Peru Quake Survivors Begin to Rebuild

Written by Stephanie Kriner, Staff Writer, RedCross.org, with news reports

June 27, 2001 —  Peru is beginning to pick up and rebuild after a powerful earthquake devastated a southern region in the Andean highlands. Meanwhile, rescue workers and relatives of the missing continue to sift through the rubble in search of the dead.

Thousands of people suffered losses in Saturday's earthquake, recently upgraded to magnitude-8.1, considered a "great" quake – the most powerful, by the U.S. Geological Survey.

Arequipa was worst hit by the magnitude-8.1 earthquake.

"We don't have anything," Augustin Chuquimamani told the Associated Press as he was mixing mortar and laying fresh brick to rebuild his one-room house in Characato, a remote community 16 kilometers (10 miles) south of Arequipa.

Chuquimamani is one of many people who have begun to rebuild and repair their simple mud and brick homes, shaken apart by the minute-long quake that rocked the region over the weekend. The temblor injured at least 1,374 people and left 47,696 homeless.

Thousands who lost their homes in the temblor have been forced to sleep on the ground in Peru's frigid Andes highlands. It is currently winter in Peru. "All of us sleep on the ground," said Chuquimamani's wife, Felicina. "It gets very cold – so cold that the kids start crying."

In the coastal town of Camana, residents combed the beaches for loved ones swept away by three tidal waves sent to shore by the quake. The waves pounded huts and hotels and washed away planting fields and livestock. Thirty-nine of the dead were reported here, and 53 remain missing.

"My youngest one, he got sucked into the earth and the sea carried him away," Camana resident Eliana Quispe told the Associated Press.

Aid workers have reached once cut-off villages to bring aid, help the injured and search for the missing. "The most important thing is to support work on search and rescue to get those people who are injured, then immediately to look after the people who are homeless," Ian Logan of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies told the BBC. Some 430 Peruvian Red Cross volunteers are providing first aid to the injured and participating in search and rescue operations.

The American Red Cross has sent a small team to assist the Peruvian Red Cross in the aftermath of the quake. It also is sending cash assistance as well as plastic sheeting for shelter and blankets for the Peruvian Red Cross to distribute to quake survivors. The U.S. government made an emergency donation of $100,000, which will be used primarily to provide water, blankets and material to create shelters for those who lost their homes, according to the U.S. State Department.

In Arequipa, authorities closed roads leading to the city center in fear that heavy traffic could trigger further damage to hundreds of historic homes and buildings harmed by the quake. Arequipa, famed for its colonial architecture, has been declared a world cultural treasure by the United Nations.

In Geneva, Switzerland, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies appealed for more than $1 million to help quake victims and airlift them more tents, blankets and food.

The European Union said Tuesday that it was giving $988,000 million to provide quake survivors with food, temporary shelter, medical support and water and sanitation. Aid from the U.S. government would start arriving soon, according to John Hamilton, the U.S. ambassador to Peru.

Peruvian Foreign Minister Javier Perez de Cuellar announced a government emergency plan, saying a priority would be delivering aid to the homeless

Related information:

• Earthquake in Peru (a collection of articles and press releases about the earthquake and the Red Cross response)