Brazil: New Grant Aids in Relief Efforts for Mudslide Victims
SILVER SPRING, Md. – The Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) has been awarded a $135,000 grant by the Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA) to continue assisting persons affected by the recent devastating mudslides in Brazil. The grant will further ADRA’s current work of delivering aid to survivors in some of the worst hit areas.
The recently awarded grant from the OFDA will be used over a period of three months and will provide 15,000 individuals (650 households) with urgently needed non-emergency food items (NFIs) such as hygiene kits and cooking utensils. The distribution will target displaced persons within Rio de Janeiro, one of the country’s worst affected areas.
In addition to the recent OFDA grant, the ADRA network is implementing a project valued over $100,000 to provide hygiene kits, blankets and bed sheets to 900 families in the Rio de Janeiro and Ninas Gerias states. The hygiene kits will be able to meet the hygienic needs of a family of five for up to one month and are composed of toothbrushes, bathing soap, infant soap, toothpaste, deodorant, shampoo, combs, sanitary pads, and washing soap.
The heavy rains that fell over the southeastern parts of Brazil inflicted widespread flooding and mudslides, leveling homes, sweeping away cars, and causing extensive road damage. To date, the mudslides have left hundreds dead and thousands more displaced.