YOU CAN HELP.

Over 13000 Angolans are being cared for at 43 feeding centers. 100% of your tax-deductible donation to UTR will be used to feed the hungry at these centers.

Checks made out to "United Trauma Relief" can be sent to United Trauma Relief c/o Stephanie Wang, MIT, 320 Memorial Drive #338, Cambridge MA 02139. To find out more, e-mail utr@mit.edu.

Past UTR disaster relief initiatives:

LANDMINE CLEARANCE IN AFGHANISTAN

In October 2001, UTR was approached by the Nobel Peace-prize-winning group Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) with the request of participating in a joint initiative to raise awareness about landmines through a Boston-area campaign and to assist in coordinating groups at other schools to raise funds to clear minefields. UTR and PHR coordinated with the Adopt-A-Minefield program so that these funds go toward the de-mining of fields in Afghanistan.

The fundraised donations went towards clearing parts of the following minefields in Afghanistan, which are located in heavily-populated civilian areas or in agricultural areas needed to aid in recovery from recent drought and food shortages:

EARTHQUAKE IN EL SALVADOR

January 12, 2001. An earthquake struck 55kms south of Playa Blanca, 100kms from San Salvador. It caused immediate and extensive damage throughout the country.

UTR immediately funded teams already present in the country, focusing on the provision of water and sanitation supplies for the homeless, as well as bringing direct medical relief to affected villages. UTR assisted medical staff in assisting local hospitals and setup mental health services for victims.

La Libertad, San Vicente, and La Paz were the hardest hit areas. Six hospitals had been destroyed near these cities. Our funds helped provide immediate disaster services and medical treatment nearby, along with continuing mental health support in the area, primarily through Medicins San Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders) and the International Red Cross Disaster Response Team.

EARTHQUAKE IN INDIA

January 26th, 2001. An earthquake measuring 7.9 on the Richter scale struck the state of Gujarat; its epicentre was located near the town of Bhuj in the Kutch region of Gujarat, claiming between 30,000 and 100,000 lives.

UTR assisted the Agency for India's Development (AID, http://www.aidindia.org), which combined disaster relief services with long-term rebuilding and grassroots development stategies. Support went chiefly to the Self-Employed Women's Association (SEWA), the Janpath Citizen's Initiative, and other groups that supplied relief material, food, medical supplies, and temporary housing. The post-earthquake operation included at least 64 aid flights within one month, distributing plastic sheeting, blankets and 15,000 family tents through Medicins San Frontieres. Local people were also trained in group psychotherapy practices to assist victims of trauma.

HUNGER IN SUDAN

May 2001. Ongoing civil war and severe poverty in Sudan has hindered proper food distribution throughout the region. Three million Sudanese are currently threatened by starvation; approximately 600,000 are facing severe drought and another 2.4 million need immediate assistance as a result of the civil war. UTR’s primary concern in the region is the World Food Program’s ability to maintain food stocks, which will run out at the beginning of Sudan's dry season and result in mass migration as well as widespread malnutrition and starvation.

Late in the semester, UTR initiated a funding drive for the World Food Program (WFP), which continues to be the front-line agency in the fight against hunger in Sudan. The WFP program has a four-tiered initiative to:

1. Improve water access in semi-arid regions

2. Assist to primary school children by providing food rations

3. Provide large scale food rationing in drought stricken areas.

4. Transport food by air. The operation uses three main air bases, located in Lokichoggio (northern Kenya), El Obeid (central Sudan), and Khartoum. In Sudan, WFP airdrops and airlifts food aid using a fleet of six aircraft, including two C-130 Hercules, one Ilyushin-76, two Buffalo and one Antonov-12 aircraft. At the height of the 1998 crisis, WFP was operating the largest humanitarian airdrop operations in history, using over 30 aircraft daily.

To deal with the multi-faceted nature of Sudan’s hunger crisis, UTR fundraised during the last week of the semester, contributing to:

-Emergency relief: recovery from drought, war, and floods

-Rehabilitation programs: designed to rejuvenate Sudan’s communities back after a crisis.

-Long-term development projects: free aid gives people, especially women and children, the chance to devote their time and energy to development opportunities such as primary school education.