[Dialogue] {Spam?} Peru earthquake: Pisco

[RICHARD HOWIE]

Thank you Ellie.  Our prayers and efforts are with you all, as the  
Church responds.
Grace and Peace, Ellen and Dick
On Aug 18, 2007, at 5:34 PM, elliestock at aol.com wrote:

> Hi folks--
> Our presbytery has a partnership with Peru with which our church  
> has been involved for a few years.  This email came from Jacob Goad  
> one of our contacts there who works in Lima but travelled to Pisco  
> following the earthquake.  He has returned to Lima to help  
> coordinate relief efforts.
> Ellie Stock
>
> Subject: Jacob's Pictures from Pisco, Peru and CBS Interview in Pisco
>
> Dear friends,
>
> Many of you know that I traveled to Pisco on Thursday to assess the  
> situation after the earthquake.  85% of the city has been  
> completely destroyed and hundreds have died.  The total number of  
> deaths has been reported as high as 600.
>
> After riding in a Peruvian Air Force plane (Thanks to Barbara  
> Fraser from Maryknoll Press for that suggestion), I went to the  
> center of town.  I told some firemen that I wanted to go to Pisco.  
> One man laughed at me and said, "What, Pisco?  There's nothing left  
> to see."   He smiled and told me to come on anyway.
>
> From there, I went to the center plaza and saw several dead bodies  
> pulled from the San Clemente Church.  It was a surreal and  
> difficult experience.
>
> There has been a lot of chaos in coordination of search and rescue,  
> and relief efforts.  I spent Thursday night not sleeping in the  
> plaza, talking to displaced families, while trying to keep warm  
> beside a campfire.  Some guys from Ayacucho let me take turns with  
> their blanked.
>
> I looked around town on Friday for relief efforts assesments.   
> Everthing is still in the search and rescue mode operationally.
>
> I am thankful to a Peruvian doctor who gave me some bread and a  
> warm cup of tea on Friday morning.  It was the only think I had  
> eaten since breakfast on Thursday.  Food and water is scarce for  
> the whole population of Pisco.  Donations are being stored at the  
> airport, and distributed by military personnel.
>
> Please see the CBS report on the earthquake and relief efforts (in  
> which I am interviewed):
>
> http://www.cbsnews.com/sections/i_video/main500251.shtml? 
> id=3180364n&channel=i_video
>
> Also, I have taken several photographs and commented on them from  
> my travels to Pisco.  You can see those photographs at:
>
> http://www.flickr.com/photos/11643144@N07/
>
> I hope that all of this will begin to open dialog with how we might  
> best funnel relief funds and efforts to Peru to collaborate with  
> them time of need.  I was just informed that the Anglican Church is  
> working through Comunión Peru.  Presbyterian Disaster Assistance  
> has stated they are working through ACT (Action by Churches Together).
>
> Please unite with us in this endeavor with your prayers and your  
> creative, collaborative work.  I told the people of Pisco that I  
> would get the word out.
>
> Peace in the midst of sorrow,
>
> Jacob Goad
> Delegations Coordinator-Peru
> Presbyterian Church (USA)
>
> (51)-1-90338086 Cell phone is the best way to reach me for the next  
> week.
> AOL now offers free email to everyone. Find out more about what's  
> free from AOL at AOL.com.
> _______________________________________________
> Dialogue mailing list
> Dialogue at wedgeblade.net
> http://wedgeblade.net/mailman/listinfo/dialogue_wedgeblade.net

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://wedgeblade.net/pipermail/dialogue_wedgeblade.net/attachments/20070820/b46d101e/attachment-0001.html