Who are we?
Lutheran Disaster Response is a ministry of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, a mainline Protestant denomination. Our Western Region includes the people, ministries and Lutheran institutions of Alaska, Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, California, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico, a little piece of Texas and Hawaii. This video from Red Cross/Red Crescent is a wonderful introduction to the principles of Community Resilience to which Lutheran Disaster Response is also committed. Welcome!
Relief today. Resilience tomorrow.
Thank you for visiting. We would love to meet you! Please consider signing up for our newsletter or filling out of introductory form.
Wildfire Season 2022
Extreme drought continues in the West. Wildfires are more frequent and intense, and their devastation is wide ranging. This April 2022 video clip from Arizona exemplifies what will most likely be experienced throughout Western Region of the U.S. Visit our Wildfire tab above for updates.
Floods, drought, extreme heat, wind events, and earthquakes are also natural hazards that visit the homes and livelihoods of those who live in the West. A changing climate fuels many of these disaster scenarios and response alone is no longer sufficient to our communities’ needs. The root causes of disasters must be addressed as well as their impacts.
COVID-19 Guidelines
Many people of faith in the U.S. celebrated Easter, Passover or Ramadan face to face in 2022 for the first time since 2019. Currently all states in the western U.S. are in some phase of ‘re-opening.’
Businesses, churches and hubs of other social gatherings are gradually being given permission to open, or open partially observing sensible restrictions.
For updates on the coronavirus in the West and to check recommendations for your country see https://www.cdc.gov/. You will also find links to each of the eleven LDR Western Region Synod COVID resource pages under the COVID-19 tab above.
Systemic Social Disaster
Social disaster scenarios are ongoing in the United States specifically, and around the world generally. We now know that the work of Disaster Response requires resilient communities, and resilient communities are only possible where Racism and Inequity are addressed..
This brilliant interview with Andrea Henry, “Understanding How White Supremacy Shows up in Systems, Policies, and Practices” offers great insight into how racism in the U.S. today complicates and amplifies the realities of addressing the coronavirus epidemic in this country. Similar cases could be made for the intersectionality of race and other disasters as well.
Enjoy our Newsletter & Recent Blog Posts
Water is central to human survival, yet too much water also causes disasters. This past December and January Clallam, Skagit and Whatcom counties in Washington State got so much water that many towns, tribal communities, and homes were flooded. The National Weather Service created a new phrase to describe the phenomenon of huge amounts of rain without high winds: atmospheric river.
Welcome to the inaugural issue of Upsurge – a new disaster preparedness and resiliency newsletter for the LDR Western Region.
I am excited to share that Lutheran Disaster Response (LDR) has contracted with Sarah Kruger to serve as our new Resiliency Representative for the LDR Western Region. – John Pyron, Program Director, Lutheran Disaster Response
In the midst of Oregon’s 2020 Labor Day wildfires, hundreds of survivors were sheltered by FEMA, bout 80 people are still in temporary shelters today.