Tuesday, August 28, 2007

EARTHQUAKE UPDATE #4

This is the last and final update about the earthquake. News reports currently state the death toll is 500+ and rising. Additionally, More than 1000 injuried and there have been 400 aftershocks recorded of varrying sizes. All I can say is, It´s time to come home....



Dear Volunteers,

The second phase of the relief effort is in full-swing as international and Peruvian organizations focus on building temporary shelters, improving sanitary conditions, and passing-out blankets and food. Unfortunately, there continues to be distribution challenges which has led to a few instances of looting and public protest. Many of you have asked for information regarding donations to organizations that are helping in the relief effort. The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is partnering with the following organizations to help those affected by the earthquake:

Catholic Relief Services (CRS)
CARE
Samaritan's Purse
World Vision

Any of these organizations would be good choices for friends and family to make monetary donations to help this worthy cause. They all have websites and easy instructions for making tax deductible donations.

In terms of Peace Corps/Peru, we are in the process of identifying the suitability of partner agencies in Ica in order to decide if and when to initiate the Crisis Corps program. Crisis Corps Volunteers work under a similar model than other Peace Corps Volunteers as they rely heavily on the support of counterpart agencies to structure their work. We hope to make a definitive decision regarding Crisis Corps in the coming weeks. Also, we have discussed the possibility of using in-country Volunteers for short-term assignments in Ica.

EARTHQUAKE UPDATE #3

Estimados Voluntarios,
The situation in the affected areas has stabilized. The strategy for helping the affected areas is transitioning from rescue work where the emphasis is on searching for survivors, providing emergency medical care and passing-out food rations to the recovery phase. This entails the construction of temporary shelters, temporary work programs for the residents of the affected areas, and the removal of debris and the demolition of unsafe buildings.

The next phase is the rebuilding of civil society which should begin in earnest in the next two weeks. National and international relief agencies will concentrate on helping the affected towns and communities regain a sense of "normalcy." Projects will certainly focus on reopening the schools, reorganizing the municipalities, repairing irrigation canals and water systems, restoring damaged buildings and providing social services and counseling. This phase is where Peace Corps Volunteers can make a significant impact in improving the lives of those affected. To this end, I have been in contact with Crisis Corps to begin developing a strategy where Volunteers can work in an organized and effective manner to provide relief and development assistance. Five staff, including myself, and the five Ica Volunteers will be traveling tomorrow to affected areas to visit with and offer support to their host-families and counterparts, assess the possibility of these Volunteers continuing to work in Ica, and conduct an initial assessment of work opportunities for Crisis Corps Volunteers.

On Monday, I will send you an update regarding our findings and more information about the possible addition of the Crisis Corps Program to PC/Peru and how it may effect you.

In related news, many Volunteers have asked how there communities and/or family and friends back home can help with the relief effort. Currently, the US Embassy is compiling a list of reputable national and international NGOs that are accepting monetary donations for the purpose of providing relief assistance to Ica. On Monday, I hope to forward you the list. In-kind donations such as blankets, food and medical supplies are discouraged by most relief organizations working in the area.


That is all for now.

Saludos,

Marko




EARTHQUAKE UPDATE #2








Dear Volunteers,

The second day of the natural disaster has brought about more information. The towns of Pisco, Ica and Chincha have reported wide-spread damage to buildings and homes. These towns and the surrounding areas are without electricity, water or sewage systems. Relief efforts are being conducted by Peruvian governmental agencies while the impacted areas are also receiving support from the United States, Colombia, Bolivia, Chile, Venezuela, Israel, Spain and the European Union. Unfortunately, there has many incidents of looting and robbery. Security will continue to be an issue, but hopefully the crime rate will decrease as the government establishes order in the affected towns.

In last two days, we have received numerous requests from Volunteers to travel to Ica to help with the relief effort and/or organize donations of food and medical supplies. However, an effective needs assessment of the impacted areas has yet to be conducted by the government or other organizational entities. We expect to have more information on Tuesday on what the region will need in terms of supplies and assistance. Between all the national and international agencies in the area, there appears to be enough specialized personnel providing immediate assistance. In fact, President Garcia has stated that there are enough doctors and nurses in Ica and what the region requires now is engineers and construction workers.

Over the next week I will speaking with Michael Hirsh and meeting with Senior Staff and Volunteers to discuss ideas on how we can provide assistance to the communities where Rachel, Joselyn, Nicole, Abigail and Amy are serving. Regarding a more widespread initiative for PC/Peru Volunteers to help in the Ica region, I will also discuss this possibility with Staff, PCVs and PC/Washington.

In other news, the Emergency Action Plan was successfully completed. We were able to contact all Volunteers and Trainees in 30 hours. Thank y'all for your cooperation. It was important that we keep you informed about the earthquake as well as confirm your whereabouts. Also, I spoke to Peru 7 about a PC/Panama Volunteer who was vacationing in Peru. He contacted us about an hour ago, so the Panameños are surely relived to know that he is safe.

That's all for now. I will send another update on Monday

Saludos, Marko

EARTHQUAKE HITS PERU




Below are excerpts from emails written to us from Marko Dolan (Program and Training Officer) during this natural disaster, which occured on Wednesday August 15th 2007.




AUGUST 15TH 2007
As most of you know, last night at approximately 6:40pm an earthquake measuring 8.0 struck the department of Ica with Pisco and Chincha the most effected. There are reported to be more than 450 deaths and 1,500 injured. Lima and Arequipa were also effected by the earthquake, but damage was considerably less with only one fatality reported. Regarding Peace Corps Volunteers and Staff, we feel extremely fortunate that the five Volunteers working in Ica were not in the department at the time. They are safe and accounted for.

The roads are transitable from Lima to Pisco, but only passenger vehicles are allowed since at least one of the bridges between Ica and Pisco has suffered structural damage. Due to safety concerns, however, Volunteer travel to Ica is prohibited until further notice.

On the positive side, all planned programming and training events will take place as scheduled. Despite the intensity of the earthquake, neither the training center nor the Surco office were effected.

In response this natural disaster we have activated the Emergency Action Plan (EAP) putting all Volunteers are on "Alert " status. What this means is that we are in the process of contacting all of you to make sure you are okay and are aware of last night's earthquake. So far, we have contacted almost everyone, but we are still unable to get a hold of the following Volunteers:

Susannah Brower
Rachel Levy

If anyone knows there whereabouts please let us know. We need to speak to them directly in order to complete the instructions detailed in the EAP.

Lastly, if you haven't contacted your family I would highly recommend that you at least write them. PC/Washington has received many calls and emails from concerned parents requesting news.

Thanks for your understanding during these difficult times. Our prayers go out to the towns and communities of Ica.

Keep safe and I will send out another update tomorrow.


Marko

Wednesday, August 15, 2007




Independence day on Santa Cruz

On the 25th of July Peace Corps invited Khaliah and I to speak on a diversity panel in Lima . The new training center is now located in Chacalacayo a town much closer to the PC office than Santa Eulalia. Khaliah (a Black PCV), Dennis (an Asian PCV), Hannah (a Jewish PCV) and myself shared our experiences to the new aspirantes. They are a talented group of new trainees soon to be PCVs in just a few weeks. During my training I immensely enjoyed the visits from current volunteers. They were much more interesting than staff members and easier to relate to knowing that we too would assume their role. Every volunteer led portion of training was my favorite part. Knowing this, it was exciting to be invited back. Each of us on the panel answered a series of prepared questions such as, What challenges have you encountered based on your situation?, and Are there advantages to being a minority volunteer? After the session, I talked with some of the trainees individually and many commended me for coming out to Juan. It´s wonderful to meet strangers who because of their home country accept and embrace differences. I rarely feel that in Peru.



That night I took an overnight bus from Lima to Caraz, Ancash ( 8 hours). I met up with Katie and Mia. We packed up some last minute food items and took off on our trek. None of us have extensive trekking experience but we had been told that Santa Cruz was a great 4 day, 3 night trek for beginners. By starting on a Thursday and we knew we would end on Sunday the 29th. We drove out of Caraz to Cashapampa where we met Victor the ariero ( encargado de los burros) at the Parque Nacional Huascarán. Victor loaded our bags on his donkeys and we entered the park. It was 11am. Our goal was to arrive at the first base camp by passing through the Santa Cruz ravine to Lake Ichiqcocha. At 4:30pm we arrived and Victor had set up the tents. It began to get cold and dark. We were all exhausted. Katie began cooking on the gas stove (no open fires in the park!) while Mia and I unloaded the other bags and prepared the sleeping arrangements. The brown rice and tomato soup was wonderful. We were so tired that as the sun set at 6:30pm we piled in our tents and fell asleep by 8pm. It began to rain. That following day we woke up early to a frost and cooked breakfast-oatmeal, fruit, eggs, and bread. Mia and I washed up by a stream, filled up our water bottles and returned to the camp. This second day was much easier, since sleeping well. Victor said we would only need to hike until mid day to reach the second camp. As we hiked through the valley we I looked up at some of the surrounding mountains of Aguja (5888m), Pumapampa (5582m) and Caraz (6020m). I felt incredibly at home passing these ancient landforms. What a view! As we crossed streams , winding paths, and other hikers, we slowly came upon the most beautiful mountain range I´ve ever seen.



Three snow capped peaks welcomed us into their arms at base camp 2. I was annoyed to be setting up camp at 1pm since I was still feeling strong for another couple of hours of hiking. Victor knew best. It was almost impossible to make the pass between mountains and arrive at base camp 3 in the same day. It would be too dangerous in the snowy/icy conditions at such altitudes. We needed time to acclimatize and rest for day 3. Since it was still early we hung out with some German friends we had met, talking and listening to music. It began to sprinkle, for fear of a down pour, we prepared a small meal and stayed in the tents until sun rise.



On day three we got out of the tent and frost had covered it. It began to snow! This was my first snowfall in Perú. The flurries covered our bags and equipment as we packed for the day´s hike. I filmed a panoramic of the site. We were surrounded by Alpamayo (5947m), Ririjirca (5810m) and Artesonraju (6025m). How spectacular! As the sun rose, clouds cleared showing the true beauty of these three peaks. We ate a full breakfast and took off to the right side of Ririjirca. As we climbed, a brilliant blue lake was located out of view in a crevasse of the peak. Our trail winded up and around the lake and up to Punta Unión (4750m) the pass between two peaks. We rested at the top with Victor and began the accent passing smaller lakes to the Huaripampa ravine. We camped that evening in Colcabamba and noticed the change in altitude. At 3300m it was dry and not nearly as cold at night. It didn´t rain but Sunday morning we woke up in a wet tent. The floor had leaked, or a nalgene bottle opened in the night. Luckily I stayed dry on top of my therma-rest and mummy bag. Mia, Katie and I were ready to end the trip, knowing we just had a few more hours to hike to Vaquería (3700m) where we would look for transportation to Yungay. It took only 2.5 hours to hike into Vaquería, but an hour to load the van, and three hours to drive to Yungay (including the repair of a flat tire). From Yungay we contracted a taxi to Caraz to unload at Mia´s apt. That night we drove to Huaraz and stayed in La Colmena- hands down the best hostel in Ancash!

--
Matthew R. Lindsley, BSN, RN
Voluntario de Cuerpo de Paz
Carata, La Libertad, Perú