Peru earthquake: More aid needed

Caritas Peru responds after earthquake, distributing food, clean water, clothing, bedding, medicine and other basic necessities. [Caritas Peru]

CAFOD partners have been providing help to relatives of the injured who have come to Peru's capital city Lima for treatment following the devastating earthquake of August 15

CAFOD partners in Peru's capital city Lima are helping a huge influx of people who fled there fearing further earthquakes in other areas of the country.

Following the huge quake of August 15, which hit the coastal town of Pisco hardest, around 70% of the population left their homes seeking safety in Lima and other major towns inland.

Milka Rosas, who works for CAFOD partner Solidaridad in Lima, has family from Pisco, and lost friends in the quake, as well as many others being left injured or without a home.

Aftershocks continuing

She says: “They were afraid of a tsunami following the quake, then they were afraid of a further quake. There is help in Lima. Many people have family members there.

“In my family, my cousins are staying and my nieces and nephews. My mum says that if a lorry passes by, the children scream and cry and she has to calm them.

"In Pisco the aftershocks are continuing. There was a tremor, almost another quake, of 5.3 on the Richter scale. So the earth is still moving.

"But there are people still there. Mostly men looking after what remains of their homes and their belongings. Most people are on the roadside sleeping.

"Many people are now living in tents but these aren’t strong enough to resist the sandstorms we get at this time of the year. They come every winter and usually people are safe because they are in their houses.

“Before the quake, sandstorms were just seen as part of their normal life but now it’s very serious.”

A united country

The quake of August 15 measured 7.9 on the Richter scale, killed more than 500 people and left 1,500 injured. It was one of the strongest in Peru’s history.

More than 100,000 people are now homeless as more than 34,000 homes were destroyed. Drinking water, sanitation and health systems are also affected. Families have been evacuated to community and public buildings.

More than 90 per cent of Pisco was destroyed, as most of the houses there were built in the 16th century and are not as solid as some more modern homes.

But the quake has also united Peruvians, with many people sending aid, food and clothes. But Milka stresses that much more remains to be done.

She works as a health promoter for Solidaridad, supporting its women’s income generation project, and says many food necessities still need to be provided.

She says: “At the beginning families were receiving just one meal a day. We are being sent a lot of the same things – clothes, tuna… but there are lots of other things they are without – rice, sugar and so on.

“In the medium and long term, there is also the psychological impact on people – grief at loss of friends and family, fear to return and live in their homes.

"Part of the reconstruction will not just be physical things like houses but also that people recover their confidence and children get their life back. At the moment they are scared.

"I spoke to my family. My mother had gone back to Pisco and she said it was as if the people had aged ten years.

"But little by little people are recovering hope and the urge to move forward.”

CAFOD's response so far…

Caritas Peru is providing food, clean water, clothing, bedding, medicine and other basic necessities for more than 50,000 people, and is working to ensure 2,000 families have safe houses and access to safe drinking water and sanitation.

It will also provide healthcare, psychosocial counselling and spiritual counselling for 3,000 families, and plans to distribute materials for building temporary shelters and to reconstruct many of the schools damaged in the quake.

CAFOD partner CEAS (the Church Social Action Commission) distributed prepared food to families of the wounded in eight hospitals in Lima and set up a reception centre, emergency shelter and food aid for the wounded who had been moved to Lima and their relatives who accompanied them. Caritas Peru is planning to set up 250 community kitchens.

There is still urgent need for food, bottled water, water purifying tablets, cooking and kitchen utensils, plastic bottles, blankets, clothing, plastic sheeting for shelters and tents for those affected.

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