Wednesday 7th November 2012 - About 5pm I arrived into
the town of Flores in the North of Guatemala after several days without contact with the outside world. Arrival back into
civilisation brought with it news of a 7.4 earthquake off the Pacific Coast of
Guatemala. It had occurred at about 10.35am that morning causing destruction
across the departments of San Marcos and Quetzaltenango in the Western
Highlands.
The town of Quetzaltenango (Xela for short) within the department of the
same name has been my home away from home for the last 5 months. I had traveled up north with a friend and colleague (who I met in Haiti following the earthquake there and who had recently travelling out to Guatemala) about a week before the earthquake struck to start the journey across to Mexico;
this was either good or bad timing depending on how you look at it.
The immediate question was whether or not to go back: what could an individual possibly do to be of any help? The idea of an appeal (if
it was even needed) crossed my mind – but setting this into action would be a
totally different ball game. With brain on overdrive for two nights and a day
in-between, I decided to cancel my ticket to Mexico and Gemma decided to join me in heading back to
Xela on an overnight bus to see friends and to see firsthand the situation
in this part of the country.
The morning after arriving back we jumped on a chicken bus
(chickens not compulsory) and headed for San Marcos; the largest affected town
in the department of San Marcos. The town made it briefly onto international
BBC news. In total 52 people lost their lives in the earthquake, with many more
still missing presumed to have fled or be trapped under the rubble. This was
the biggest tremor since 1976 when 25,000 were killed in a 7.5 earthquake. The
following article was printed on the 8th November, a day after the
quake: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-20256454
The precarious mountain roads to the town had been quickly cleared
following the numerous landslides that had blocked all access and we were able
to reach the town without problem at this point. Along the roads to the town
buildings seemed structurally sound, however as we approached San Marcos more
earthquake evidence soon became visible. Houses were marked with ‘Demoler’ for
Demolition and ‘Peligro’ for Danger.
Walking around San Marcos and seeing the destruction confirmed to
me that even our small effort could make a difference to a few. The pictures
here speak for themselves; I need not provide any further description. The army
and workmen were already out in force clearing rubble, patrolling the streets
and maintaining order.
On the corner of one street a house was reduced to nothing
and a family could be seen rummaging for any of their personal items that they
might be able to salvage (below). Standing nearby were a few members of the Guatemalan
Red Cross, I spoke to Tonny Josue one of the volunteers there who said that
there were many more houses like this and agreed that the best way was to give
items directly to families to make their lives slightly more bearable in the
long run. That is exactly what we decided to do.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkCNl-scsgzuzABwdi8WAxATfXrddI_FbI0NtSRbm3jeI3rKAg6QhwnwYmTbqCapDFwIZyAqsZJgIKWYZNg9ffTu-81aQeu4-gb8dl8C3aFrH1lHHxZkV9gBl_Ed8IooHLBoPSnZ31f8E/s400/earthquake+reduced+1.jpg)
Returning home that afternoon, as if one wasn’t enough, another
earthquake struck off the coast and was felt in the same regions, this time a
6.2. My friend Ilsy who works where we are staying, had been upstairs cleaning
at the time and was scared to return upstairs for fear of further tremors;
there is only so much the building will be able to resist. This links to
further press on this second earthquake: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-20292679 Guatemala
Hit by Another Powerful Earthquake
We were now faced with a mountainous task ahead of us, raising
enough money to be able to make an impact. Having worked with the organisation International Disaster Volunteers (IDV) following the Haiti Earthquake in 2010 the
thought occurred to me that working in collaboration with a registered
organisation could really strengthen our appeal and simultaneously assist them
in making a decision about deployment, through the provision of on the ground
information. After a quick discussion with the board of trustees, Andy and Emma
the co-founders of EDV were on board with the idea.
We have set up a JustGiving account where people can donate to our
appeal. The funds will go directly to EDV who will then disperse the funds to
us. Within the space of 3 days we were able to head out with one delivery and as
of today our running total is £405. Here
is the link to our page: http://www.justgiving.com/GuatemalaEarthquakeAppeal
Setting up the account was the easy part; trying to spread the
word and describe a situation that may as well be a million miles away to
friends at home is a tad more difficult. However, family, friends and
colleagues have all been so supportive so far, donating and sharing the link to
get the news across. I owe them a lot for this.
As soon as we had realised that the damage was far more widespread
that anyone had previously thought and that the earthquake had caused havoc in
many small inaccessible communities it was clear that this was where we would
concentrate our effort. On Tuesday afternoon I went to meet with a Guatemalan
newspaper the ‘El Quetzalteco’, as they have all the information about which
small villages or caserios are still
yet to receive any vital aid. This turned into a conversation with the editor Fred
Riviera. Fred informed me they were planning to head to a small village called
La Loma in the mountains the following morning and would I like to accompany
them with our donations. Yes Please.
At this point a very frantic afternoon and evening of bulk buying,
arranging transport, bagging items and setting alarms for 5.30am ensued...I
won’t bore you with the details.
Yesterday, the 14th November, 4 very long days and
sleepless nights (although these are due in part to the consistent aftershocks
that seem to happen just after you have drifted off) after we set up the
appeal, the idea started to pay off.
We set off with the car crammed full of bags full of food (including
rice, beans, oil, sugar, salt, instant soup, powdered milk, juice and sweets
for the kiddies), nappies, blankets and one newspaper reporter named Cesar and headed to
the small village of La Loma, in the municipality of San Martin Sacatepequez.
It is home to 86 families, a total population of 486 and has been declared
uninhabitable by the Guatemalan government.
The figure to the right shows the municipalities with the most serious
damages in the Department of Quetzaltenango.
La Loma is in San Martín Sacatepéquez, shown in bright red. Out of the 86 buildings in the region with serious damage, 25 were in La Loma.
The nearest town to La Loma is Colomba, over an hour away and the road
is a dirt and rubble track which even our 4x4 struggled with at points, making
it a difficult place for any aid to reach.
On arrival we were welcomed in to
the village and spoke with Rigobaldo Gomez, president of the Community Development Council of La Loma. He told us that
25 houses were severely damaged by the earthquake and 20 more partially
damaged. He told us that "The quake was felt strongly in this place all the people left their homes scared and screaming. Whenever there are aftershocks the children get scared".
A crack in the ground had opened up in a line over a kilometer
long running straight through the village creating further risk of landslides
after heavy rain. We saw how houses along this crack had disintegrated and
walls fallen apart, corrugated metal roofs were being used as makeshift walls,
with many people exposed to the bitterly cold temperatures during the
night.
Another senior figure in the community produced a list in order that we
could give items to the families most in need first. It was more ordered and
calm than I could ever have envisaged. One member from each family came forward to collect food and nappies if needed. The 25 families without homes
received aid first and then those with partially damaged houses. Many families
were now living together and sleeping on the cold floor of the community
centre, the blankets were distributed to these to make their nights a little
more comfortable. In total we gave supplies to 40 families.
After arrival we were closely followed by the UN World Food Program who
had made the well intentioned effort of travelling the 4+ hour round trip to
this little community to assess the potential support they could provide. Our
hope is that should they return, it is with a full vehicle of useful items.
In terms of what we have bought so far: one bag of food at present costs
us £4.20, one blanket is £5 and nappies are £3.60 for a bag of fifty. The more
money we raise, the more we can buy and the cheaper these prices will become. We are able to say exactly how much each unit costs and where
donations are being spent.
This trip wouldn't have been possible without our amazing driver
Luis who gave up 8 hours of his day (and possibly his car suspension) to take
us to the village. It also allowed us to take a lady with a very poorly two
year old Grandson to the Hospital in Xela, over two hours away, to get medical attention...I hope he
gets better soon.
A full report regarding the 86 families living in La Loma was
published in today’s El Quetzalteco newspaper. An online version can be found
at the link below:
With this first trip done we have proved to ourselves that we can
be of some use and has fuelled us to work even harder to get the word out and
raise more funds.
Within Xela itself we have started a local fundraising effort.
Advertising for a fundraiser at a local bar called 'Pool and Beer’ (does what
it says on the tin) on the Saturday 24th November will commence
tomorrow. We are hoping to also target the Spanish Schools here and start a
clothes and food collection in addition to a fundraising Salsa night at the
local Salsa Club. There is also talk of joining forces with Community Solutions
Enterprises, another organisation who have a lot of contacts in rural
communities in need through their local business schemes. Pooling our resources
enables us to reach a lot more people in terms of fundraising and to use local
information to make sure we are making the best use of our donations.
Thanks for reading this very long and fact filled first entry ... any
donations, ideas, help or spreading of the word would all be very gratefully
received!