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Disaster Relief Charity Staging Near New Orleans

Disaster relief specialists Operation Blessing International (OBI) are once again preparing for a possible hurricane strike in the Gulf region, staging supplies and readying to deploy heavy equipment from all around the country.

Says Jody Herrington, director of U.S. disaster relief operations for the humanitarian organization, "We are moving forward with our 72 hour response plan and will continue to monitor the storm. If it proceeds, we will begin to move equipment on Friday to safe-areas near where the impact is expected to be the most significant, whether New Orleans or anywhere in the region. Our intent is to stage resources on nearby high ground so that we can respond within hours of the storm."

In preparation for a possible strike, OBI has placed their national disaster relief staff on standby. The group is also staging emergency relief supplies in Baton Rouge, with the first tractor-trailer truck arriving this morning. OBI is preparing to dispatch a mobile command center from their Virginia Beach headquarters and they are also preparing heavy equipment currently staged in Florida for deployment in the impact area.

OBI is very familiar with the Gulf area, having just finished a two-and-a-half-year-long Katrina relief effort in New Orleans earlier this year. The charity, which was a first responder to that storm, provided a $60 million relief effort that included 265,000 hours of volunteer service, running a free medical clinic that served over 30,000 people with free doctor care and free prescriptions, saving the city from a mosquito-born disease outbreak by treating thousands of stagnant swimming pools with mosquito-eating fish, preparing over 1 million free meals to emergency responders and volunteers, donating an entire fleet of busses to St. Bernard Parrish for transportation of relief workers and volunteers, and providing roughly $5 million in cash grants to local nonprofit organizations' relief efforts. For their efforts, OBI has received many accolades from the city, state, and federal governments.

Says Bill Horan, president of OBI, "Two and a half years of experience in helping the people of Louisiana pick up the pieces of their lives following Katrina have prepared OBI to answer the call should Gustav hit the Gulf, again.²

ABOUT OPERATION BLESSING INTERNATIONAL Operation Blessing International (OBI) is one of the largest charities in America, providing strategic disaster relief, medical aid, hunger relief, clean water and community development in 22 countries around the world on a daily basis. In 2007, OBI responded to a record 20 disasters in 14 countries. Most recently, OBI mobilized teams and funded major relief and recovery efforts in Myanmar, the Hunan Province of China, Rift Valley in Kenya, Bangladesh, Mexico, Nicaragua, Peru, the Darfur region of Sudan, Pakistan, Somalia, India, Indonesia, Mozambique and the Philippines. In recent years, OBI has also made headlines as a first responder to four major U.S. hurricanes; the tsunami disaster in Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India and Thailand; and they were on the ground staging supplies along the Gulf Coast days before Katrina.