Disaster Relief

The director of apostolates for a Jamaica-based religious community serving the poor in Kingston said Oct. 28 that the Category-5 Hurricane Melissa seems to be sparing Kingston the worst of its wrath.

Catholic dioceses in Alaska are calling for prayer and support, after flooding from a recent typhoon devastated several coastal communities.

New Orleans’ battered, 300-year-old history has been marked by fire, pestilence and storm, but Katrina was unprecedented in scope and pain: 1,400 people died; 200,000 homes in Orleans Parish — 80 percent of the city — flooded; and hundreds thousands fled or were transported to safe havens across the country, many never to return.