Native Americans assist with wildfire recovery Feb. 5, 2004 A UMNS Report By David Wilson* After
assisting with wildfire recovery on two reservations in Southern
California last December, United Methodist disaster response workers
from the Oklahoma Indian Missionary Conference have returned to continue
case management with tribal members on a reservation near San Diego. Several
Native American reservations were affected by the widespread wildfires
that hit California in October, and case management is still needed,
according to Federal Emergency Management Agency officials. The Oklahoma
Indian Missionary Conference's Disaster Response Team worked with the
San Pasqual Reservation and the neighboring Rincon San Luiseno
Reservation in San Diego County. Helbent
Frazier, Native American liaison for FEMA, asked the team members to
return to assist at San Pasqual. Disaster Response Coordinator Phillis
McCarty, from the Kiowa tribe, and team member Faye Baker, who is Creek,
left Jan. 26 for the San Pasqual Reservation and planned to be there
for at least two weeks. More
than 70 percent of the San Pasqual Reservation was burned in the
October fires, and more than 60 homes were destroyed or damaged,
according to McCarty. The
fires affected many of the 510 tribal members. "We did get several
things completely accomplished while we were there the first time, but
we didn't get to do the case management one-on-one because everyone was
so busy working to get temporary housing and other things for the
affected people," McCarty said. In
a telephone interview on their fourth day on the San Pasqual
Reservation, McCarty said she and Baker were assessing the needs of
affected tribal members and meeting with other members, including some
from the neighboring La Jolla Reservation. McCarty
said they have been visiting six to seven tribal members each day. In
addition to assessing needs, the pair provides basic counseling. "The stories that we are hearing are really amazing," she said. McCarty
expressed thanks for the San Pasqual tribe providing time for a tribal
committee member, Catalina Campos, to contact those who need assistance
and act as a liaison between the tribe and the Oklahoma team. The tribe
also is providing housing and some meals for the two Oklahoma workers. The
Oklahoma team that visited in December received the same hospitality.
The Rev. Anita Phillips, who was part of that group, said some of the
neighboring tribes that have hotels have been housing other tribal
members who lost their homes in the fires. "Some
of the tribes have been very generous to those that lost everything,"
she said. "It is another remarkable way to show how native people are
helping other natives." The
Federal Emergency Management Agency originally contacted the Rev. Tom
Hazelwood, domestic disaster coordinator for the United Methodist
Committee on Relief, to see if the Oklahoma conference could send a
disaster response team to California. FEMA worked with the conference
after tornadoes hit Oklahoma in 1999 and again when fires affected the
White Mountain Apache tribe last summer. The
United Methodist Committee on Relief is providing additional financial
assistance for the Oklahoma Indian Mission Conference team members. *Wilson is superintendent of the Oklahoma Indian Missionary Conference.
News media contact: Linda Bloom · (212) 870-3803 · New York
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