It took just two minutes for an earthquake in Peru to kill, maim and devastate thousands of lives.
In its wake it left behind 519 dead and more than 100,000 people injured or affected in some way.
But where destruction without warning does its work in moments, rebuilding lives and properties takes time and planning – and then some.
Seven months on, the recovery work is well advanced and is addressing a whole range of needs.
Tearfund partner Peace & Hope (Paz y Esperanza) has been working in the remote department of Ica and Huancavelica to help put affected communities back on their feet.
It’s an area where before the earthquake there was a lack of access to even basic services and hardship has been compounded by no significant signs that the state authorities are involved in reconstruction.
Daily meals
Peace and Hope sent a team of 15 professionals and support staff to help with the aftermath.
Steve Collins, Tearfund’s Desk Officer for Peru, said, `Peace and Hope have tackled things from a different angle to other people. They have gone into areas that others were not touching and where there’s been very little support.’
One of their first priorities was feeding people, many of whom had been left homeless and unable to support themselves.
Peace and Hope set up dining areas in nine communities, providing 1,000 meals every day. It is now aiming to make these feeding schemes self-managing.
Work has also been done to rebuild people’s homes. More than 35,000 were completely destroyed and more than 4,000 badly damaged
Villagers at work on building new homes. Picture: Tearfund
A priority was to learn from the area’s susceptibility to earthquakes and build properties better able to withstand future quakes.
Robust
Locally sourced and sustainable materials are used in the construction of new homes, in this case the roof. Picture: Tearfund
With the right design, properties built from locally sourced and sustainable materials offer more robust homes and safer living.
They also have the advantage of being cost effective and the skills needed to build them look set to be transferred with the creation of a rural training centre.
A new home near completion. Picture: Tearfund
But statistics on homes destroyed don’t do justice to the emotional trauma inflicted on people by an earthquake.
Psychological scars run deep evidenced by children reportedly being left afraid of the dark.
To address issues like this, Hope and Peace has created emotional recovery programmes that have benefited 500 children and 130 parents in 10 communities.
Stable
Alfonso Weiland, director of Peace & Hope, said, `The children are now more emotionally stable, they are beginning to smile again, they have less fear of the dark.
`They have more confidence and they understand that their reaction of fear is normal.’
The effectiveness of our partner’s work is in no small measure due to their coordination with the Peru Evangelical Alliance.
As Peace and Hope has not worked in Ica and Huancavelica before, the church has helped identify where and what the most pressing needs are.
Alfonso added, `We are very happy with the achievements made in such short time, however there is still a lot to do.
`There are various levels of work still to do with children and parents, schools, civil authorities among others. There is also the need to find a short term solution to the problem of basic services in the rural communities.’
The community turns out to celebrate the new homes being built. Picture: Tearfund
For pictures of the immediate aftermath of the earthquake, click here.