wfn.org | Salvadoran Earthquake Survivors: Faces Behind the Numbers

[CAROL.FOUKE@ecunet.org]

National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA
Contact: NCC News, 212-870-2227
For More Information/Photos: www.churchworldservice.org
NCC1/25/2001 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

FACES BEHIND THE NUMBERS - SALVADORAN EARTHQUAKE SURVIVORS

EDITOR’S NOTE: Funds for humanitarian response in El Salvador following the
earthquake may be sent to:

Church World Service, Attn. El Salvador Earthquake
P.O. Box 968, Elkhart, IN 46515
Phone Pledges/Credit Card Donations: 1-800-297-1516 x222
On-Line Contributions: www.churchworldservice.org

January 22, 2001, SAN SALVADOR - Church World Service Emergency Response
information officer Chris Herlinger and David Barnhart of Presbyterian
Disaster Assistance, traveling together in El Salvador Jan. 16-22, met some
of the estimated 263,000 Salvadorans displaced by the earthquake – and began
to put faces on the numbers:

"Days of travel to different parts of El Salvador confirm that the scope of
the earthquake’s devastation was far wider than first thought," commented
Herlinger.

Armenia: The Aguilars and Their Neighbors

Some cities, such as Armenia in the Sononate department (province) in
western El Salvador, were isolated for days by damaged roads.  In Armenia
one week after the January 13 earthquake Brenda Baires Aguilar and her
father, Carlos, were still searching for items that could be salvaged.  A
cherished table for Aguilar's daughter was all that could be found.

Meanwhile, Aguilar's neighbors in Armenia expressed a refrain heard
throughout El Salvador: that the response of the national government was
slow, patchy and plagued by inefficiency and favoritism. Such complaints
have put added pressures on international agencies and coordinating bodies,
such as the ecumenical Action by Churches Together (ACT) alliance, of which
Church World Service is a member, to respond to poor communities with little
political clout or power.

Usulutan: Carlos Antonio Aparacio, Ana Cristina Chevez and Family

One such community is San Francisco Javier, in the eastern department of
Usulutan, where there are large pockets of destruction that are not
immediately apparent though the dirt roads are lined with  residents who
anxiously, and sometimes angrily, query visitors about when help is on the
way.

Up one road is the family of Carlos Antonio Aparacio, Ana Cristina Chevez
and their three children, aged 5 to 21. The family's brick home is now a
dry, skeletal heap of stone and cement; in the week since the "earth felt
like it was jumping," as Aparacio describes it, the family has recovered
little. The Aparacios now sleep protected only by a patchwork of plastic
sheeting and wood. Aparacio, a poor farmer, said he expects nothing from the
government and believes his "only hope" will come from other sources.

A truck sent by the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) from Honduras just
arrived in El Salvador bringing tents and plastic sheeting for temporary
housing. Omar Quintanilla, coordinator of ACT-Lutheran World Federation in
Usulutan, said rebuilding houses in rural areas throughout Usulutan will be
the most important priority for ACT. In the initial emergency phase, ACT-LWF
is providing assistance to more than 800 families in the region, with food
provisions and plastic sheeting. Quintanilla hopes eventually that such
assistance can be provided to some 2,000 families in all.

The reconstruction work, Quintanilla said, will be done with full community
participation in the kind of projects, he said, in which communities "feel
empowered by the experience."

That may not be easy. The complaints about favoritism stem from allegations
that the governing ARENA party has favored its supporters with material
assistance following the earthquake in an unfortunate legacy of a bitter and
violent decade-long civil war that ended in 1991 and cost some 75,000 lives.
"We have a very clear vision," said Quintanilla of the ecumenical
community’s response. "We cannot work with people who will not allow
community participation."

San Salvador: Pedro Ramos Mena

Politics and the weight of history are all part of the challenges; so are
sheer numbers. There are at least 263,000 displaced persons in the country.
Among them, Pedro Ramos Mena, a 70-year-old gardener now living in a camp
for the displaced of some 7,000 and growing -in the Cafetalon soccer stadium
on the edge of San Salvador.

A sign "Casa Pedro" greets visitors, as does Mena's dog, Canello. Mena's
only request is a cane for his arthritic legs and for better quarters: he
does not feel secure at night with the dropping temperatures and so many
people wandering around.

"I am waiting," he said, "for God to give me a partial landing."

Santa Eduviges: Concepcion Cruz de Climaco

Residents of Santa Eduviges near San Salvador had to flee quickly in the
hours after the earthquake and are almost certain not to return to their
homes.

Their temporary home is on the grounds of the Salvadoran Lutheran Synod in
Santa Tecla, just outside of San Salvador. Some 300 people are now housed
there, and are receiving shelter, daily meals and medical care. Programs for
children are also being held.

Among those living at the center are Concepcion Cruz de Climaco, three of
her children and three of her grandchildren. Now awaiting the return of her
husband, a coffee plantation worker, she recalls the earthquake as "a
terrible thing" that still traumatizes the children a week later, "waking
them up suddenly in the middle of the night."

Climaco said she has no hopes of returning to her home since it was perched
dangerously on a hillside. She took only clothing with her and assumes all
of the items in the house have been lost. "I just hope things can eventually
be better for my grandchildren," she said. "All we want is a humble home to
raise the children without any danger."

CWS and its ecumenical partners are focusing their assistance on Salvadorans
who were already vulnerable before the earthquakes and mudslides that swept
their country beginning January 13, and to those living in the country’s
poorest communities.

-end-

See also NCC News: "CWS, Ecumenical Partners Reach 14,500+Families in El
Salvador"