[Editor’s note: this letter is from the nephew of one of our members. He was on the scene of the devastation in Peru.]
Friends,
I recently came back after spending two days in the earthquake-affected area south of Lima, Peru. I was volunteering for CARE Peru when the earthquake happened, and since then I have been helping them coordinate the NGO response to the disaster. I am writing to you to give you some impressions of what I have seen and to offer some advice on how you can help.
Impressions
Of the two days I was in the affected zones, I spent about 1/2 of the time following a donation truck that CARE was using to drop off shipments of food, water, lanterns, and blankets. We traveled to Chincha and Canete, two provinces that were heavily affected. In Chincha, people did not have access to water. Many of the wells they relied on are now destroyed, and the water systems are out of service. They do not have access to food. I’m attaching a photo of 10-year-old Piviana who told me that she had not eaten anything within the last two days and that her family would have to move to another location now that the foundation of the house was completely sunk.
Food comes primarily with aid trucks, but the distribution system is imperfect due to lack of information and resources. The panamericana sur highway, the major vein for relief, was at first dangerous as communities would rob supply trucks, and is now incredibly slow as the government tries to repair the roads (see attached photo). When we actually get to a community, we are entering knowing that we are driving right by several smaller communities that need help too. I talked to one mother who had brought her child all the way from the neighboring town to show that she had not eaten in two days, and when were we going to come to her town, because her neighborhood was not going to see any of this help that we were leaving. At every place we stopped at, in fact, there were people from neighboring towns that had yet to have received aid, and would try to negotiate with us to stop by their communities. We’re sending an 18-wheeler full of supplies about every two days now, but it’s not enough right now. At every town that we drop off supplies, we are knowingly leaving enough for only about 1/2 of the families for about 2-3 days in each community, hoping that other sources will supplement our donation to make sure everybody stays healthy.
In Canete, they have water and food, but there are still thousands of people living outside of their destroyed homes or dangerously living inside of their damaged homes (there have been 450 aftershocks since the earthquake, several of which have been strong enough to a bring down a weak wall or roof). For these families, the damage is done. They need to pick up the pieces and start over. In the short term, they will need tents so that they can have a safe, warm place to stay as they figure out what to do next. We’ve sent about 300 family-sized tents so far, but we’re having trouble finding more in the country, especially ones that comply with international standards for emergency responses (something like 3+ square meters per person, in our case for a family of avg. size 5). In the longer term, we will need tools, manpower, building materials, and money. The 500+ deaths is what put this story on the front cover of the nytimes and washington post, but these families are about to face hard times that you will not hear much about. Your help would be important.
Abrazos,
Alexis Piazza
APiazza@care.org.pe
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How to help
The group of NGOs working in this zones (there are about 30) have divided up the affected zone and are each focusing on a smaller zone, and I encourage you to donate to any of them (see below for list). As the coordinating organization, though, CARE has a special role. CARE Peru originally started in Peru as a response to the 1970 earthquake that killed 70,000 people, and it’s because of our experience that we’ve been asked by other ngo’s to coordinate the effort. The CARE USA website’s front page has a link to give a restricted donation to the effort in Peru. Here’s a direct link: https://my.care.org/05/peruquake/?qp_source=170760460000
Active Organizations: Acción contra el Hambre; Organización Acción contra el Hambre; ADRA; Agro Acción Alemana (con ITDG); Aldeas Infantiles; Alianza Save the Children (con CODEH); Ayuda en Acción; CARE; CESVI; Christian Aid; COOPI; CRS (con CAFOD y Cáritas); Cruz Roja Alemana; Fé y Alegría; FIRC (con Cruz Roja Peruana); ITDG (alianza con AAA); Lutheran World Relief (con Cáritas); Medicus Mundi (España); Medicus Mundi (Francia); MPDL (con ITDG & PREDES); OIKOS; Oxfam Internacional; PREDES; Solaris; Solidaridad Internacional; Terre des Hommes; Visión Mundial