Appeal for Colombians

Press, 2 December 1985, Page 18

Appeal for Colombians

New Zealanders wanting to help survivors of the Colombian volcanic eruption this month that killed an estimated 25,000 people can make donations through the Save the Children Fund.

The North Canterbury branch of the Save the Children Fund will send $2OOO to the $178,500 emergency relief and rehabilitation programme that the International Save the Children Fund Alliance has begun in Colombia. Some of Colombia’s most fertile regions were ruined and towns destroyed after the eruption of Mount Nevado del Ruiz. The mountain is 160 km west of the capital, Bogota. New Zealanders’ contribution to the Colombian volcano appeal would be for food and materials for building shelters for the homeless, said the president of the Save the Children

Fund, Mrs Betty Pearson.

“We feel we must help in any way we can,” she said. “We hope that with Christmas coming, people might think of those Colombian victims.”

The emergency money would also be spent on medical supplies for an immunisation programme to combat tetanus and typhoid, she said. The United States has had an S.C.F. team working in Colombia for 20 years, and its staff of 40 had been diverted to the volcano disaster area.

The team has set up 25 tents for people and supplies in the town of Guayabal near Amero.

Donations may be sent to the nearest Save the Children branch,, or to Colombian Volcano Appeal, Save the Children Fund, P.O. Box 9235, Christchurch 2.