SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic.- After days of unrelenting rain from Tropical storm Noel, the devastation left behind included 73 deaths, 43 other missing, thousands of houses destroyed, and more than 62,000 people driven out of their small homes. The president of the country, Leonel Fernandez, who declared a state of emergency on Wednesday night, asked multinational financial institutions to lend his country $200 million to rebuild torn roads, collapsed bridges and a ravaged electrical network.

The Batey Relief Alliance (BRA Dominicana) is preparing a disaster relief intervention in rural areas and bateyes where it serves the extreme poor in the region of Monte Plata. Emergency funds are needed urgently to deliver medical aid and supplies to victims. The BRA is partnering with international aid as well as local groups like Direct Relief International, Food for the Poor, USAID, ADMI, DR-Red Cross to serve those in need.

Please rush in your tax-deductible checks payable to Batey Relief Alliance, P.O. Box 300565, Brooklyn, N.Y. 11230. For more information on how to help, contact Ulrick Gaillard in New York at (917) 627-5026 or bra@bateyrelief.org or Maria Virtudes Berroa in Santo Domingo at (809) 540-4947. Visit BRA at www.bateyrelief.org.