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ELF Records announces the release of Protection, a Planet Electrica project featuring, U2, Massive Attack, Fatboy Slim, Underworld, Chemical Brothers, Roni Size, Bentley Rhythm Ace, Beth Orton, LTJ Bukem, 808 State, Dreadzone and many other great artists.
Earth Love Fund, the Oxford based rainforest conservation organisation is working in alliance with other organisations to help provide food, clean drinking water, shelter and medicines as well as longer term support to help the hurricane victims to rebuild their livelihoods and restore their environment.
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PLANET Electrica PROTECTION was born when Earth Love Fund received a distressing letter from Honduras, just after Hurricane Mitch had left tens of thousands of people homeless and destroyed over half the country's infrastructure: "Right now, from our office in Tegucigalpa we have had recent information of what is occurring on the Coasts of the Gulf of Fonseca, in summary: broken economy, productive infrastructure damaged and inundated, in most of the towns there is no water, food, or electricity, broken roads by water or landslide...the number of dead people is not quantified yet... delegates from communities, members and non-members of CODDEFFAGOLF come to the office in San Lorenzo in search of food and medicines for the populations isolated, lamentably we do not have anything to give to them because also in San Lorenzo there is scarcity of food and medicines... " (The above is was extracted from a letter from Jorge Varela, CODDEFAGOLF, November 4th 1998) Earth Love Fund has spent ten years raising funds in support of organisations like Jorge's, which work with local communities in tropical forest areas on environmental issues. Now, because of their experience and contact networks, such organisations are in a key position to help people rebuild their lives after the disaster. In response, Earth Love Fund will channel funds from PLANET Electrica - PROTECTION through organisations such as CODDEFFAGOLF in the disaster area, to help people rebuild their lives - and their environment. Hurricane Mitch: Hurricane Mitch, the storm that hit central America at the end of October, left a trail of destruction through central America, affecting Honduras, Nicaragua, El Salvador and Guatemala. The US Weather Centre named Mitch the deadliest Atlantic Storm since the Great Hurricane of 1780. In Honduras, the worst affected country, over 7,000 have been reported dead and a million people affected. It has been estimated that the disaster has set Honduras back in terms of economic development by at least forty years. The most immediate needs are for food, shelter and clean water, and help is pouring in from around the world. But once the immediate emergency is past and the headlines have disappeared, the people of Honduras will face the task of rebuilding their communities and their livelihoods - a task which will take decades. Funds from PLANET Electrica - PROTECTION will contribute to laying the groundwork for this work. Could the Disaster have been avoided? Hurricane Mitch caused a disaster of truly horrific proportions. But the scale of the disaster was only partly due to "natural causes." Central America has lost two thirds of its forests to logging, agriculture, fires and development - mostly in the last 30 years. 1997 was one of the worst years on record for forest fires, with 3 million acres burned in Central America - 2 million in Nicaragua alone. Then came Hurricane Mitch, with more than 100 hours of nearly nonstop, torrential rains. With no trees to help hold back the water, hillsides collapsed, and entire villages were washed away, along with an astounding 75% of Honduras's crops. Sadly, Central America is not an isolated case. Deforestation has been linked to recent floods in countries ranging from India to Iceland. It is ironic that this is happening at the close of the 1990s, which were designated the International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction by the United Nations. Through the release of PLANET Electrica - PROTECTION, Earth Love Fund will not only raise funds to send out to the disaster area, but will also aim to attract attention to the underlying issues - to emphasise that forest protection and environmental management must now be given top priority in order to reduce human suffering in the years to come. For Further Information:
Earth Love Fund CD artwork, advert, poster, track listing, promotional CDS, TV advert, radio interviews all available. If you would like to receive information on Earth Love Fund or about how you can be part of the Artists for Environment campaign to help the world's forests, please contact Earth Love Fund via e-mail or at the address below:
Earth Love Fund Telephone: 00 44 (0) 1285 643111
Friends of ELF | Get Involved | Make A Donation E-Mail ELF
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Hurricane Mitch has caused the worst natural disaster to hit Central America this century. Many thousands have died and millions left homeless in the aftermath of the storm that devasted vast areas of Honduras, Nicaragua, Guatemala and El Salvador. Their governments have spoken of the need to start developing their countries from scratch as 40 years of development has been washed away.
