PWRDF announces aid for Ethiopia, Ecuador

The Primate’s World Relief and Development Fund (PWRDF) has announced two aid packages to help people stricken by drought in Ethiopia and earthquake victims in Ecuador.

On April 28, PWRDF announced $40,000 in aid to support farmers and pastoralists-herders of cattle and other livestock-suffering from what the UN says is the worst drought to have hit Ethiopia in three decades. The money will support more than 8,500 people in the country’s Afar region, providing them with 15 kg of corn, feed for cattle and other livestock, seeds, tools and animals, and helping them improve the water supply.

PWRDF, the relief and development agency of the Anglican Church of Canada, is considering more funding for Ethiopian drought relief in addition to this initial grant, spokesperson Simon Chambers said.

El Niño, a weather pattern that brings warmer temperatures, has been one reason for the drought, PWRDF said. According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, more than 10 million people in Ethiopia are now threatened by famine.

The grant is being made through the ACT Alliance, a network of 140 faith groups in more than 100 countries that does international aid, development and advocacy work.

PWRDF announced another initial grant of $15,000 to support relief efforts in Ecuador three days after a 7.8-magnitude earthquake hit the country April 16. This grant-also being made through the ACT Alliance-was to go toward providing food, water, shelter, medical supplies, counselling and household items in the days immediately following the quake, PWRDF said.

More than 650 people are reported to have died from the earthquake, with tens of thousands left homeless. It was the most powerful earthquake to have hit the region in 36 years, PWRDF said, with its epicentre just 170 km north of Quito, capital of Ecuador.