This letter was sent to Oakseed Ministries’ Director, Dr. Edward Bradley. We invite you to read this letter to better understand the needs in Peru at this moment.
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Dear Dr. Bradley
As you well know, here in Perú we have been living hard times since we had an earthquake whose magnitude was estimated at 7.9 and we have counted more than 140 aftershocks, we thank God we have not had any personal damage or any major injuries among the people we work with or our staff.
In Lima the most damaged areas have been the old multifamily house buildings located in the downtown of the City and in the periphery zones, where the house buildings are not built with concrete. Our Child Center in San Genaro located in the south of the city, in Chorrillos district, was blacked out because power lines were down. It remained without electricity in the first days. In the Center the computer equipment fell to the floor, but there is no reported damage in the building.
We are still surveying the condition of houses were the children we work with live, primarily in the unprotected zones of San Genaro.
In the Child Center in Socosccocha there are some cracked in the classrooms, the kitchen, and the bathroom. We are in the process of calculating how many damages we are going to have to repair in this structure; as well as gathering information about the earthquake damage in the houses of the children we work with all around the zone.
The zones that have been mainly affected are in the south of Lima in the Department of Ica, Pisco and Huancavelica, where we estimate in some areas there are almost 70 percent of the houses are destroyed, where the hospitals did collapse, and the people are sleeping in the middle of the street with a temperature of 8 degrees at night.
In the present time there are an estimated 500 deaths, more than 30,000 homes collapsed, and more than 90,000 people left homeless.
Facing this reality MISIUR is developing a plan of intervention like in previous disasters with the target to develop a project of Reconstruction of Homes. This project will mainly focus on the zones far away from Ica and Huancavelica that would not have access to Government help or public charity.
We are now gathering all the possible information that would give us an exact description of the most damaged and devastated areas. We NEED financial support to prepare this study and to send structural engineers to make feasibility study for the rebuilding project.
For this main reason we are developing a Plan of Action with the cooperation of other institutions, and MISIUR will keep you informed as we move forward. We thank you for all the prayers pf the Oakseed family, and for the support that you will send to us.
Sincerely in the love of Christ,
Miguel Torres Vela
Director de Proyectos
MISIUR
Never go to the grocery store when you are hungry. Why, because you will buy that which looks good, but may not be good for you. It is usually wrap-around food. (It wraps around your belly!)
In 1992, I visited the relief efforts of Misiur in their response to the earthquakes of 1990 and 1991 in Moyobamba, Peru. Misiur purchased a tract of land and divided it. They hired staff and purchased building materials. Then they partnered with several churches to select those that were the “poorest of the poor”. Then they taught the families how to build an earthquake resistant home – and helped them to build a new community.
Rebecca, the director of MISIUR, our Oakseed Ministries partner in Peru, reports that efforts are being made for MISIUR to provide urgently needed blankets, water, and soap in the earthquake affected areas.
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