28th August, 2007

DAVID ADAMS

The earthquake hit at 6.40pm on 15th August, just as many people were making their way home after their day’s work. In the port city of Pisco, a nurse was at home, preparing a workshop for the next day when she felt the quake.

“I didn’t understand what was going on but we were shaken from one side to the other,” she recalls. My children came to me and we held each other. We couldn’t move forward. Then there were like waves, you couldn’t stand up straight.”

“I was so frightened, I didn’t know what to do. All I could saw was ‘God, make your will’. Fortunately my husband was there and he got all of us down the stairs and then came back for my mother, an old lady of 82-years-old. It was dark because the electricity had gone out. We walked some blocks; I could feel bodies under my feet. People and children were crying, screaming and asking for help. It was terrible. We couldn’t do much. It was dark and the earth kept shaking all night.”

More than 500 people died, more than 1,300 were injured and more than 56,000 houses have been destroyed as a result of the earthquake measuring 7.9 on the Richter scale which had an epicentre in the Pacific Ocean about 161 kilometres south of the Peruvian capital of Lima.

The earthquake has affected several towns in coastal regions as well as parts of the Peruvian capital of Lima and rural areas. As many as 83 schools have collapsed, around 100 health centres have been affected and 14 hospitals destroyed.

Yadira Pacheco, communications coordinator with World Vision in Peru, says that the urban areas of Ica, Pisco, Chincha and their surrounding areas look like bombsites.

“There is dust and rubble everywhere,” she says. “The first days after the quake, Pisco had a horrible smell. Most of the deaths occurred there and many corpses had not yet been removed. Locals and aid workers had to wear masks to bear that smell.”

In the port of Pisco - where many public buildings had collapsed, tents were set up in the main square to provide homes for those whose own properties had been destroyed.

“People are still living in improvised tents made from pieces of cloth and plastic in front of their destroyed houses or nearby parks,” Ms Pacheco says.

Many people have gone back into their houses to salvage what they could and clean up the rubble. Families have organised into groups to prepare and share meals together with what ingredients they could find.

Ms Pacheco says that while damaged roads and a lack of coordination meant it took some time for aid to reach affected areas, a sense of calm is now slowly returning to the affected areas.

“After the confusion and panic people are trying to organise themselves too to receive the aid,” she says.

Immediate needs include the provision of temporary shelter and kitchen supplies. There is also a need for medicines and inhalers for children.

“Given that children are sleeping under tents and the weather is cold, as it’s currently winter, the number of respiratory infections are increasing and the health centres don’t have the antibiotics or the nebulisers needed to help the children,” says Ms Pacheco.

Thoughts are now also turning towards longer term needs.

“Both in the short and longer term, we need to ensure adequate water and sanitation for all citizens,” says Ms Pacheco. “In the long term we will need to focus on rebuilding the areas affected. To do this we need construction materials, this is particularly important for reconstructing housing, the health centres and the local school.”

~ www.worldvision.com.au

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