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San Salvador, El Salvador
MCC plans two-phase response to aid victims of Salvador quake


In a two-phase response to the Jan. 13 earthquake that left 10 per cent of El Salvador’s 6.2 million people homeless, Mennonite Central Committee is committing $615,400 and a shipment of material resources for relief and housing reconstruction.

In the village of San Augistina, Tres Calles, a Salvadoran woman stands in the midst of rubble. She was one of thousands living in the streets or in nearby fields in shelters made of sticks, tin and plastic. In this village of 6000, located in the devastated department of Usulutan, 90% of houses were heavily damaged and 990 were completely destroyed. MCC is working with a local partner agency to deliver emergency relief to this area. MCC news photo by Jon Schellenberger

Two MCC alumni will coordinate the earthquake response, which will include North American Work and Learn teams as early as May.

In the emergency relief phase, MCC is committing $76,900 for locally purchased food, water and temporary shelter materials for quake victims. MCC is distributing this aid through partner agencies, several of which work in the regions most affected by the quake.

MCC is also coordinating its efforts with a coalition of other faith-based humanitarian agencies. Canadian Foodgrains Bank has granted up to $153,800 for food grains and oil to eight groups in the coalition.

MCC also is organizing a shipment of material resources, including 350 relief kit buckets, 1,728 combination school/health kits, 3,000 comforters and 1,100 pounds of thermal underwear. All items are currently in stock at the Material Resources Center in Ephrata, Pa.

About $538,500 will go to the second phase of MCC’s response, a long-term housing reconstruction, in which 200 to 300 houses are planned to be built over the next year. David Martin, who coordinated MCC’s 1998-2000 response to Hurricane Mitch in Honduras, will be coordinating the reconstruction. Lisa Hughes will coordinate the Work and Learn teams. Hughes, a former El Salvador MCC volunteer, will travel to El Salvador in April.

Housing reconstruction will be complicated by the scarcity of land in El Salvador and the fact that many people who lost homes did not have title to the land they were living on.

Churches damaged

Besides destroying 74,955 homes, the 7.6 magnitude quake heavily damaged 110,000 homes and 560 churches. The El Salvador Baptist Association reports churches destroyed in the areas of Tacuba, Ahuachapán, Santa Elena, San Agustín, Santiago de María and Ozatlán. The Assemblies of God reports 20 deaths among its members, 88 pastors’ homes destroyed and 119 churches damaged or destroyed, and 12 members lost, with more than 100 people homeless. The Kingdom Community Church in Santa Tecla counted eight members buried in a landslide and their church building severely damaged. In one church alone, The Friends of Israel Bible Baptist Tabernacle, 39 members were killed in the earthquake.

Over 700 deaths have been reported and 4,440 people injured. By far, the worst damage occurred in Las Colinas, a densely populated neighbourhood in the city of Santa Tecla, 12 km from San Salvador. The landslide buried 300 homes, and local residents say as many as 1,000 people were still missing on January 30.

Second quake shakes country

Exactly a month after the Jan. 13 quake, a second quake with a magnitude of 6.6 flattened much of the heart of San Vincente, 56 kilometres east of San Salvador. At least 127 people were killed and more than 1,200 hurt, said a spokesman for the Salvadoran Red Cross. At least 71 people were killed in Cuscatlan alone and at least 12 adults and three children were killed in San Vincente. Half of the houses there were damaged along with 90 per cent of the houses in nearby towns San Cayetano, Guadalupe, Verapaz and Texistepeque.

Numerous reports of landslides could add to the death toll. Landslides blocked several highways that were still being restored after the Jan. 13 quake, including the Panamerican Highway to Guatemala.

 – adapted from reports from MCC, Evangelical Press News Service, Maclean’s, Winnipeg Free Fress

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Last modified March 7, 2001.

© 2001 Mennonite Brethren Herald.
Published by the Canadian Conference of MB Churches.
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