Earthquake Relief

On Sunday, August 14, 2016, at 10 p.m., an earthquake rocked the Colca Valley, devastating the villages of Ichupampa, Yanque, and Achoma and affecting many more. A local grandmother and her grandson died, crushed in their home. An American tourist died, crushed in his hotel bed next to his wife; they were on vacation, newly retired. We found her the next morning with a crushed femur, lying on the floor of the front entrance of the municipal building. Cynthia’s time and mine went to arranging a helicopter to evacuate her and a local man who was severely injured, providing food and water to others who were hurt, and coordinating with the local health clinic, the Red Cross, and the fire department’s rescue workers.

In the days and weeks that followed, we did whatever was asked of us, from one moment to the next. Half of the homes in Ichupampa crumbled, including the kindergarten. In Yanque, the village where we lived for two months, more than 40 families were living in the main square, at first covered only by blankets in the freezing nights of a mountain winter. Two days later they were housed in government tents, too hot during the day and barely above freezing at night. It impressed on us again the need to teach community leadership and local decision-making, which became the guiding principles of our program.

We bonded deeply with the families in Yanque, serving breakfast and dinner every day from the parish. We organized and managed clothing drives, and Urban Angels coordinated medical assistance and relief for many nonprofits arriving in the Colca Valley from all over Peru. The earthquake quickly brought us to know the Catholic Archbishop, state government officials, and leaders of federal military, health, and emergency organizations. It was a profound experience.