One Week On: From an Idea to a Reality

Wednesday 7^th 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 8^th 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.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-20247046 In Pictures: Guatemala Earthquake

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 14^th 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:

http://elquetzalteco.com.gt/quetzaltenango/86-familias-deben-ser-trasladadas - 86 Families should be relocated. (This can be translated into English by right clicking on the article)

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 24^th 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!

Our link for donations one more time (just because it’s so easy to miss everywhere else) - http://www.justgiving.com/GuatemalaEarthquakeAppeal

All the photos of our progress can be found at the following link as well: https://picasaweb.google.com/106018520631272812546/GuatemalaEarthquakeNovember2012