clothing. The supplies, already waiting at Church headquarters for such emergencies, were dispatched within two hours after Church leaders gave approval for the aid on June 12.
They were then trucked to Miami, Fla., loaded into the waiting airplane and taken to Santiago on June 13 where missionaries of the Chile Santiago Mission had the materials unloaded within an hour.
Craig P. Knight, senior analyst for Humanitarian Service, said in an interview in Salt Lake City on June 17 that the materials consisted of 13,200 blankets, or 47,520 pounds; 10,780 hygiene kits, or 20,131 pounds; and 20,131 pounds of clothing. In addition, he said, a follow-up shipment of two 40-foot containers filled with 74,500 pounds of clothing was bound for Santiago by ocean-going freighter.
In addition, about 50,000 kilos of food were purchased with Church humanitarian funds for general distribution in Chile, as well as an additional amount to meet the specific needs of 350 Church member families in 27 stakes.
Ron Dyer, manager of field operations for Humanitarian Service, traveled to Santiago to coordinate the shipment. He said among those meeting the airplane in Santiago were Elder Steven B. Oveson of the Seventy, president of the Chile Area of the Church, and Cecilia Perez, Chile's minister of planning and coordination.
Missionaries from the Chile Santiago Mission formed human chains to unload the goods. Working from assessments done under the direction of mayors in the various municipalities, Church volunteers packaged the goods and marked them for delivery to individual households.
Eduardo Jimenez A., Chile area welfare agent, said: "In the great work that was accomplished, we are very happy for the important contributions the Church has made to our country. The government officials have participated, and also the mayors and other volunteers have been impressed by the amount of supplies donated by the Church, the amount of work by our missionaries and the speed with which this important help has been received by the beneficiaries."
Brother Dyer said the distribution was facilitated by a presidential decree that avoided the need for the supplies to go through customs procedures. Some of the nation's air force personnel were on hand to load the goods onto trucks for delivery to the municipalities.
